Athletics and Football (extract)

64 ATHLETICS and, although Cross, whois a tall and strong youngster,chivies him gamely up the back stretch, Nalder gradually gets further away from his taller rival, and, coming down the straight looking very fresh, wins easily by twelve yards in 4 min. 25! sec.—afine performance, as it is evident that he had a bit in hand if wanted. Cross, finishinggamely,just stalls offBryden at the end, and beats him by two yards for second place, both Brydenand Mabey, whofinishes fourth, beating 4 min. 30 sec., and gainingthe standard medal. Four men inside 4 four-thirty' is rarelyto be seen, and when it was done ten years ago by Slade, H. A. Bryden, L. U. Burt, and T. R. Hewitt, it was thought that such a feat would never be repeated. However, that wasat the time when 4 min. 26f sec. was the record, and not 4 min. i8f sec., as it is now. Then the next hour is taken up with the Seven Miles Walking Race. Walking races are hardly so satisfactory now as ten years ago, for judges are lenient and walkers aspire to fast times ; consequently most of the walkingseen on the running-path is of shiftycharacter, and, if not absolutely a run, is more like a shuffle than a fair heel-and-toewalk. The walkingrace to-dayis also to be marked with an unfortunate incident. C. W. V. Clarke, of Reading, starts at a great pace, when he unfortunatelyloses a shoe, and Jervis, of Liverpool,a verydoubtful goer, leads at the end of a mile, which is finished in 7 min. 15 sec. At twomiles Clarke has caught Jervis again (14 min. 57^ sec.), and at three miles (22 min. 59^ sec.) the pair are still together. Before the fourth mile is reached, however, Clarke has shaken off Jervis, and as the latter has been cautioned by the judges for movingunfairly, he decides to leave the course. Clarke, however, begins to go very queerly, and finally, just before the fifth mile, staggers and fallsfrom sunstroke, and has to be carried off the course. As most of the other competitors have by this time retired, J. H. Jullie, who is still plodding along in the rear, is left, by the retirement of Clarkeand Jervis, with the lead, and he eventually carries off the race in the poor time of 58 min. 50^ sec. For the High Jump, which followed, Ray, the pole