Athletics and Football (extract)

156 ATHLETICS the Chinese giant, to enter for one of the championship meet­ ings, it being thought that he must necessarily be able to put a great distance, as he would have been like an ordinary man throwing the weight out of a first-floor window. We fancy, however,that had the Celestial competed he would not have been in the hunt withthe more skilful Britons. For many years the weight-putting record was held by E. J. Bor, a gigantic member of the L.A.C., who put 42 ft. 5 in at the championshipof 1872. This was never surpassed until 1885, although there were plenty of fine weight-puttersin the interval. R. J. C. Mitchell, the highand long jumper, twice won the championship with puts of over 38 feet, and the two brothers J. and T. Stone, of Newton-le-Willowsa, lso figure in the list of champions, the elder brother havingwon in 1867 and 1868, and the younger in 1875, and 1877. The latter wasa fine specimen of manhood, weighing14 stone and being over six feet, but beautifully proportioned, and no mean per­ former at a sprint. He was, however, beaten in Ireland in 1876 byM. Davin, an elder brother of the twofamous jumpers; although, in 1877,Stone in England beat the Irishman, putting over 41 feet with a leaden weight. In 1878, 1879 (summer championship),and 1880 the championwas W. Y. Winthrop, an ex-Cantab and popularmember of the L.A.C., whoseprodigious feats of strength in other matters would require a volume to record them adequately, the most famousbeing, if report be true,, the upheaval of a flagstaffby his own unaided efforts at a well-known watering-placein the North. In 1882 the cham­ pionship fell to a Northerner, G. Ross of Patricroft, whowas,we believe,a policeman. Ross ' put'in a most unusual style, and was rather a puzzle to judges and referees. He commenced as if about to bowlthe weight, but straightened his armwith a jerk, which brought the elbow into the side just before the weight left the hand. In the championship of 1882 he put 42 ft. 4 in., onlyone inch less than Bor's record. Ross wasnot a very big man, nor yet veryagile, but had enormous strength of arm, and his remarkable ability was, we think, due to his