Athletics and Football (extract)

6o ATHLETICS Londoner, and Peter James, from Sydney, NewSouth Wales, are the competitors. Ritchie gets away a trifle sharper than Wood, and when both are moving the Yorkshiremanis half a yard ahead. With this distance betweenthem they rush overthe hundred, and Ritchie wins by a short head in 10^ sec., Levick being outpaced, and the colonial nowhere. Both Ritchie and Wood are wellbuilt for sprinting : the formeris ofmiddle height, has a tremendous chest, bull-head and large thighs. Wood is almost a giant, beingheavily built all over, has a 40-inch chest and scales over twelve stone. The third heat is known to be a moral for Wharton, but there is intense curiosity to see him move. When at the post with Bassett, of Norwood, Nicholas, of Monmouth, and an unknown C. S. Colman, he is seen to shape well, standing like a rock with his feet close together. At the crack of the pistol he is off like lightning, running in a wondrous fashion. Sprinting of manykinds has been seen : some sprint bent forward, some with the head and shoulders thrown back, but here is a man running awayfrom his field with body bent forward and running almost on the flat of his foot. There is short time for wonder, however,as Wharton is half a dozen yards in front of Bassett when he bursts the worsted—fora worsted stretched between the posts breast-high has long since replaced the old-fashioned tape at athletic meetings. There is a hush in the crowd, whilethe three time­ keepers put their heads together ; for it is seen that the winner has done a fine performance. All three watches agree in marking 1o sec. or ' level-time,' and when the telegraph board shows the figures a cheer bursts from the crowd, for at last after years of struggling and disputing a genuine ' level- time ' performance has been accomplished. Half an hour later Wharton comes out for the final to meet Shaw, Ritchie, Wood, and Bassett (the last two of whom as winners of the two fastest heats run again), and he is once more greeted with a cheer. In the finalWharton is not offso fast, and at ten yards Wood and Ritchie are in front of him; then the foreigner rushes ahead and is leading by two yards twenty yards from