Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Pole Vault S. Ratcliffe, Ashby F. C., did IO ft. I in., and at Worthing,]. G. Graveley cleared 8 ft. 6 ins. In I876 at Market Harborough, H. W. Strachan, L.A.C., who had won the English title at Io ft. I in. apparently took a prize, but no height is given, and in the Civil Service ports of 1878 he won again at IO ft. 6 ins., beating by 4 ins. his brother, E. A. trachan, of the Io8th Regiment, better known to later generations as the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. ., , ":. ! Such keen practice and competition as was going on in Ulverston was bound, of course, to producer suits, and in I88I, Tom Ray, a well, but heavily, built young man, acquired the English title and raised the record to II ft. 3 ins. The reign of H. H. Baxter as best pole vaulter in the world was over. Ray held the English title from r88I to I888, except in r883, when he let it go by default, and he raised the world's record to II ft. 6i ins. In r887 he went to America and there carried all before him. In r888, however, he had to be content to share the A.A.A. Championship honours with his fellow townsman, E. L. Stones, at II ft. ot in. The following year r veals tones at the top of his form. He took the American hampionship at Io ft., the English title at II ft. If ins. and at Southport raised the world's record to II ft. 7 ins. Ray and Stones were followed by . D. Dickinson, of Winder– mere, but whether he used the peculiar styl of the Ulver– stonians I cannot say. He h ld the A.A.A. title five times (once jointly with R. Watson, of ardsea), rais d the championship record to II ft. 5 ins., and on July 4th, I gr, at I idd rminst r created a world's record of II ft. 9 ins. Tl is, as we have seen, stood as world's b st until lapp w nt an inch and a hall higher in I8g8, and it actually r mained the British native record until L. T. Bond, .U.A.C., cleared II ft. IO ins. in the A.A.A. Southern Championships at xford in Igz8. The m thod employed by the Ulverston men was unique, and for years the world's record hold rs came from that small town. Their poles were of ash or hickory, long and heavy, and shod at the lower end with a tripod of iron, forming a three-inch triangle. The weight of the pole necessitated a wide separation of the