Athletics and Football (extract)

112 ATHLETICS country, and not round an artificially prepared and enclosed course. The good steeplechaser must, of course, be a long-distance runner, as no one without staying powerscan hope to last the distance ; he must be a good jumper as well, and in addition there is a very great art in clearing the obstacles which can only be learnt by constant practice. The object of the clever steeplechaser is to exhaust himself as little as possible over the jumps. He therefore takes the hurdles of ordinaryheight according to the regular hurdling manner in his stride, never rising an inch higher than is absolutely necessary. The water- jump has to be taken in a different way. The regular practice is for a high hurdle studded with furze branches to be placed on the edge of the water. If the water is too broad for his powers the runner makes no attempt to clear it, but jumps carefullyso far into it that, by leaning wellforward,his hands may immediatelyseize the bank, and he then pulls himself cleverly out without losingtime. If, on the contrary, he thinks he can clear it witha kick, he gets one foot on the top of the hurdle and thence gets a kick off, which takes him over the water \ but this is a very clever piece of jumpingwhich requires great practice. Some runners, especiallyin the shorter steeplechases, come with a rush and a bound clear over the hurdle and water, and this bit of ' gallery' is always enthusiasticallyapplauded ; but, as a rule, it is a waste of strength in the long run, and the old hands are seldom seen to indulge in such display. As the obstacles maybe of all sorts of heightand stiffness,however, it is difficult to lay down any general rules to suit all runners and all obstacles, but in no case should the 'chaser alight on both feet from a jump, as he then comes to a dead stop. Most runners take their spring from the right foot, and get over their obstacles a bit sideways with the right leg in the rear. A steeplechase of two miles wasone of the events in the first Inter-'Varsity gathering on the Christ Church cricket- ground at Oxfordin 1864, when R. C. Garnett, of Cambridge,