An Athletics Compendium

The Uterature oAf thletics George, the greatestmiddle-distancerunner of the nineteenthcentury,had such a short professionalcareer,confinedentirely to match-races. This frugal economic environment made for short-term relationships between professionalmanager/coachesand ex-amateurssuch as George, A. R.Downer and Alf Shrubb. Shrubb was fortunate to extendhisprofessionalcareeron the momentumof the post-1908Olympicsmarathon 'boom' which lasted till just before the Great War.This 'Dorando' marathon fever gave professional long distance runners an opportunity to earngood moneyin the 1908-13period. Professionalraceswere heldall over the world and there were even indoor marathons at the AlbertHall and MadisonSquareGarden. This short-livedearly'boom' enjoyslittledocumentationin the formalliterature;allthat remainsis the FinnWilliKolehmainen's 2 hours 29minutes 13 secondsrun at Newarkin 1913, a time that wasnot beaten byamateursfor thirteenyears. Bythe early1920s,match-racingwasvirtuallydead and 'carnival'meetingshad to compete for audiences with greyhound racing. Professional foot-racing therefore survivedin a twilight worldof modest handicapevents in the industrialareasof Wales, northern England and southern Scotland and in low-prized Highland and Lakeland Games.Only Edinburgh's PowderhallNewYear Handicapremained as a majorevent, alwaysabove suspicion,still attractingrunners from all over the world. Fortunately, Powderhall's historyis well documented in DavidJamieson's fine Powderhall andPedestrianism (1943). Jamieson'sseminal workis also the only one to attempt a comprehensiveaccount of professionalfoot-racing.Here it is lesssuccessful, failingto providemuch detailon the period before 1850and nothing of the rich cultureswhich existed in such areas as Kent, the north east and Wales.Jamiesonsimilarly makes no attempt to describeprofessionalrunning outsideof the UnitedKingdom. He revealsthat 'professionalchampionships' were beingheld at HackneyWick as late as 1934. These 'championships' were an odd mix of scratch and handicap running events (with a separate hundred yard dash for professional soccer and rugby league players) and HighlandGames throwingevents.The 1934 'championships'wereheldin mid-January and it is some measureof the continuingquality of Scottish professional athletics that William McFarlane took this midwinter 100 yds 'championship' in 9.9 seconds and GeorgeClark the 161bshot with forty-fivefeet eight inches. It is likelythat severalsuch competitionswere heldin southern England in the 1900-1940 period.Indeed, the Scot Speedie's record high jump of six feet three inches was achieved at Arsenal FC's Highburyin 1911.Alas, onlya rigoroustrawlof the newspapersof the timewouldreveal suchevents, as there is littlein the formal literature. The best feelingfor the atmosphereof nineteenthcentury foot-racingis expressed in Peter Lovesey's The Kings of Distance (1968). Lovesey's enthralling account of the American Indian Deerfoot's time in Britain and of the famous George-Cummings matches provide a vivid glimpse of the seamy subculture of nineteenth century pedestrianism.A. R. Downer's Running Recollectionas,ndHow to Train (1908) is one of the fewpersonalaccounts of the lifeof anineteenthcentury Britishprofessionalathlete.It is, unfortunately,short on either technicalor culturaldetail. [ xxxiii ]