ATHLETICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 225, 20 September 1913, Page 16

ATHLETICS.

1 , Alfred Shrubb, the world's greatest distance runner, and holder of the record of oOmin 40 3-ssec for ten miles, is retiring from athletics. Shrubb has been away from England six years, but he is returning for Christmas. The English runner denied recently that athletics were declining, and said they never showed better promise. Asked whether America would continue to triumph at the Olympic Games, Shrubb replied, "Certainly. Tlie explanation is that Uncle Sam knows how to treat athletes, which j is something England and other European nations have not grasped. Athletics is a business in the States. More or less I every boy gets a chanae. When a boy who has leanings to become an athlete and shows proper stuff is discovered,, Uncle Sam gets him to work right away, with the result that in due time he is crowned a champion, and asked to go' abroad and whip the best they have at home." Shrubb went on to say that England has an abundance of athletic material, but John Bull lacks American method in the treatment of competitors. Until the powers that be on your side study American tactics, he considers it •vill be many years before America is ever threatened "with defeat at the famous Greek revivals. When Jean Bouin returned to Paris it wart possible to secure some particulars of his successful attack on the hour record at Stockholm, says an English exchange. It appears that the weather, in the Swedish capital had been so bad, rain falling incessantly,,.that Bouin and his trainer, Harold Evelyn, were on the point of returning to France when matters improved, and it was decided to run on July 6. Twenty runners ot the second class plus Ahlgren (the win ncr of the Polytechnic Marathon Race) and Stenross started along with Bouin. The la3t-named went away at a rare pace, and at the end of the seventh kilometre he had lapped Ahlgren and Stenross, and a second time this was done at the - tenth kilometre. At the fifteenth kilometre he was a whole kilometre ahead of his nearest track-mate, Ahlgren, and then the smashing of the record was certain. At the end of the hour Bouin was 1425 metres ahead of Ahlgren, and the old figures had gone. All the people went crazy with delight. There was only one who showed sang froid. He was" Jean Bouin. From the moment in which his great spirit had been stopped by the pistol signifying the end of the hour he had shown not the slightest fatigue, and while the officials were nicely calculating the measurements he himself was estimating with giant strid-3 the result of his beating of the 11J miles. When it was known that 19 kilometres had been beaten there was a further manifestation of approval. Bouin was given a superb prize, but as Evelyn said: "I do not know which souvenir Bouin will most cherish of that triumphal journey, but I will always be pleased to say, T was there, and 1 played my little role in the affair.'" . Under the heading, "Australia's Record Breaker," our London correspondent writes in August:—The Australian sprinter Jack Donaldson is making history just now on the running track. Last week I chronicled his great performance in beating MeLachlan's record of 21 2-5 seconds for 220 yards, made at Hawke's Bay, Xew Zealand, on February 19, 1902, twice in an afternoon, and this week the Australian has removed from the book Harry Hutchens' long-standing three hundred yards record of 30 seconds made at Edinburgh as long ago as January 2, 1884. The Australian has had several attempts to equal Hutchens' figures for this distance or wipe them out. He tried on Saturday at the Salfoixl professional sports, but though allowed pacemakers, he could only do 30 5-IC, which is about three yards worse than " evens." On Bank Holiday Donaldson had another try from scratch, a 300 yards handicap, in which he was conceding up to 30 yards. In his heat he accomplished 30 1-8 sees., which was 1} yards outside Hutchens' ■record. In the final no more than evens was laid against the Australian doing "evens," and he accomplished more thaji that. He had a fine field of good men to beat, but running with rare fire from the crack of the pistol, he passed everybody except Brandon of TMinburgh, who froji the 28 yards mark beat Donaldson by a couple of feet in 29'J seconds. The three timekeepers specially told off to "clock" the Australian agreed that Ihe had done half a yard inside 30 seconds for the full distance. The Australian's achievement was highly popular, and he met with a great ovation when the performance was announced. , At the same meeting, E. Carter, another Australian pedestrian, won a 130 yards handicap from the seven yards mark, and a performancce which met with nearly as much enthusiasm as Donaldson's was G. Cumminss' successful attempt on the mile walking record of 6 minutes 23 seconds, which was made by W. Perkins at Lillie Bridsre in June, 1874. and was equalled by the Antipodean! G. Gouldi-sr. at Toronto a couple of years ago. Walking in splendid form Cum-min-ts ssiceeeded in covering the mile in Gmin. 22secs.. and thus knocked a full second off Perkins' 39-year-old record.