Rowing and Track Athletics (extract)

Distance Runs and Distance Runners 335 larly in and about Boston. As far as form went Burke was one of the prettiest runners of his day. He was tall, slender, and lithely put together, and in action he "got his back into it" with that steel-spring rhythm which adds so much to the music of a runner's stride. Long did not try for the world's record in the quarter until after he had won at Mott Haven and at the national championships, in both this country and England, and proved by the stern logic of competition that he could beat all comers. The trial was run at the Guttenberg race track, in New Jersey, under the most favorable circum– stances. The weather conditions were all that could be desired. The four hundred forty yards were measured straight-away, several sprinters jumped into the running and set the pace at graduated distances along the course, and the previous times were smashed all the way from the three-hundred-fifty-yard mark to the tape. Long's quarter in 47 seconds beat all previous records, amateur and professional, in this country and in England. Boardman of Yale, Holland of Georgetown, and Haigh of Harvard has each won at Mott Haven since Long's day, and in excellent time; but no one has done anywhere near his record, and it is one, indeed, that is not likely soon to be disturbed. Kilpatrick, the world's fastest half-miler, entered