Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

LONG-DISTANCE RUNNING 39 it can be said as certainly that every Marathon race costs one too. This aphorism does not mean that a life is lost at the period of the contests, but the subsequent history of one or more of the com– petitors will show that the " overstrain " of the heart then produced manifested itself at a later date by the closing of life many years earlier than the allotted span of those who never placed such a tax upon the principal vital organ. When Queen Mary, on her death-bed, said that " Calais would be found written upon her heart," she did not mean that the name of the town would be found in so many letters, but she wished to convey that the' grief and worry caused by the loss to the English Crown of this valuable port would show its ill traces upon the fibres of her heart. " 'Varsity Boatrace" or "Marathon" may be inscribed in a similar manner upon the hearts of many. As an absolute essential in any athlete, the heart must be sound, and the cultivation of its power of endurance must be very gradual; training must be pursued with great patience, and the temptation to enter competitions must be resisted until the athlete is as fit as the proverbial fiddle ; no premature over– strain must be indulged in. It is true that youth overcomes rapidly a suc– cession of "overstrains." There is in the young a marvellous power for recuperation, but if this power be tried too frequently, much of the reserve capital of strength is lost never to be regained. McArthur, with his heavy build, no doubt was well nursed for his race at Stockholm; his heart must have been perfect in soundness and in develop– mel)t to bear "strain." He was in himself lion-