Athletics and Football (extract)

RUNNING AND RUNNERS 8 r somethingto do with his victory. His runner up in 1881 and 1882 wasJ. M. Cowie, who afterwards took the championship at this distance for three years,and waspossibly superior, and certainly not inferior, to Lockton and Junker and the older cracks. Although onlyof medium height and calibre, he, like the other celebrities, was very strong in the back and thighs, and his superlative form wasin a great measure due to years of persistentand careful training; for though he was of first- Sprinting otfo-day. rate ability as long ago as 1880, it was not until 1884 or 1885 that he showed his very best form. The other celebrities of the day at sprinting,Wharton, Ritchie, and Wood, have been previously described. If the sprinters at the time of writing are little better than those of yore, they are certainlynot worse; and it would be rash to say that any of the old sprinters were better than Cowie, Wharton, Ritchie, or Wood. But it is al­ waysan unsatisfactory task to attempt to compare the athletes G