Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Long Distances 131 and at intervals Newton drank almost boiling tea, and for breakfast he had hot minced beef. At Reading, where he was suffering severely from cramp, he had recourse to his own u magic" drink, which consists of 1 monade, sugar, and salt. At Colnbrook he put on speed and was still striding a steady r8o steps to the minute. At Hyde Park Corner thousands of people had been waiting for hours, and the scenes of enthusiasm which signalized the South African runn r's arrival were truly remarkable. On all his runs Newton impressed me as being the most perfect human long-distance running machine that has ever been known. His action suggested that he could run for ver. In his early years he progressed with a short, shuffling stride, running quite fiat-footed and with his feet nev r passing higher than 6 inches above the ground. His arm carriage was very loose and low. That was in 1924. When we saw him again in 1927-28 he had short ned his running stride to 3 ft. 7 ins., and his feet did not ri e more than a couple finches above the ground as he ran, but he was running far back on th ole of the foot and ke ping the heels more off the road (s o. 5, Plate r2). His ideas on training for long distances w re r volutionary, for he work d always at distanc s, and v n coming over on the boat from outh Africa used to run 20 mil s on d ck at 2 a.m. to keep fit. He smoked regularly and would njoy a cigar while walking to the training grounds in ngland, and ev n after a big race would at one put n hi pipe. fore on of his righton races he rose at 4 a.m. and ha a light breakfast of fried eggs and br and butter. During a race he never touch d solid food, but took plenty of hi sp cial drink. This drink he devised to tid him over ba tim s. It is made by stirring ix tea poonfuls of sugar and half a tea poon– ful of salt into half a pint of 1 mon d . wton' th ory is that this rink is the b st thir t quench r and that the sugar generat s internal warmth, while the salt counteracts cramp.