Athletics and Football (extract)

96 ATHLETICS an even pace as he can command over the distance, keeping his spurts for when they are wanted, either to pass an antago­ nist or to get in front at the finish ; so that, in training for these distances, it is of importance to knowhow fast one is going. It is wise, therefore, to be timed from day to day by a trainer, who will tell the man what pace he ought to go for the distance he is running for the day, and whether in the actual spin he has got inside it or not. A word might here be interposed as to the tactics of a race. In medium or long races an immense deal in the way of success depends upon the judgmentwith which a race is run. If you decide to pass an antagonist you had better spurt to do so, and not try to pass him slowly, as this may end in his shaking you off again. If you spurt by an antagonist you may possiblytake the heart out of him, and he may shut up ' like a telescope' on the spot. Another reflection which a runner should alwaysbear in mind is, that when the dreadful thought occurs to his mind that he is ' done,' it should be succeeded by the reassuring idea that his. opponents are probablyequally 'done' also. If this latter rule were always borne in mind weshould not see, as we often do, cases in which the race does not fall to the swift but to the plucky. As a corollary to the two practical rules given above we may mention an anecdote whichaptly illustratesthem. We sawa matchat Oxfordbetween twocracks at 600 yards. The distance was rather beyond both runners, who were really quarter-milers. Before the run home was reached both parties had shot their bolt. The one in the rear, feeling himself ' done,' decided that a desperate state of affairsrequired a desperate remedy, and pullinghimselftogether, rushed clean past his antagonist with a spurt. The antagonist immediatelyshut up, but the winner was so much done that he could hardly crawl home in veryslow time. We have since seen many important raceswhere it has struck us that, had the beaten man made another effort, he could have turned the battle; but he has allowed himself to be defeated by some plucky ' cutting down' tactics of an inferior opponent. In the