Athletics and Football (extract)

66 ATHLETICS introduced a surprise, asDudman and Painter, making a racebe­ tweenthem, ran each other off their legs 600 yards from home ; and Harrison, who had seemed out of it, sailed by them as if standing still, and wonanyhow. The last race of the day, how­ ever,produced another fine performance. Sixof the best metro­ politan cross-country runners had to meet E. D. Rogers, of Portsmouth, a runner whowaslittle knownuntil he made a good show in the Southern Counties Cross-Country Championship at Sandown Park in the earlyspring. Rogers is a stiff, ungainly runner, but apparently with tremendous strength ; and, taking the lead from the start, he lurched over the ground at a great pace, completing his firstmile in 4 min. 50! sec.and the second in 9 min. 50! sec.,in itself a veryfine performance. By this time he had the race at his mercy,having run W. H. Coad—the best Londoner—off his legs. In the third mile, in 15 min. 25^ sec., Rogers did little more than keep his lead, and he finallywon with great ease in 21 min. ii sec., noitn itself a first-class performance, but the winner's two miles showedof what stuff he was made. So ended a great day's racing ; and as the winners came up to receive their prizes it was only natural that most of them should have received a hearty welcomefrom the crowd. The day's sport was remarkable in itself for more than one reason. For one thing, the average ofmerit shownby the winners wasgreater than had ever been seen beforeat a single meeting. The Hundred in 10 seconds ; the Hurdles in 16 seconds ; the Quarter in 4g^ seconds ; the Half in 1 min. 59 sec. ; the Mile in 4 min. 2^ sec. : no such performances had ever before been done together upon one day by amateurs. But the meetingwas also significant for another reason, though whetherfor good or evil to the sport it is hard to say. In the earlydays of the champion­ ship sports, from 1866onwards, the majority of the events were carried off by the University athletes ; and for the first ten years the struggle was between the 'Varsityrunners and the old Public School men, the gentlemen amateurs from London and elsewherewho came forward to try conclusions with the Inter-