Athletics and Football (extract)

ATHLETIC MEETINGS 205 any othefract intcoonsideration—an opinion upon which we venture diftfoer with him. There bcean noquestion about the public fondness for a ' record.' A club which owns a ground of its own is rather inclined to giveraces daitstances where t is a particularly good chancoef lowering the existinrgecord an;d committees of clubsgiving sports frequently advertise in the sporting that such and such runners will compete, and that it is confidently expected that ' the record will be lowered,' &Tco. such an appeal spectators never fail to respond by attending in large numbers. For thmeanufacturers of bicycles thoer ownerosf running-grounds which are let to thepublic, we canquite see the advantageosf promoting records with a view tboold adver­ tisement ; but amongst athletes and others, the present writer is heretical enough to believe that thweorshipping of records is idolatrous, and inconsistent with the creed of the true But before gwoe into this question at any lengtth ere is something more to besaid atso the practice and difficulties of timing. ' Timing' in foot-races requires even more care than ' timing' in other sporting contests, for a mistakeof a fifth of a second may make all the difference between a good or an ordinary performance. To ensure accuracy of timing there must not only be agood watch, but a person who knows how to hold it. In most stop-watches the watch is started by a simple pressoufrethe thumobr forefingerupon knaob poirn which removes ctahtech anpduts the workisn motion again. To drop for the moment the fact that some watches start quicker than others, the apparently simple process by which the man who holds the watch sets it going is not so simple as it seems, atnhdere are plenty of opportunities for differences to arise between one timekeeper and another. If, say i a hundred yards race, the timekeeper waits for the sounodf the pistol to start his watchh, e himself standing at the winning-posat,bout of a second elapses before the sound reaches him. If he takes the starftrom the motions of the body, isit a most