Bredin on Running & Training

MY CAREER AS AN ATHLETE. 151 in 49~ sees. in this race, is to the best of my knowledge entitled to claim the next best performance accomplished on this classical ground, where for over twenty years the best amateur talent in Great Britain has with very few exceptions, at one time or another, exhibited its paces. The lnter-'Varsity sports were held on Wednesday, July the 3rd, and the championship at Stamford Bridge on the following Saturday, owing to which the 'Varsity athletes who entered and ran in this A. A. A. championship were fit, which is very rarely the case with men during their university career who turn out at this annual meeting, as there is no running practised during the summer term at the 'Varsities. I will give a short account of each event, for I think it improbable that so many good athletes, all in their best form, ever contested together, at any rate in this country. The half-mile was the first race to be decided. It brought thirteen competitors on to the mark, Cambridge being represented by F. S. Horan; Oxford by F. W. Rathborne (who had run second to W. E. Lutyens in the lnter-'Varsity mile) and J. Corbin; the L.A. C. by A. W. Andrews and myself; and perhaps A. G. Butler and A. Millett were the pick of the other London men. Bunched together at the start, I received a sharp dig in the ribs from someone's elbow when rounding the bend, which seemed to do me good, and I soon settled down into about fifth position, the running meanwhile being carried on by Horan, with Butler close up. The former completed his first quarter just inside 55 seconds, at v.rhich point I lay third, about ten yards behind the leader,