Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE QUARTER-MILE AND 400 METRES took the English half-mile title in I min. s6·4 secs. His English Championship 440 yds. record stood until 1937, in which year it was broken by the Englishman W. Roberts, with 48·2 secs. Greatest of all the middle-distance type of quarter-milers is Ben Eastman, U.S.A., who might possibly have been Olympic champion in 1932, but for the fact that his coach insisted upon his running the 400 metres, instead of the 8oo metres. In that race Eastman returned 46·4 secs., but was beaten by his fellow– American W. Carr, who won in the new world's record time of 46·2 secs. Eastman, a slightly built athlete, was not destined to gain an Olympic title, but more than justified his claim to athletic fame when he made the following records- 440 yds. in 46·4 secs. (1932), 6oo yds. in I min. 9·2 secs. (1933), and 88o yds. in I min. 49·8 secs. (I 934). He holds also the world's 500 metres record of I min. 2 secs., made in 1934, and shared jointly with T. Hampson, Great Britain (Plate X, Fig. 33), the 8oo metres record of I min. 49·8 secs. This record was equalled by Eastman in 1934, and has since been eclipsed by the Americans Glenn Cun– ningham (Plate XXIV, Figs. 70 and 71) (1 min. 49·7 secs.) and Elroy Robinson (I min. 49·6 secs.). 01!-e sprinter- quarter-miler who must certainly be mentioned is Eric Liddell, ofScotland. He played Rugby football for Scotland as a three-quarter back, but in the year of his great Olympic triumph gave up football for the purpose of training seriously in athletics. Liddell held the Scottish 100 yds. championship from I92 I to I925 inclusive, with a best time of Io secs. He held the 220 yds. title from 1922 to 1925 inclusive, with 22·2 secs. as his best time, while he also won the Scottish 440 yds. title in 1924 and 1925, with a best time of 49·2 secs. In 1923 he won the English Ioo. yds . title in championship record time of 9'7 secs., the 220 yds. in 21·4 secs., and in 1924 took the 440 yds. in 49·6 secs. His greatest victory, however, was recorded in the 1924 Olympic Games at Paris, when he won the 400 metres in the world's record time of 47·6 secs. He was a small man, but sturdy, and perhaps one of the worst stylists among first-class runners who has ever been seen on any track. Mter his triumph at the Olympic Games he went out as a missionary to China. Athletes who have shown proficiency at the half-mile, but have subsequently concentrated on the quarter-mile event, include Godfrey Rampling, of the Army and Great Britain (Plate XIX, Fig. 54), who holds the British amateur record of 48 secs., made at 0 209