ATHLETES' SHORTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 22, 27 January 1939, Page 10

ATHLETES' SHORTS.

LENGTH DISCUSSED. Men delegates to th« annual meeting of the Women's Amateur Athletic Association at the Polytechnic, London, left the hall for half an hour while Miss Dorothy Saunders, the Empire Games runner, tried on several pairs of shorts. Witnesses of this impromptu fashion parade then entered into a long discussion ctii what should be the inside leg measurement for shorts for girl athletes. Four and a half inches was voted too long, and three and a half inches was considered too short, so final agreement wa« reached on a length of four inches. During the debate Mrs. Taylor, Northern Counties secretary, reminded delegates that many women runners wearing shorts reaching to the knee put up times a few years ago which had scarcely been improved apon by present-day athletes, and said that the move toward* shorter shorts was dictated more by fashion than by utility. The men were readmitted after the fthorta question had been settled, and took part in a discussion on tunics. Agreement was reached on a blouse neatly fitting around the armholee and neck, and long enough to be tucked into the shorts. Too Old-fashioned. After her fashion display, Mies Sairndere said to a reporter: "Running this year I had three-and-a-half-inch shorts, which were very comfortable. I think the new length of four inches will be quite smart. The old rule of half-way down the thigh was certainly an elastic one." Mrs. Muriel Cornell, the track athlete, who ie honorary secretary of the association, was not present at the meeting, but she told-a reporter at her Mitcham home that, roughly speaking, the decision would mean shorts, would be shorter. The rule in the past had been for shorts to extend half-way along the upper leg. Many girls considered this too long, and almost everybody was breaking the rule. It was too old-fashioned.