Athletics

112 through. The same thing prevails at the present time in the vast majority ofswimming races,where, as any student of the sporting pressmust have noticed, timesare seldom given, the reason being that, owing to the old style method of starting, theofficial who is responsible generallyputs his watch in his pocket after starting the last man, as he is perfectly unable to read the resultit records, and if read it would be worse than useless. This state of affairs continued in vogue in athletic and cross-country contests until the present writer,in the latter part of the seventies, introduced what is now recognized as the only correct plan on which time handicaps can be handled. It was first publicly dis­ cussed after a T. H.& H. runin December, 1881, at the King's Head, Roehamption, when, after tea, as proceedings were lagging, H. Hewitt Griffin started an impromptu debate on "Clocking TimeHandicaps." He explainedhis system at length ;others joined in, endeavouring to uphold the old plan, and laughed at the seemingly revolutionary method proposed. Its author, however, rather revelled in the ridicule, and has lived to see his plan become practically univefsal, in the south of England at any rate, as can be seen by a glance at the Referee on Sunday, or any of the sporting paperswhich tabulate such returns. Seconds start represent so many yardseach, andshould be given whenever practicable, and it is as easy to clock a time handicap as one where yards represent the different merits. For instance, in a five mile race a man gets 60 sees, start; this represents about, say, 300 to 400 yards; during thatinterval, untilthe scratch man is sent off,he is making the best of his way to that point, but he has to run the entire journey thesame asthe scratch man, instead of starting fresh from the, say, 350 yards mark. Of course the latter plan (yards start) is not feasible in