Athletics and Football (extract)

JUMPING, WEIGHT-PUTTINGE,TC. 163 higher than any other man in England. A friend has told us that he once saw a small acrobat at a circus clear far greater heights by the simple processof clamberingup the pole like a monkeyas soon as it was poised, and then dropping over the bar; but we have always felt inclined to believe that this story wason a par with that other, of an Indian juggler who threwa rope up in the air and then climbed up it and disappeared. Something, however, of the trick suggested is employed by Ray, who shifts his hands up the bar when his pole is poised in the air. The sport certainly gives scope to fine athletic qualities,as the pole-jumper must be a high-jumper, and also agileenough to raise his body by help of the pole over the bar. The pole-jumper is thus usually a light-weight, but this is not the case with Ray, who is a well-shaped man of decidedly heavy build. His success is no doubt partlydue to the effect of an athletic tradition, as he comes from Ulverston, a place which has produced manyfine pole-jumpers, one of whomwas E. Woodburn, the champion of 1874,who probably ranks after Ray as the best pole-jumper ever known. We believe that the Ulverston lads are often to be seen after their day's work practisingpole-jumping on the cinder heaps which are so con­ spicuous an ornament of that flourishing town. Broad jumping with poles, which has been practised for centuries in the fen countries for reasons of utility, has never been adopted at athletic meetings, which is somewhat strange, as it would be a fine branch of legitimate sport. There are one or two other gamesor sports which occasionallyfind a placein an athletic programme. In countrymeetingsespecially the spectators often like the introduction of the comic element, and this taste is providedfor in differentways. ' Three-legged races,' or, as they are sometimes called, ' SiameseTwin ' races, are competitions between pairs of men running stride by stride withthe left leg of one runner tied to the right leg of the other. If they fail to keep in stride, the pair necessarilytumble over. Then there is the ' sack race,' in which everycompetitor gets inside a sack, which is tied round his neck, and some shuffle M 2