Athletics

86 ATHLETICS. has flourished for long in the Lake district andat Highland games, but, with the exception of the championship, is seldom seen elsewhere; and the pole long jump has, so far as we know, never been honoured with a contest in Great Britain, althoughits novelty would be a sure "draw " for any sports; but there is an American amateur record (24 ft.5 in.), by A. F. Remsey, at Brooklyn, 15 Oct., 1886. In the south of France and near the Bay of Biscay it has long been a national necessity, as the peasants who feed flocks of sheep inthe district of Landes use a pole inorder to jump the numerous streams and dykes which intersect this part of the old province of Gascony, where stilts are also a common methodof locomotion. The running long and high jumps are alone familiar,and they have been ablytreated by Messrs. Greig andJennings. Considering how very few men reach 6 feet in the high jump, the accepted record of 6 ft. 4f in., by J. Fitzpatrick, Boston, U.S.A.,25 July, 1889, must be ranked asone ofthe very finest feats in the athletic calendar. G. W. Rowdon, ex-amateur champion, is reported to have cleared 6 ft. in. at Haytor Camp, Devonshire, 6 Aug., 1890, but it has not yet been passed as a record by the A. A.A. THE LONG JUMP, "Each competitor shall be allowed three jumps, and the best three competitors ofthe first trial shall be allowed three more tries each for the final. The farthest jump of the six attempts'shall win. If any competitor fallback or step back, after jumping, orcrosses thetaking- off line with either foot, or so swerves aside that he pass beyond the taking-off line, suchjump shall not be measured, but it shall be counted against the competitor asone jump. All jumps shall bemeasured to the taking-off line from the edge to the heel-mark nearest that line, along a lineperpendicular to that line." The long jump only requires a straight, smooth,' and perfectly level run of 40 or 50 yards, atright angles to the