Athletics

WALKING. 79 was at its height about ten years ago, when a man who could not beat 14 min. for two miles had not a " look in," unless given a long start. As an instance, a typical "pacer," W. H. Smith, of Keighley, was credited with covering two miles on a heavy-going grass track, six laps to the mile, in 13 min. 21 sees. ! It may be pointed out that, solate as 2 Aug., 1890, H. Curtis,amateur champion, made the existing record, at the Railway Clearing House A.C. Sports^ Paddington Grounds, London, by walking two miles in 14 min. 14I sees.;the best previous times being 14 min. 2ifsees, by W.H. Meek, ofNew York, at Stamford Bridge, London, 12 July, 1884, and 14 min. 20 sees, by Tom Griffith, at Ealing, 27 April, 1872. In fact, about 1880 Northern sports' officials became so lax, that "walkers" were simply allowed to go their own pace, and disqualifi­ cations wererarely heard of. The crowd grew accustomed to this pacing, and the writer remembers a case where a London walker enteredfor some sportsin Yorkshire (Aug., 1880), justto see how the "pacers" travelled; and although he did his starting quarter inabout 1min. 40 sees., W. H. Smith gave him 60 yards (in two miles), and caught him in about 300 yards ! As if this was not bad enough, the crowd actually chaffed the poor Londoner for walking fairly, and many were the hints, in the local vernacular, he received to "Spring abit, lad ! " Of course, thisstate ofaffairs soon brought about itsown destruction, andwalking races disappeared from Northern and Midland programmes, and are, moreover, rather rare in the south of England. The reverse of the picture was afforded by a certain youthful aspirantfor toe-and-heel fame, who used to frequently appear about1885 in London handicaps. He generally had about a quarter of a mile start (in two miles), and finished a like distance behind the