Athletics and Football (extract)

62 ATHLETICS or thus wasting an ounce of strength, it is evident that the ' run in' willdecide the race. Over the tenth hurdle Daft again has a shade of advantage,and, running on faster, wins by a yard in sixteen seconds, another ' record'—the second during the afternoon. Next comes the quarter-mile race—won last year by Myers, the flying American, but by this time Myers, like W. G. George, another amateur champion, has joined the pro fessional ranks. There is little chance of another record being done in this event, for since first Myers in Americacut into the old record of 50I (done both byColbeck in 1868 and J. Shear­ man in 1877), he has more than once beaten 49 seconds, and done times which probably no man, either professional or amateur, has ever touched. The race this year is set downfor two heats, but as Cowie is hors de combat, and four others do not put in an appearance, the six runners are sent off in one heat. This is lucky for Wood, as he has two 'hundreds' out of him, while LyleSmith, the Civil Service ' crack,' comes up fresh for this race. The other four starters are Wharton, whose phenomenal performance in the sprint makes people wonderwhat he is going to do in the quarter; E. D. Robinson, who is nearly as good at this distance as at a half-mile; W. Lock, ofWindsor, and Norman Jones, who are good men, but hardlygood enough for their company. When the pistol fired for a moment everyoneheld his breath, for Wharton was seen to be flyingoff almost at top speed with the same extraordinary flat-footed action. Wood, who knew by experience how fast his opponent could travel, was determined not to let him get away, and so the pair ran away from their field down the long straight of nearly 300 yards, upon which the first part of the quarter is run at Stamford Bridge. But when a little more than 300 yards had been run it wasevident that Wharton had shot his bolt; he died awayand stopped, and Wood was left a hundred yards fromhome witha ten-yard lead ; but upon him, too, it was evident that the pace had told, and it seemed doubt­ ful whether he could last to the end. Slowly but surely Lyle Smith and Robinson, who werecoming up behind, gained on