Rowing and Track Athletics (extract)

400 Track Athletics thing is so intense, that even with the best of intentions a contestant is pretty likely to "break" now and then in spite of himself. The position of a judge called upon to watch a large field of contestants, some of whom may be so unscrupu– lous as not to mind running for a few steps if they can do so when the judge's back is turned, is about as difficult as that of the traditional base– ball umpire of the comic paragraph. Some one is pretty sure to be treated unfairly; not every one can possibly be satisfied. For all of which reasons, and others doubtless, walking as a track contest has been dropped from athletic pro– grammes and has lost its place in popular regard. So slow, so ugly, and so stupid a sport could not, obviously, appeal very strongly to the average undergraduate, and while walking was being done in this country the performers on college tracks were, for the most part, inferior to those made under club auspices. Among these club athletes Frank P. Murray, who walked during the early eighties, was one of the most notable. Murray still holds a dozen or so records for variou dis– tances from one-third of a mile up to three miles. The half mile he did in 3 minutes 2f seconds; the mile in 6 minutes 29f seconds; the two miles in 1 3 minutes 48f seconds; and the three miles in 2 1 minutes 9t seconds. These records were all made in 1883 and 1884. Burckhardt of the New