Athletics of To-Day 1929

102 Athletics of To-day his time-card with a gesture of disgust as Ray came abreast. Ray took the hint. For once in his life he saw red. Anger lent wings to his flying feet, and those who witnessed the running of those last four laps will never forget the sustained burst of speed he pulled out. Anyway, it was fast enough for the time– keepers' watches to show 9 mins. 8 secs. That world's indoor record was eclipsed on February 14th, 1925, at ew York City by Paavo Nurmi, who returned the amazing time of 8 mins. sS! secs., an even more startling per– formance than Wide's official outdoor record of 9 mins. rf secs. One might add that all the American distance records, both indoors and out, from a mile in 4 mins. rz secs., which Nurmi shar s with Ray, to rr mil s 153 yards in the hour by Albin Stenroos, inland, ar h ld by H. Kolehmainen or W. Ritola, except the z mil s (outdoors), T. S. erna, 9 mins. 17! secs., and 5 miles (outdoors), C. Por , 24 mins. 36i secs. Sp aking generally, small, light men make the best distance runners; hrubb and Kol hmainen both come into this group. George and Ritola belong to the tall, thin type, with a stride, I suppose, of ov r 8 ft. ; while Bouin, urmi ( triding 8! ft.), and Wide ( triding 9ft.) ar of the thick-set, burly build. Ray was lighter than any of them and found his stride limit at 7 ft. The matt r of finding hi metier must always provide the distance man with a nice probl m, since, with a few note– worthy cxc ptions, the r al mil r can usually run a pretty us ful four mil s, and the man who can go that distances ldom has much troubl in returning a good time at ten mil s. To add further to these perplexities, distance men who have enjoyed track or cross-country success are now turning their attention to Marathon running. H. Kolehmainen, H. Payne, E. Harper, and Joie Ray are good examples of this new class. TRAINING The basi of training for di tance running is long, strong preliminary work for a month. During that time walks of eight to twelve miles at four miles an hour, and slow jog-trot