Athletics of To-Day 1929

8 Athletics of To-day of the great races which were run in the fifties. Up to that time, he says, all the great running had been done by professionals, or by amateurs who ran matches at Prim– rose Hill, and other spots, and, generally, very early in the morning when no one was about. Among the amateurs he mentions were Captain Machell, Sir Charles Legard and the late C. M. Calton, sometime 11arshal of the Admiralty Court, who was one of the earliest Brighton walkers. These early morning matches were made by men of good social standing, who had no other opportunity of exploiting their athletic abilities, as no open amateur sports meetings were then held. Up to I8So no athletic sports of any kind were held even at Oxford or ambridge, but, in that y ar, Exeter ollege, Oxford, promoted a meeting in somewhat amusing circum– stances. And that meeting has survived to this present day. On the evening of the oil ge Grind, R. F. owles entertained in his rooms four f llow undergraduat s, all thoroughly dis– contented with the xford hacks they had hired to carry them in the afternoon's st plechase. Th ir nam s were J ames Aitken, George ussell, ]\.farcus outhwell, and Halifax Wyatt. Mr. 'Vyatt, the most disgruntled, because his horse had put him down on his head in the road, grumbl d that he'd rather run two mil s across country on his own feet than ride such a brute again. The oth rs hail d the notion with laughing enthusiasm, and so th takes w re agreed, the officials appoin– ted, and the conditions drawn up. The foot ste pl chas of two miles ov r 24 jumps came off on a fiat, marshy farm at Binsey, near even Bridg oad, and r sult d in a win for 'Vyatt from Aitk n and cott, all thr having taken the last fence in line. On a subsequent aft rnoon som thing more lik our modern notion of a sports me ting to k plac at ort :Meadow, the programme eing IOO, 330, 440 yards and I mile on the fiat and I40 yards ov r IO flights of hurdles set up IO yards apart. Th r w r also 1 s important stake races at 6o and ISO yards and IOO yards for (( b at n hors s," or what w now call a onsolation Race. E. Knight won the hurdl race from