Athletics of To-Day 1929

4 Athletics of To-day These amateurs found their opportunities mostly at the fairs and wakes, which were the direct forerunners of our present– day athletic sports meetings. In view of the post-war popu– larity of women's athletics, it is interesting to note that at these fairs and wakes the "gentle" sex was catered for with such events as running and" tossing the barre." In those days the prizes were invariably a hat for the men, and a smock, or "she-shirt," for the women. The modest author hesitates to suggest what may have been the exact nature of the latter garment. Other sports referred to as being popular at the beginning of the nineteenth c ntury are" throwing the sl dge," which refers obviou ly to an early form of hammer-throwing, and" tossing the pik ,"which may perhaps be distantly related to the pr sent day jav !in-throwing event. ne of the gr at meetings of those days was that held annually at Bodmin, in Cornwall, which is said to date back to axon tim s. For a period the profitable profession of pede trianism flourished in the towns, while the amateur events at the fairs and wakes retained their popularity among the country folk. The y ar r8r7 marks d finit ly an important milestone in athletic history. In that y ar Major Mason, of cton, in Norfolk, formed the Necton uild, which was, beyond all que tion, the first English athletic club to come into being. In r8rg the local w k gav place to a sports m eting, at which neither stalls, tand , nor booths for ntertainments were p rmitted, and this m ting lasted until r8z6, by which time, the chroniclers t ll us, wakes were dying out in all the great towns of th rth of England. The first half of th nin te nth century was notable for the number of match s of an outre natur which took place; for example, a rac betwe n a n1an on stilt and a foot runner, and m ntion has been made alr ady of th all gcd remarkable performanc of the roydon butcher who ran from St. Albans to London in und r an hour and a half. In furth r proof of how little reliance can be lac d on the records made before athletics were properly controlled one may quote the case of an Italian who is said to have run from Hyde Park Corner to