Athletics (British Sports Library)

lOO ATHLETICS men who have gained world's championship honours at both the half- and one-mile distances gives the pick of them at an average height of 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet ll inches and an approximate weight of just under or just over ll stone. The first essential of the good half-miler is staying– power, the second speed, but neither asset by itself will bring success. Both may be mechanically built up from first beginnings, but the athlete must, in addition, acquire striding ability, and, above all, great knowledge of pace. There is, in fact, no other race in which judgment of pace in the first half counts for so much as in the Half Mile. There is one point upon which all the great coaches are agreed. It is that the first quarter must be run at a faster pace than the second. Alec Nelson, the Cambridge University Athletic Club coach, lays it down that a 2-minute half mile necessitates the running of the first quarter in 59 seconds; but S. A. Mussabini, who also has produced many wonderful runners in his time, suggests a 63 seconds first quarter mile for the 2-minute man, and again a 59-second quarter mile for the !-minute 56-second half-miler; whereas Nelson advocates running the initial quarter in 56 seconds and the second lap in 60 seconds. There are allowable variations here, but the underlying principle is the same, and such great authorities as