The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

CHAMPION SCOTTISH ATHLETES—1850-1S90. at stone and hammer was William Tait, a brother of John's. William Tait was by far the best Scottish athlete ofwhom we have authentic record, until D. Dinnie reached his prime. He was a good runner, andone of the best high leapers of his time. Donald Dinnie, the next Scottish champion, was not only champion athlete of Scotland for a much longer period than any one else, but the best all-round athlete of whom we have reliable record. He wasborn in the parish ofAboyne, Aberdeenshire, in July 1837, and began his career as an athlete when about six­ teen years of age, and as he won the caber and wrestling at Scottish sports in1890, in Australia, againsttwo of the present claimants for championship honours, he has thusbeen competing successfully andsuccessively for over 37years, andit is question­ able if he will not be heard of as a competitor for some years yet. Such acareer isaltogether unprecedented in the historyof athletics. DONALD DINNIE'S CAREER.— Although a successful competitor at the age of sixteen, it must not be imagined that Donald Dinnie had his athletic powers unusually developed at that age. Had that been the case he would have been out of the lists twenty years ago. The writerhas never known a case inwhich an athlete who showed exceptionalability undertwenty kept up his form for long after twenty. Dinnie was very late in coming to maturity. His best performances with the stonewere done after he was over 30 years of age; his best performances with the hammer after he was over 35. What isslill more wonderful is that from the time he began his athletic career at16 up to the time he was over 30 he wrought steadilyat his trade as a mason when not at games, and threw the sameenergy into hiswork as a mason as into hisathletic feats. At one timehe issued a chal­ lenge to dress and build graniteagainst anymason in the world. At Crossroads, Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, with William Gilbert, now farmer, Sheil, Leochel-Cushnie, as labourer, the amountthe one carried and the other built in a given time has probably never been equalled before nor since. The extraordinary spells