Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Walks what constitutes fair walking was altered to read-" Walking is progression by steps so taken that unbroken contact with the ground is maintained.'' The position of America in relation to walking needs some explanation. A three miles race was held from r876 to r8g6 and resumed in 1907. The seven miles walk was instituted also in r876 and has been in and out of the programme several times, until it was finally reinstated in rgrz. The standard of comparison between America and Great Britain must be the seven miles walk, and at that distance Britain was markedly superior until recently, but in rgz6, Harry Hinkel, who, no doubt, would have done well at Amsterdam had there b en an event for him, took the U.S.A. title in 52 mins. 56! secs. and returned 53 mins. rrf secs. in 1927, both better performances than have been seen at the English hampionships, since G. R. Goodwin took the A.A.A. event of 1924 in 52 mins. oi sec. Walking, som how, does not appeal to any large portion of the American public, although there was a one mile ev nt in the Inter-Coil giate hampionship programme from r877 to r8g8. The sport has disappeared also from the programme at gen ral sports meetings in the States, and would certainly have died right out in America had it not been included in the Olympic Games. Track walking and road walking, of course, provide two diff rent kinds of sport, and a cons qu nt diff rentiation of action, but both supply as much stiff xercise and stamina earching work as any man can desire. A furth r cause for strain is found in the circumstance that th walker cannot let hims 1£ ''all out" in the full s n e of the t rm, when he is pu h d, but must continuously concentrate his mind upon pr s rving the fairness of his action. The new rule, already ref rr d to, defines quite cl arly what is fair walking, and the old p destrian ruling tl h l-and-toe, one-foot-always– on-the-ground" is qually xplicit, and y t it takes a mighty good judg tot 11 when a man is'' lifting.'' The real t sts of a fair walker, I think, are to be found in the carriage of the head, body, and legs, and the way in which the knees are locked at