The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

THROWING THE HAMMER. 55 the standing style. The hammerhandle M'Lennan used in the turning style was 5 ft. 6 in. in length, slenderand flexible, and he turned from four to seven times. The best amateurperfor­ mances with the turn are 133 ft. and 130 ft, with 16 lb. hammer, by J. S. Mitchell, and M. J. M. Barry, respectively, with handles restricted to 4 ft. and the run to 9 ft., both very absurd restric­ tions. Coming to the standingstyle, we findin the North, so recently as 1857, William M'Hardy, Strathdon, firstat Banchory with 63 ft. with 22 lb. hammer, and 81 ft. 10 in. with 14 lb. hammer; D. Dinnie, then twentyyears ofage, second witheavy hammer, with 61 ft. 8 in. John Taitgives William Tait arecord of 125 ft. with 16 lb. hammer, standing style, with pendulum swing. Now we have plenty ofW. Tait's performances in that style : at Dundee, in 1858, down hill, 17 Ib.-hammer, 84 ft. 7 in.; same place and hammer, 1859, 85 ft. 7 in. At Birnam, 1864, Sergeant Legg was first with 80 ft. 6 in, with 18 lb. hammer, W. Tait, second, and D. Dinnie, third, with 78 ft. 5 in. A fair estimate then of W. Tait's public performanceswith 16 lb. hammerwould be 90 ft. In 1865 D. Dinnie was first at Birnam with 90 ft. 8 in.; at Forfar, 76 ft. with 21^ lb. hammer, and at Dundee, in 1866, ,92 ft. 9 in. with 16 lb. hammer. From about that time the circular swing round the headbegan to gain ground rapidly, with longer and more flexible handles, and hammer-throwing improved by leaps and bounds. D. Dinnie's throws with 24! and 16^ lb. hammer at Aboyne, 81ft. 6 in. and 107 ft. 10 in., were unbeaten until 1890, and,as with the puttingthere, hedid not try his best till past his best, and the records he made there were with inferior handles to the 1890ones. In 1871he threw a hammer of i8| lbs. 100 ft.2 in., at Springburn, near Glasgow, on ground almost level, and in 1873 a17^ lb.hammer, on the same ground, no ft. with 4 ft. 2 in., stiff ash handles. His throw at Inverness, with the heavy hammer, after he was well over forty years of age, of95 ft. 4 in., has never been beaten as yet. In private practice, the writer has seen Dinnie, on level