Athletics of To-Day 1929

ro8 Athletics of To-day to the foundation of the Achilles lub, which, as stated already, has for one of its main objects the encouragement of relay racing and team competition. The Inter- ounty Track and Field hampionship M eting is entirely a team and relay affair, as is also the Victory Cup Meeting, held annually at Woolwich, and there are The Services Inter-Unit Team Championships in athletics as well. I think that British interest in relay racing and team competition really had its inception in the first great athletic match ever held between the Briti h Empire and the United States of Am rica, which furnished a clear-cut issue, not only between the English-speaking peoples, but between the nations that have been responsible for the revival of competitive athl tics in mo ern tim s. At Antwerp during the seventh Olympiad the very friendliest relations had prevailed betwe n the Am ricans, our Dominions, and ourselves. I do not know for c rtain who was the genius who fir t suggested that a match between the Briti h Empire and America should be held in London imm diately aft r the Games, but I fancy that rigadier-Gen ral R. J. K ntish, C.M.G., D.S.O., Lieut.- ol. A. N. . Jackson, .. 0., P .J. Baker, and B. G. D. Rudd, all had a finger in the pi . Anyv ay, the m eting was organised by the Achill s lub and h ld at Queen's lub, London, on eptemb r 4th, rgzo, and no athletic meeting ever b fore held in England had arou d uch whole– hearted enthu iasm. reat r dit is du to . J. ak r, .U.A. ., and B. . D. udd and W. . Milligan, . .A. ., for th normous amount of work th y put in, nor di th y spare th ms lv s in organisation upon th day, and p rhaps Bak r, who had run his first race ixte n y ars arli r, and Rudd, who had won th Olympic 400 metres at Antwerp, depr ciated their own running a little through that circum tance. That match, at which th re was not an inch of standing room among the sp ctators at Qu n's lub, consist d of five r lays, one t am race, and four indi idual cont sts, and it nd din a draw, but the man ' ho really sav d us from defeat was B. Howard aker, that magnificent high jump r, who had not b en able to find his true form at Antwerp, but now, with a