Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Event Sui Generis-440 Yards 63 Amsterdam in rgz8 ; but I think that Liddell's 400 metres record at Colombes on July rzth, 1924, has stuck in my memory as perhaps the greatest athletic performance I have yet wit– nessed. He appeared to be running inside evens over the first roo yards, and yet increased his pace for the last roo yards. Liddell (who is seen winning one of his great races in rNo. 3, Plate 7) is a living vindication of the doctrines of that great Irish-American coach, the late Michael Murphy, who, despite the records made by Ted Meredith, banked upon the running of M. W. Long, who could cover ith r roo yards or a furlong in "evens," and who on October 4th, rgoo, ran a straight-away 440 yards in 47 secs. dead. Upon the running of Long and R idpath, Murphy based his opinion that quart r mile records are more likely to be made by the sprinter type of athlete than by men who combine the quart r and half mile as their dis– tances. His opinion was further influ need by the fact that the ability of a sprinter to start quickly giv s him the great r advantage of securing the pole po ition at once from the slower starting half-miler who essays a quarter. The steady improvement in quart r mile records is due, first, to the 1 ssons taught so long ago by olbeck and My rs; secondly, to the clear und rstanding that quart r-miler ar of two distinct typ s; and, thirdly, to th building up of efi.nite methods f running th rac in the way be t suited to the type to which th aspirant to honours b long . Nowadays the Sprint r Typ of quarter-mil r is t ught to get away from th mark fast, so th t h may ecure the pole p sition at th fir t b nd; and to h l hi p d for at 1 t r o yard , aft r \ hich, unl s h b an Eric Lidd 11 and th r f re capable of sticking th ur e at top p d fr m pi t 1 fla h to finishing tap , he settl d wn t a float and a 1 ng- '-' inging strid . This gait arri shim through the back straight\ ith as little ffort as pos ibl . At the 300 yard mark the pace is incrcas d, and y rd from horn he should g t right up on his toes, shrug his h ulders w 11 f rwar , an go all out to win. The lf Mil Type of athlet is taught that in running a quarter mile he must mak up in ndurance what he lack in