Athletes in Action

59 DI TA Cs) TnE creeping fonvard of the 1 ading leg so '"' 11 hown in Fig. 4, is translated, a h \Vn in Fig 5 opposite, into a d finite hoot f th foot and lower p rtion of the 1 ading leg. It will be een that th right knee i till lightly bent and that it appear as if th rio-ht foot will reach the track ,,·ith th he 1 oming fir t to ground, but uch i not the case. I have watched urmi at work hundr ds of tim ·s and I am quit ur that it i th ball of th' leading foot that first takes the tra k aft r which h allows the heel to c me down lightly on to th cinders. Thi picture, taken at a ~lightly differ nt angle t the f ur prec din it i parti ularly noteworthy. It not only portray the leg-shoot, whi h i an ·s cntial part of urmi tyl ' hereby h gain much ground but it 'mpha i ·e , also the fa t that th 're is no hurry to bring the rear leg through and that th' rear-leg hang hould be a hie\ cd by a slow lm>~:cring of that (left) limb \\ith a orrc ponding drop of the ri ht f< r '- arm, a hown, in pr fcren to a wasteful ki k-up 1f th r ar heel abm c knc 1 'V ·1. Here again th houlder-twi t . nd ro -body arm- , wing arc very much in ' ' idencc, a is th' ·r et 1 ad-carriage and the fact that th hips haYe not been allowed to de\ iat' from th line in which th · athlete 1 • runmng. The pc uliar b nd of th ldt wri t a a balance and arm-swing-control action is peculiarly int ·r ·sting. One may al o, nee again, point out that urmi's y' arc dir ted to a F ot n th tra k some ro to 12 yd. ahead f him. Fig. 4 ,how d how the ri ht wri t wa b nt to pr ' 'nt th hand pa ing b ·hind th hip and similarly in Fig. 5 th left wri t i b 'ing fle. cd to prevent th' left hand from tr.t\ ·lling t o far fornard.