Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

WALKING He founded the Surrey Walking Club in I 899, and from that time walking as a branch of Amateur Athletics has progressed by leaps and bounds-" lifting," the reader may say, but legitimately so. It seems superfluous to mention the men who followed Sturgess and Knott, for their names are inscribed on the records, and it would take the whole of an ordinary edition of The Times or more to set out their per– formances. To mention a few only, we have Larner, who is the holder of records from 2 to 10 miles; Jack Butler, now resident at Banstead, with Brighton Road and 50 miles records to his credit; that sterling walker, Ernie Webb, who only just failed to get his name in the record book, and many others. Good as the "Pros" undoubtedly were in the earlier days, the records that now matter are held by amateurs. The first place must undoubtedly be given to T. E. Hammond for his I 3 I miles 580 yards in 24 hours in 1908; next comes Horton with 73 miles 145 yards in 12 hours in 1914; then S. C. A. Schofield with 25 miles in 3 hours 37 min. 6f sec. in 1911-world'srecords all-and Harold Ross, who walked from London to Brighton in 8 hours I 1 min. 14 sec. in 1909. These are only a very few of the wonderful performances put up, and space forbids mention of the many others worthy ofrecognition. There is Bridge, who was a hard man to beat; Tommy Payne, who once looked like beating 8 hours to Brighton; W. F. Baker, who now holds the record for roo miles on the road; and T. W. Green, who at the present day is potenti– ally capable of smashing any and every long-distance record to smithereens. But one must not forget our friends from the Continent. Year by year we get Italian walkers competing in the Brighton Race, and the names of Pavesi, Giani, Umec, Brignoli and Rivolta are familiar to all followers of the sport. They are distance men of the highest class ; again, perhaps, a tribute to the long-forgotten Roman Sergeant-Major. Anyway, when the Italian champions come over here we, on the average, manage just to beat them, and when our men go over to Italy they generally just manage to beat us, so the shade of the R.S.M. in question is probably appeased. The Stock Exchange Walk in r903 did a lot to call public attention to the sport, and as one would expect where members of the House are concerned, a regular "Boom" came along. Walking, both on the track and the road, had made great progress prior to I 914, when the Great War took place. When a determined effort to revive it was made in 1919, the response was a trifle feeble, due, no doubt, to vivid memories oflong treks "in full marching order." But the Road Walking Associa– tion, to whom the A.A.A. had very wisely delegated the virtual control of walking on the King's highway, did not lose heart. Its enthusiastic officials persevered, with the result that the problem nowadays is to find a course with sufficient accommodation for dressing and starting anything up to 250 competitors. Walking is essentially a popular sport, in so far as it makes a mimimum call on the purse of the competitor. His kit is as inexpensive as he chooses to make it, his Club subscription is very low and, 121