Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Event Sui Generis-440 Yards 57 sof secs., a record which remained unbroken for thirteen years. Colbeck went to an early grave, but his records were remem– bered long after those of all his contemporaries had been surpassed and forgotten. Colbeck first pointed the lesson of sprint quarter-miling to athletes, which was to be emphasized in no uncertain manner by L. E. Myers, who came over from Am rica to win the A.A.A. quarter mile title in 48! secs. at Aston in I88r. I do not know that Myers's athletic merit can be compared with that of such modern marvels as H. M. Osborn, U. .A., and ]. YrjOla, Finland, whose all-round achievements in the Olympic Decath– lon have amazed the world, but I fancy that My rs, on his actual records, will go down in history as the greatest hort distance runner of all time, as he was certainly the most prominent performer in the early days of organised athletics in America. Born at Richmond, Va., U.S.A., on February I6th, I 58, Myers was famous among his boy friends as a runn r and jump r, but did not appear in comp tition until o ember, I87 , when he was twenty years of ag . He won ea ily the quarter mile handicap of the ew ork A. ., upon that ea ion, and in the following ye r carri d all b fore him, winning the 220, 440 an 8 o yards ational hampion hips. H was th n indulging in such an orgy of race winning th t fri nds warn d him that he was (l running to an rly d ath." His re ly was an amus d grin, accompani by th st rtling stat m nt that h was out to br ak v ry AI11 rican r cord from Ioo yards to I mil . This h proce d d to o. In I 8o he ran sev n tirn in one aft rnoon and won th Amcri < n IO , 22o, 440, an 88o yards titles, and a \ k lat r t M ntr al t ok xactly th same ev nts in the anadian hampionships, thus e tablishing the still uneclip d record of winning ight nation 1 championships in a we k. P oplc in England simply would not believe that the young American could hav accompli h d all th f at and tim with which he was credited. In I88I, th r for , his club, the old Manhattan A.C. of ew York, sent him to England to prov his