×

DIY Homemade Hurdles

Eric Benac

Hurdles are training tools used by runners. Runners run and jump over the hurdles to improve their speed and agility. Hurdles are also used in many competitions. Buying your own hurdles can be expensive. Building your own simple hurdles out of PVC pipes can be very cheap.

PVC pipe hurdles are cheap replacements for competition and practice hurdles.

These PVC hurdles require very little crafting beyond using a circular saw and joining the pipes together with pipe fittings. Make multiple hurdles for your track team or for your own private use.

  1. Measure out five pieces of pipe that are 3 feet long. Put your PVC cutting blade on your circular saw and cut the pipes.

  2. Sand the edges of the PVC pipes to make them nice and smooth. Avoid leaving them unsanded, as the sharp edges may cause PVC shaving slivers and cuts.

  3. Place your 90-degree elbow PVC fittings on the ends of one of your pipes. Push these pipes firmly into place until they no longer slide.

  4. Push another pipe up into the open end of each of the elbow fittings. Make sure these fit tightly in the same way as your other pipe.

  5. Slide one of the T couplings onto the end of one of your unused PVC pipes. Slide it down by hand until it reaches the center of the pipe. Push with force, as the coupling will be tight on the pipe.

  6. Put the other T coupling on the other unused pipe and position it in the center of the pipe. Take your PVC end caps and fill the end holes of the two pipes with T couplings.

  7. Take one of the open pipe ends coming from the 90 degree fitting and push it into one of the open holes in the T coupling on one of the pipes. Push down hard to lock it in place.

  8. Finish your PVC hurdle by placing the other open pipe end from the 90-degree fitting into the open end of the last T coupling. Make sure all the pipes are secure. Place the two pipes with the end caps on the ground to hold the hurdle down.

  9. Tip

    Vary the length of the vertical PVC pipes to make your hurdles easier or harder to jump over. Always keep the length of the other pieces about 3 feet.