ATHLETICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 19, 22 January 1916, Page 16

ATHLETICS.

George Goulding, that phenomenal Canadian pedestrian, gave all hands a wonderful walking lesson in conjunction with his winning of the seven-mile national championship on the Rutgers Oval, New Brunswick, recently (writes George Underwood, the athletic expert on the New York Tress"). Instead of competing against Goulding, we wish his American rivals could have stood at the trackside and studied the remarkable Canadian. We think they would have learned a whole lot. We had the opportunity to watch Goulding closely, and we can truthfully say that we learned more about the fine art of walking in that crowded 50m 40 4-os it took the great athletic from the Canadian border to cover the seven miles than we could have picked up in a year any other way. The most impressive thing about Goulding's style is that it is absolutely natural and unaffected. It is a style that was not learned through watching some other star and copying from him.. The entire absence of hip or leg roll and any of ■ those contortions most of the American cracks have been schooled to think were necessary to get speed in walking was notable. Goulding walks just like a plain ordinary man in a-hurry, that's all The differentiation between the styles of Goulding and his American rivals lies principally in the Canadian's freedom of action. Below the waist his legs shot out in a straight, clean drive. His strides were neither too short nor too long to interfere with the smoothness of his action. There was utter absence of leg, hip, or body roll. There was"no friction and no"waste. The straight thrust of bis leg was all Goulding needed to propel him along. Back of him his American rivals laboured over the track. With their grotesque hip and body rolls and contortions they seemed to be striving to imitate an Oriental dancer or Charlie Chaplin. They twisted their bodies, rolled their hips about., and just naturally threw themselves out, of that simple," unaffected "straight leg thrust style that was carrying Goulding over the cinders so superbly. Below the waist one or two of Goulding's' rivals were not very far behind him in pmooih": ness of form and action. It was above the waist that the difference in style between Goulding and his rivals wa? so pronounced.' The big difference was in the carriage of the body. Goulding''ke.pt well over the centre of gravity." His head and shoulders always were carried well forward, so that his weight was "on tiis toes. His arms in rhythm to the swing of his legs. Legs and arms worked in perfect tune. There was no interference, no waste, no friction to mar the smoothness of his form. On the other hand, almost all of the American walkers' carried their body back instead of forward of the centre of gravity. Their weight was on their heels. Goulding, leaning wgll forward, made his body "pull" his legs along. His rivals, leaning back, put an added burden on the limbs and forced the legs to "pull" the body along. Goulding's carriage of the body left nothing for the limbs to do but to "push." In regard to arm action, Goulding did little work with his shoulders. Most of his arm swing was from the elbows. In the down swing his hand never went back of his waist or hiips.'' £n the up swing it never passed his chin. The glimpses we snatched of the other walkers, strained and arms stretched back on their buttocks on the down swing/thus interfering with their leg action, wrenching ' their stomach muscles and affecting their breathing. On the up swing their hands frequently shot higher than thpir heads, an utter waste of energy. '