Athletics (British Sports Library)

18 ATHLETICS ' Bangor, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, and Sheffield. If a boy goes into the Services there are sports at H.M.S. Britannia, the Royal Naval College, the Royal Military Academy, the Royal Military College, and the R.A.F. College, and, in addition,- Inter– Collegiate matches. In the next stage of his career the old Blue becomes a member of the Achilles Club, the Service cadet represents his regiment, and the provincial university men and boys, who go straight into business, join a club. In London there are the London Athletic Club, South London Harriers, Blackheath Harriers, Thames Hare and Hounds, and the Polytechnic Harriers, all clubs of good standing ; in the provinces such famous bodies as the Manchester Athletic Club and the Birchfield Harriers (Birmingham). We now come to the question of public competi– tion, not of the handicap order in which prize values are apt to assume an undue degree of importance. The Amateur Athletic Association has recently instituted a system of County Associations working under the District Associations in the North, Mid- . lands, and the South. These county governi_ng bodies promote Inter-County Matches and County Track and Field Championships early in each athletic season; next come the Northern, Midland,