Athletics and Football (extract)

146 ATHLETICS a member of 3.verywell-known Rthleticfamily,his elder brother, M. Davin, having made a great reputation as a weight-putter, and another brother, T. Davin, having wonseveral Irish cham­ pionships at high and long jumping. In 1880 P. Davin is re­ ported to have beaten Brooks' record by clearing 6 ft. 2f in. at his native placeat Carrick-on-Suir,and in proof of th^ record we believethat the certificates of two local justicesof the peace as to the correctness of the measurementwere lodged with the Field. There is indeed not the least reason to doubt the bona fides of the performance, but it is perhaps natural that a good many Englishmenshould have suspicionsthat Irish patriotism might manage to elongate a measurement by a quarter of an inch when the downfall of Saxon supremacycould be secured thereby. There is,however,quite apart from this performance, not a shadow of a doubt that Davin was a better jumper than any one else with the exception of Brooks,and the pair stand together as the two greatest jumpers ever known. In 1881 Davin came over for the English championship and won with a leap of 6 ft. in. His appearance was watched with great interest, and he certainlyshowed magnificent poweron that day, winning the long jump as well with ii leap of 22 ft. 11 in. Davin wasa tall strong man of quite 6 feet in height, andmight almost be described as a young giant, being, although very well-shaped,a strong, heavy man. His style of leaping was quite different from that of Brooks,as he trotted up towards the posts and with one prodigious bound in the air went clean over the bar. In one of his leaps, when he was clearingabout 5 ft. 9 in. height, we saw him take off six feet before the bar and alight six feet on the other side, and when over the bar his body wasalmost perpendicular. In fact he took a downright honest leap at the bar in much the same way as a man would leap over a hedge and ditch froma road. Of late years Ireland has certainly produced many fine jumpers, and there can be little doubt that it is an amusement for which the Celtic race has a natural aptitude. For the half dozen years preceding 1886, both the high and long jump