Athletics and Football (extract)

RUNNING AND RUNNERS 97 spring championship of 1879, M. R. Portal, the Oxonian, a beautifulmover and a magnificent runner, was cut down at the end byE. Storey,whowonin 5 if seconds at a time whenPortal wasquite equal to doing time a second better. In justiceto Portal however, of whose merits Bob Rogers thought unutter­ able things, it must be said that he came to the scratch far from fit on that day. Want of condition is an admirable thing to Out ot condition. breed irresolution in a race, and while it is easy to be game when one is fit, it is far harder for a jaded man to keep his gameness and a good head upon his shoulders. One game little runner, E. A. Sandford, the Oxford miler, certainly won both his Half-mileChampionshipsin 1874 and 1875 fromfaster men by pluck and judgment. Although the half-mile has always been an event at the H