Two Winners In U.S. Boardwalk Mile

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27340, 4 May 1954, Page 11

Two Winners In U.S. Boardwalk Mile

(Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK, May 2. The seventh annual Atlantic City boardwalk mile today produced two winners, but no four-minute mile. Mel Whitfield, the American middle-dis-tance champion, was declared the official winner in 4min 6.Bsec,. but he was notxflrst across the finishing line. This distinction went to Alex Breckenbridge, a Scot, who was assigned as pacer for the first half-mile, but kept going to register the time of 4min 6.3 sec. The judges pondered and then ruled Whitfield as the official winner as Breckenbridge was not officially entered in the race. The race was run over a slightly curved course on a boardwalk before a crowd estimated at 10,000. It was not sanctioned by the Amateur Athletic Union because it employed pacers. Fred Wilt, who dominated the mile field two years ago, was placed second, and John Barry, the Irish mile champion, third. French Union Leader’s Death! Mr Leon Jouhaux, a leading French trade unionist, has died. Mr Jouhaux, aged 74, was a non-Comtnunist labour leader and was a Nobel Peace Prize winner. He had just been elected President of the Economic Council, the top advisory body to the French Government on economic affairs. He died suddenly of a heart ailment.— Paris, April 30.