Coaching and Care of Athletes

I 1- ' I COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES record-holder at 88o yds. and ISOO metres, while it is yet too early to say what John Woodruff may be capable of doing. He won the Olympic 8oo metres championship at Berlin in I936 in I min. 52·9 secs., but has since then returned the surprising times of 47 secs. for 440 yds. and I min. 47·8 secs. for 8oo metres. Good judges among professional coaches are of the opinion that Woodruff, who stands 6ft. 4 ins. and weighs I2 stone I2 lb., once he is made into something like a runner from a technical point of view and has been given racing sense, may well become the first human being to run a mile in 4 mins. flat. Characteristic_;; in build are interesting. In the first place there are two types of half-miler. Peltzer may represent the one, for he was slightly built and over 6 ft. in height. This type finds its extreme in Woodruff. The other type may be represented by the American Lloyd Hahn, of Boston. Hahn was a short, stockily built athlete who had run a mile in under 4 mins. I 3 secs.' arid was also capable of beating 50 secs. for a quarter-mile. On al\ indoor track he made a world's half-mile record of I min. 5 I ·4 secs. Peltzer, like Lowe, was a beautifully balanced runner, who, although equal to putting up world's records at I500 metres or a mile, was capable of utilizing his stamina and judgment of pace at . the lesser half-mile distance to achieve brilliant success. He was also an excellent quarter-miler. Hahn, on the other hand, had no bound in his strong type of running. His stride was com,raratively short, but he had a marvellously quick pick-up, and ran with his feet very close to the ground. He belonged essentially to the 88o– mile type of half-miler, who, although lacking natural speed to begin with, worked down from the 2 mile distance, at which he was very good, to an ability, built up by constant practice in sprint– ing, to develop speed for the half-mile and, finally, for the mile. The Englishman A. G. Hill, although a much more beautiful runner to watch, was of the same heavy, muscular type, -and had a curious and very creditable history. In I9IO he won the English 4 miles title in 20 mins. 6 secs. Mter that he served through the Great War, but on returning to civilian life he followed up what had been foreshadowed in I9I4 when at the English Champion– ships he ran second in the half-mile to Homer Baker, U.S.A., who won in the fast time of I min. 54'4 secs. In I9I9 Hill won two English titles, taking the 88o yds. in I min. 55·2 secs. and the mile in 4 mins. 21·2 secs. In 1920 he ran second tq B. G. D. Rudd, Oxford University and South Mrica, in the English Champion- 228