Athletics (British Sports Library)

ONE MILE AND OVER lll latter to so slow down his pace in the final quarter mile that the Swede returned 4 minutes l3ro seconds for the whole journey. The moral of the Nurmi-Wide race is well worth studying. On the face of it it appears that Wide cut out a slightly faster pace than Nurmi desired over the initial quarter, but that the Finn had a perception of pace so finely developed that even with this derange– ment of his prearranged schedule he-was still able to adjust his running to a practically even pace over the remainder of the distance. All. this argues that the theory of the slow third quarter is wrong, and that uniformity of speed throughout the race is the thing to aim at. It is absolutely essential that a good mile runner should be a first-class judge of pace. Many an old hand, who knows his capabilities as a sprinter, will start the race at a speed which is a regular crack-a– jack, and then, almost imperceptibly, slow down the pace after he has got the lead and wait to again produce his sprint at the finish. Even the best trained of novices may be caught napping by this perfectly legitimate device and lose a race which otherwise he would have won, if only he had had the good sense to rely on his own pace judgment and to stick to his pre-arranged time schedule from start to finish. Coaches should carefully warn their charges upon this matter before sending them out