Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

THE FIRST RELAY RACE September 14th, 1895. ON two or three occasions, when travelling to an athletic meeting with competitors, I asked them whether they knew the date of the first relay race in this country. Owing to the fact that a Relay Championship was not included in the A.A.A. Championship programme until 1911, they were surprised to hear that the first relay race was held sixteen years earlier, viz., on September 14th, 1895, at the Ranelagh Harriers' meeting at Stamford Bridge. It was described in the programme as a "Flying Squadron Race"; three competitors represented each Club, and the dis– tances were rather unusual, compared with relay races in recent years, viz., quarter-mile, three-quarter-mile and one mile, making up the full distance of two miles. It may be interesting to record the names of the fifteen starters, the distances being run in the following order, quarter-mile, three-quarter– mile, one mile :- BLACKHEATH HARRIERS: R. D. F. Paul, G. M. Harris, J. W. Palmer. EssEx BEAGLES: H.F. Pash, A. J.C. Watson, J. T. Collins. FrncHLEY HARRIERS: H. D. Casey, A. E. Relf, R. Wellin. PoLYTECHNIC HARRIERS: P. M. Calder, G. H. Lee, E. Robbins. RANELAGH HARRIERS: M. Croly Hart, H. R. Tracey, M. Davie. At the time I regarded this item in the programme as a kind of" freak " event, and did not realise as I took up my position at the start for the first stage, the quarter-mile, that I was taking part in an historic event in the athletic world. I might add that I was only twenty years old, and in those days a visit to the famous Stamford Bridge ground seemed an adven– ture of the highest importance to a provincial runner. At the end of the first quarter-mile, H. D. Casey (Finchley H.) led, and A. E. Relf, who took up the running, finished first at the end of the full mile, R. Wellin, of the same club, leading throughout the second mile, and winning by I 5 yards from E. Robbins (Polytechnic H.). M. Davie (Ranelagh H.), J. T. Collins (Essex B.) and J. W. Palmer (Blackheath H.) occupied the third, fourth and fifth positions. The time of the winning team was 8 min, 57¾ sec. The Sportsman, in its "Athletic Notes," made the following com– ments:- " It is to be hoped that other meetings will follow the Ranelagh Harriers' example in the matter of including a novelty in their pro- 123