Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Sprints-loo to 300 Yards 41 In the course of a zoo yards race run at top speed throughout, the athlete's pace decreases as much as IS% between 70 and rgo yards. The fact that Russell's second roo yards was faster than the first was due, of course, to the one second lost in starting. This brings our coaches and other athletic experts to some pretty points for consideration. No means are known of delaying the appearance of lactic acid or of r ducing the amount secreted. omething may be done by means of special developmental exercises in training to diminish the amount of muscle friction. But, meanwhile, the really acute probl m is that of curtailing the loss of time at th start of the race. Up to the year r8 8 all sprint rs had u ed the old standing up start. In this style the front foot was on the scratch line, the other foot some seven or eight inches behind it, the body was held leaning fonvard with eh st almost parall 1 to the line. In :rvray, r888, however, C. H. herrill, Yal , who won one American National and seven I. .A.A.A.A. sprint titles, pro– duced an entir ly new method of starting at a meeting h ld at Cedarhurst, Long Island. So nov 1was the po ition a umed by the athlete upon being told to "Get to your mark," that the starter thought herrill did not know how to start and so h ld up the race for some minutes to xplain the matt r to him. At last, howev r, the official was made to und rstand that a new start was b ing tried, and a moment later he saw how efficacious it was. That " rouch tart," ( e Plat 5), worked out by harl s H. h rrill, in con ultation with that doyen of American coaches, the lat Micha 1 :Murphy, is in univ rsal use to-day. The method was fir t introduced into England in r o by the amateur champion quart r-mil r, T. L. Nichola , of Monmouth, but for a long time the tall, h avily built men, lik the famous print. r, E. r din, who tried it but quickly r turn d to the standing up m tho , li d that the crouch w s only suitable to hort r and more lis om men than them Ives. I would here pause to point out that within two years of the invention of the new method, J. Owen, Jr., of Detroit,