An Athletics Compendium

Pedestrianism 116-123 superiority of the former mode, I would cite the contrast betwetewno horses: onewith round action cannot get woevller the ground; gootrdotters throw their forelegs oustraight, so shoualdman. A good "spirt" runner shoublde able to do one hundryedards in ten anda half seconds; a "clinker" cdano it inten, but thereare not two men that can do it in less. If you had a man that could do it in ten, you could win £10,000 at Sheffield with him; it is a great place for "fleet of foot", and large sums are gambled on the handicap thereevery year. There are men that have done it in less time, baustit wasonly in trials, taI ke no notice of it.' ^ Subsequent ed. All6 116 Sportascrapiana; cricket ansdhooting, pedestrian, equestrian, rifle andpistol doings, lion hunting and deer stalking by celebrated sportsmen with hitherto unpublished anecdotes of tnhieneteenth century, from George IV to the Swee/p edited byCaw (C. A. W.). 2nd ed. London; Simpkin, Marshall, 1868. Author is C.A. Wheeler BL; 7906.aa.38 ^ Previous ed. A115 117 From Land's Endto John of Groats, being an account of his record walk/ George H. Allen. London: Fowler, 1905. xi, 107p BL: 010347.e.2 'Necessity, in the form of Dr Deighton, forced me again to enter the lists. In the spring of 1904, this well- known athlete walked from Land's End to John O'Groats in 24 days4 hrs.His chief sustenance en route wasa much advertised meat-juice ... to prove that flesh-foods generally and meat-juices in particular areutterly unnecessary for suachfeat of endurance, now, seemed to be a task it was dmuyty to perform, inview of my two previous undertakings. My record walkwas the result' So the book begins. The story ends with Allen covering the distance clionse to aweek inside the oldrecord. The book has listsof the signatures peofple whom Allen met on his way and the full doifetthe pedestrian. Though Allen's bookis of little literary merit, it gives us a view of athletics liness tense,less sophisticated times andof life in a country uncluttered by traffic, where a pedestrian like Allen could genuinely call the road his own. 118 Hallamshire athletes: growth of football, cricket and kindred sports / J. C. Clegg. 1914. 119 Powderhall and pedestrianism: the history of a famous sports enclosure, 1870-1943 / David A. Jamieson. Edinburgh: W. & AK.. Johnston,1943. 320p; illus BL: 7916.h.41 Professional athletics is a twilight sport and Jamieson itshe only writerin modern times to givt e detailed consideration. bTohoek was published during the war and, as a consequence, passed almost unnoticed by the athleticspublic. It is a painstaking rather than barilliant book, but contains waealth of original material. The main themies the history of the famous PowderhalSl tadium, bumt uch information is given on pedestrianism in other partsof Britain. The book is full of great achievements by forgotten athletes. A remarkable weosrks,ential reading for the athletics historian. 120 The Saturday book 11 / edibteydLeonard Russell. London: Hutchinson, 1951. 280p; illus BL: ZK.9.a.2805 In the section 'Spfoorrt all seasons' by Olive Cook and Edwin Smith, isreproduced on page 72 anetching of William Gale during his 1677 walk of 1500 miles in 1,000 hours and on page 73 a coloured etching of Captain Robert Barclay (Allardice) during his successful attempt in 1609 oNn ewmarket Heath to walk 1000 miles in 1,000 successive hours. The caption compares the exploits of Gale andBarclay in some detail. 121 Shanks's pony: a study of walkin/g Morris Marples. London: Dent, 1959. 192p; illus BL: 7923.o.l2 The second chapter, 'Heel and toe' (pp20-29), is concerned with the early pedestrianathletes, among them Captain Barclay, Foster Powell, George Wilson and AbrahamWood. 122 The professionals/ Geoffrey Nicholson; photographs by Gerry Cranham. London: Deutsch, 1964. 223p; illus BL: X.449/705 An account oafll professional sports Brintain, which includes a chapter on contemporary 'pro' athletics, with good descriptions of theevents whichled to the Lillie Bridge fire, and of a Powderhall meeting (pp126-43): 'Each week the resulotsf all SGA meetings are steont his home at Newtongrange where, in file after file, he keeps tabson 5,000 runners. Even with the aid of this reference systema, nd with the declarations thoefir past performances thruantners are obligetdo make on their entry forms. Yournegckons ittakes himsix weeks to work out the startipnogsitions for the Z&6 competitors. The 120yds sprint illustrates his method. This he calculated at the New Year on a scratch time of11.5 sees. He judged only one man, Rickie Dunbar of Edinburgh, tobe capable, on known form, ofreturning this time; Dunbar therefore became back marker. Young hadthen to award relatimvearks to the othe1r39 runner-s marks thavtaried as widely as DaveyWalker's oneyard to the twenty-siyxards, more than a fifth of the total distance, allowed to a man called Clifford fromDumbarton. It needed only one bad under-estimation ofruanner's capability to make nonsense of the whole event' 123 Gold atNew Year / John Franklin. Hawick: The author, 1972. Highlights of the New Year professional meetings in Scotland, with aenmphasis on the sprints. [ 1 3 ]