Athletics and Football (extract)

ATHLETIC MEETINGS 215 man over thirty-five years old. We do not see that there is anythingwrongin giving those whoare ' rude donati ' an oppor­ tunity of coming out again to exhibit themselvesto the rising generation of runners, but in practice the veterans' race is usuallyrather an absurd sight than otherwise. At one of these competitions,which isan annual affair, an old gentleman, who must by this time have passed his allotted span of three score years and ten, comes out regularly to exhibit himself, many others who are well over fifty appear in the race, whilea good many youngermen compete whose bodies from disuse have so far thickened about the middle as to render their movements anything but graceful. On the whole, we think that the veteran who is too slow to take part in the ordinary races ' lagssuper­ fluous on the stage ' of athletic sports. Veterans' Race.