Athletics and Football (extract)

JUMPING, WEIGHT-PUTTING, ETC. style of putting, of which he was, as far as we know, the first and last exponent. The next two years' championships fell to Owen Harte, a giant from the Irish constabulary. In 1885 Scotland had her turn, the champion being D. J. Mackinnon, of the London Scottish Football Club, the best weight-putter weever saw. He wasquite a youngman, about 6 ft. 6 in. in height, and broad in proportion,although not fleshy. He was always a conspicuous object in the football field, where his gigantic form towered over the scrimmages. He put in his championship win 43 ft. ^ in., thus finally disposing of the old record. A few days afterwards, however, this performance was beaten at the Irish championship of 1885 by J. O'Brien, another member of the Irish constabulary, whoseperformance was 43 ft. 9 in. Our weight-putting champions of late years have nearly always been Irishmen or Scotchmen, the sport beingmuch more extensivelypractised in Ireland and Scotland than in England. It is hardly to be expected that the youthful undergraduates of Oxford and Cambridge should produce weight-putters of such excellence as their runners and jumpers. The best ex­ ponent of the art at the Universities, J. H. Ware,who won the event four years in succession from1882 to 1885, was, however, a really first-class performer, havingon occasionsput over 39 feet, and it was unfortunate that he was unable to compete at the championship in 1886. Ware, like most of the other fine weight-putters, wasa giant in height and build. HAMMER-THROWING. Hammer-throwingis a sport which in its present form has come to us from over the Border, although the 4 hurling of the bar or sledge ' was, as we have alreadyseen, one of the sports of merry England. Since the introduction of the sport into modern athletic meetings,the weight of the hammer has always been the same as that of the weight used in weight-putting,viz.