Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

WALKING BY w. w. WEBB Past President, Surrey Walking Club THE importance of walking as a means of locomotion has been recog– nised from the very earliest ages, especially by Military Commanders. But so far as we can tell, the art ofwalking properly, as distinct from a mere weight-carrying shuffle, was never studied until those most scientific soldiers, the Romans, came on the scene. They tackled the job in characteristic style, and finally evolved that long, slow, steady pace which must have nearly broken the heart, apart from the legs and back, of many an Ancient Briton when first called to the Eagles as a recruit. Tireless and remorseless as Rome itself, that stride carried the Legionaries to victory, at the rate of three miles an hour for eight hours a day, over the length and breadth of the then known world. The pre-eminence of the British and Italians as long-distance walkers to-day may possibly be traced back to some long-forgotten, and doubtless well hated, Roman Sergeant– Major. Rome fell, but Rome's traditions remained, and our history books are filled with references to wonderful marches under most adverse circum– stances, from the days when Harold brought his army from victory in Northumbria to the stricken field of Senlac, down to the present time. All that, however, was strictly utilitarian foot-slogging in the mass. The advent ofwalking as a branch of athletics is comparatively a modern affair, and it must be confessed that wagers and staked bets proved to be a most important factor. The Corinthian of the Regency period was ready to back himself, or his protege, to perform all sorts of athletic feats, both possible and otherwise, for fantastic sums, and walking received its due share of the attention of these roystering bucks. Most of these wagers were decided upon the road, where the milestones of the various turnpike trusts provided ready-made courses. No actual proof exists, but it has been said that the curious positions of some of our remaining milestones are due to these matches and wagers. Interested parties are said to have sallied forth under cover of darkness just before the event, and to have shifted a milestone a trifle up or down the road, as best suited their bets. A plausible theory, this, and the fact that it has been advanced tends to cast a doubt upon some of the earlier performances, splendid as they must have been. That, however, is by the way, though consideration has been given to 117