The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

POLE-VAULTING. 89 the second style, practised mostly by English amateurs, the athlete as he rises after his run begins climbing the pole hand over hand, or by shifting up first one hand and then following it up with the other. This isnot pole-vaulting, but pole-climbing, and as described in the Referee's account of Amateur Champion­ ships Sports of 1890, Ray's and Stones' pole-jumping was a display of gymnastics rather than jumping. Of course the main difficulty in pole-climbing is keeping the balance, and E. L. Stones provides for this by using a tripodfor the end planted on the ground, so that, asa writer in Scribners Magazine for June, 1890, says, " With the change ofhands and apossible develop­ ment of the tripod, the height over which Stones could vault would seem to be limited only by the distance he could fall without breaking hisneck." It is clear that pole-climbing can­ not long be allowed to pass as pole-vaulting, else pole-vaulttng will cease to be practised. BEST PERFORMANCES.— In Scotland pole-climbing has been little practised, and the following athletes haveall been capable of clearing over 10 feet on level ground without changing position of hands :—A. Hall, Edinburgh ; J. Rush, Barrhead ;W. and A. Borland, Kilbarchan ; P. Cameron, Kincardine O'Neil, W. Hogg, Ancrum; and Duncan M'Donald, Inverness, whose pole vault of 10 ft. 9 in. across the fieldat Inverness, on soft ground, in 1890, is probably the best performance at pole-vaulting ever done in Great Britain. The best on record without climbing is that of H. H. Baxter, New York, who has cleared 11 ft. 5 in. In the climbing styleE. L. Stones, and T. Ray,Ulverston, hold records of 11 ft. 7 in. and 11 ft. 61 in. respectively, very poor performances when compared with Baxter's pole-vaulting. If pole -climbing is to be recognised as an athletic feat, then any ingenious mechanic can devise aframework as a base fora pole 20feet or more in height, and any good gymnast, with a few weeks' practice, could climb up and drop overthe cross-bar at any height from 15 to 20 feet, with far greater ease than one can vault 10 feet without changing hands. 6