Athletics of To-Day 1929

182 Athletics of To-day the end of the stride and the grounded leg kept stiff and taut as the other leg swings loosely forward for the next stride, in which the heel is the first part of the foot to make contact with the track (see No. 3, Plate 23). There must, naturally, be good arm propulsion, the clenched fists swinging up and right across the chest to in front of the opposite shoulder with a powerful drive. The arms are held bent at the elbow, and as each fist reaches its highest point the other should drop back in rear of the hip. Walk freely with swinging shoulders and loose hip play and have the head and body upright at the end of each stride. (Note G. V. Bonhag, No. 3, Plate 23.) Another necessary adjunct to good race-walking is the rotary movement of the lower girdle of the body. The action gives the athlete added stride-length, but this movement postulates extreme suppleness in the small of the back. At the lower end of the human trunk are the haunch bones, forming a sort of basin to which the lower limbs are attached, and it is the swing of the haunch bones which carries each limb alternately forward as shown in the accompanying diagram. TRAINING Training should be planned to carry one comfortably over the distances, but, as in running, it is the pace and not the distance that kills. In working out for a seven miles event take plenty of good, free-striding country walks of six miles each at about five miles an hour, and pay attention to the study of form. In the second month work up to ten miles, allowing