Rowing and Track Athletics (extract)

Track Athletics got away first. At the middle distance the Har– vard sprinter was still ahead, and Duffey said afterward that he thought this was what made him break the record. He and Schick had run as boys together, and Duffey had always been able to beat him. Yet, when he could see out of the corner of his eye that his rival was still a shade in the lead at the fifty yards, Duffey began to get frightened. It struck him that Schick was going to beat him at last. Now Duffey, like many other sprinters, ran the hundred in two bursts, so to speak, or beats. Many veteran sprinters actu~ ally perfect this method of running a hundred so that they breathe only twice during the distance. They take one long breath when the command is given to "set," hold it until just before the final effort is to be made, and then take another full breath for the last burst of speed. However this may have been in Duffey's case, the George– town sprinter knew that the race was half over, that Schick was still ahead of him, and if his second "burst" didn't carry him beyond his rival the race was lost. He took the challenge, threw every ounce he had left into the running, and he broke the tape in 9f seconds and established a new world's record. Every man of the five who ran with Duffey that day ran very fast. All were well up at the finish, and Schick, the 1904 intercollegiate