SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5240, 28 July 1876, Page 3

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

The return Intel-provincial Pigeon Match, which lias been on the tapis so long, seems as far off aa eror, and it is the Cup .that stands in the way. Many people have admiied tho haadaomo claret jug in Mr. Kolmi window, and thought it' a pretty ono. So it is, and it has a pretty story attached to it. When the match caino off between a number of Auckland and Duncdin gentlemen, £30 was subscribed by oach club, tho losing team to present the winners with a silver cup valued at £60. Tho match was fired and won by our local shots. The Cup was sout up from Dunediu but not received by the Auckland team, ' because not of sufficient value for tho money. Men competent to judge value tho cup at tho very outside at £35. So tho thing stands. Auckland has parted with her £30 and will not take tho cup which ia only value for Auckland's contribution to the fund. Tho iJunedin secretary has been communicated with by the Auckland secretary, and tho letter, written some ton days ago, refusing to accept the cup has not been honoured with an answer. It is much to be regretted that friendly contests botweon'tno provinces should tosult so unpleasantly, atf«l for the credit of the Dunodin sporta, or that portion of them concerned, it is to do hoped that tho matter will be speedily righted, and sufficient value given to the winners. Pedostrianistn has received an impetus in the old country, and the furore for long distance walking bids fair to be somewhat revived by the extraordinary feats of Wcston, the American, at tho Agricultural Hall and tho still moro wonderful walking of the threo Englishmen, who havo beaten tins fastds't time. The match came off at tho Agricultural Hall on May 27th, on a newlylaid cinder-path, seven laps of which covered the milo. weston's performance, it will bo remembered, was 109 miles in twenty-four hours, he fyaying'stiartedjwilh thefpijrpose of doing 115. Out of-a vast number of walking men whoso ambition impelled them to enter a contest against the American's time, fourteen competitor>jof proved-capacity were chosen by the promoters'of a genuine English match. Their names 'and hailing places were :—Newman, CamdeB-'l TftwH'KjChvrk, Hackney ; Smalley, Birmingham; Courtney, Barnet; Miles, Brirton;' Cooper, 1 Northampton ; Nelson, Camden* Town; Vaughan, Chester ; Perkins, - Camberwell ;■ Howse, Haggerston ; Simmotuls^ " Nottingham ; Kobson, Liverpool; Gale, Cardiff; Parry, .Mieiiield ; Ido, Woolwich j and Crosslaud, Sheffield. From tho pen of a correspondent I havo tho following particulars of tho match :—"At nine o'clock, on the morning of the 27th, tho men started on their grand effort. Miles was the fastest for forty or fifty miles. Ho had, in fact, accomplished tho first forty in 7h. and 2ljsec., and had completed the half-hundred in 8h.' 48min. 28sec, a rate of walking which, I need hardly say, is tremendous. But he very soon afterwards began to drop out of, the race, and only at intervals put on spurts which could avail nothing. Ide, Clark, Howse, Newman, Perkins, and Vaughan were now coming on well; and having so far allowed Miles to force the paco, began to make it make it in turn too hot for him. Robson, who from the first mile or two had shown his incapability of continuing the contest, gave up after walking 10 miles and 5 laps. Miles,Jiaving effected his CO miles in less time than anything yet on record, went on in a jerky fashion till he had walked 62 miles and4 laps,, when he gayu in. Just before this incident, Vaughan and Howso had begun to contest the foremost glace, and were alternately passing bne another. Clark had retired after going 38 miles and 4 laps — a poor performance. It 1 nectns ■ that lie ' Has been training rocontly for short distances. Simmonds retired *at ' '45 ' miles and 2 laps, and Ide at 54 miles and 3 laps. Vaughan, who had lost tup ; lead |through, leaving the track for a few minutes, soon repassed Howse, and went a long way in front; and as Miles had beaten the best time for fifty miles, so did the Chester amateur do the same fdr qne hundred'/ "A't a few, minutes before four o'clpck he accomplished the fastest walk of a hundred miles that had ever been chronicled Vaughan's completion of this distance was hailed with immense cheering from all parts of tho crowded hall Just after six o'clock, Vaughan surpassed Weston's 24 hours' die^cp,- 109 .miles 3 furlongs 172 yards— having nearly three hours in hand. Capital performances were those aUo of Howso and Oossland, the- former'fif whom finished his hundred miles" in J9h. 43mtn. Iscc , and the latter in 20h. 42inin. At three minutes before seven —thafcio, with two good hours before him —Howso had beateu Weston's distance; and at fivo' minutei to oight (Jroaaland hail accomplished the samo great foat. At eight minutes past eight Vaughan, having put on a great spurt, came striding along, and was passing tho tablo where the judges sat, when he staggqred, and was oiuight^Tjy^tvvb of. them, arid prevented from aihUing-'io'the ground. He had then done 119 miles and 5 laps, and the sudden failure of his powers showed too plainly that ho liad overtaxed them to a cruel extent,. .He, was borne pffi find when, after an interval bf twelve nfiriwleis} ho^caine on the track again, his lithe sinewy form was enveloped in a loose "coat." He had determined, it appeared, to walk the two-«eyenj;hs of a milo in order to 'complete the score over a hundred. At a painfully slow paco, and with laboured steps, he crawled rather than walked ono lap and 25 yards, and tben again stopped from sheer pro«j>ration^ 3?hj», time ho was carried to his'room by four men } but ho emerged once more in a dreadfully feeble state from his retirement, and literally hobbled and staggered .round the hall,,finiahing tho' sdventb. lap, and wifcU it thti'lgOtlr inpo. It wanted now fiffce'ori.' 'ibi^ufcp* of" nine o'clock, and there was still'a. j.quarter,, of an hour to be used by tho other competitors', befdr^.pistolishot. WhWifofejaMsbT' was fired, at nine o'clock, Howie had covered thfc distance of 116 miles 5$ laps and 200 yards, or very nearly 117 miles, in the twenty-four hours. M prgsslai^d hod done 113 miles and 6 laps less 50 yards. ' Thus Vaughan, Howso, and Oroasland all did far better thaji t Weston fop „ tha, roace of a night fctfiL 5 day. /Nowman. walked' 101 miles and 5 laps less 50 yards. Thus out of the 14 Engli«h >!ped'(8*trians who attempted to beat 'this gWnd J *effort of strength, speed, and endurance, three havo succeeded;., and onp, of. t those , thretj— Vaughan—has 'sur^ajiied r jthft,., American, athlete's great feat by s<i|^mmen)it * distance., that he will uudbubtodljr T)e Jqokad l( upon fo,r, the moment at a wondor' and- a paragon, -'Tliis disciple of ''WalkingSte'wart*; ism hig 29th ydar, ho combi frbnVCh^tcr, a»u he fa ■aid to be an amateiir."^It)Way n'dt he un,j interesting to 'my" reacts. M%Xa6t> before them a few of the greafteawpf last century and the beginning' 6t, the "present in long distanco walking, wheh"porbat>s tho sport was more popular than" now. •'First among long-distance -pedestrians'' ranks Captain ftuclay, who, -by'hii greafc'-walk of 1,000 miles in 1000 successive hour*, has rendered his name' famous.-' Ho has done more re'murkablo distance! than any one else.- Next' ,comes Mr,. Foster .Powell, who walked from London to York and baok, a distance of 346 'miles, four times, oach time being faster tlian, ,'tho incccding. , Hq,q1«o walked irouii.Canter bury to London B^ga,and, back (109. njulqs) >iin ion minutes uudec twenty-four hmys ; in tho next year Tie walked 'K)0mile«| mjtwenty^ two hours. In 1788 1 Mr., John Batfjy* at t|io ago of fifty-five, walked 700 miles in fivq hours loss than fourteen davs on the Hiohmond oohrso ; niid in 1792 Mr.' Eustace, at tho ago of seventy-seve"n; • wAlked over 200 miles in four days,, . Mr. tDownes was another celebrated podesi^iap, wM walked,, ' 400 miles in ten days' for a bet of 100 guincai. fn April, 1808, a gentleman named podges walked 400 miles in eipht days, and wont over six counties duTlirg thff jOWTntiy"; but this feat was c6lli)sed'.*y iE4»lor,, a publican of Towcoster, who walked 500 miles in s'ev.pn^days i^ November,of the »»inn»yo*Fo Capt&UHotno was very,,famous, in mi|.day as a walker } he walked from London to Kxoter'in six days','the aiifanoff covered' being 346 miles. fy r- Canning, a gentleman of Hampshire, walkod from' Basingstoke to Yodvil (300 miles) in less than five days ; and a farmer 1 named Holt, in October, 1811, walked 560 miles in seven days, at Dor-

< licstcr Thio l.ittci la a inohluxti.toiilin iiy performance, mid the records a iy lio was very lame at the llniah. Lieutenant ll.ilitnx. at Tiverfcnn, Devon, wallcorl two miLs per hour for '200 hours, which fo.vt d-Murvea to i.vuk among the best, as ho could take so little rest (Turing fo lr days and nights. An old man ol soventy-fivo, Tronic >avager, w.ilkcd '129 mdo-". on the tnrnp : ko road from Hciefoidto Ludlow bac'; and foro in five daya and nineteen hou-s. In .September, 1811, Mr. Mealing went 540 miles at the rate of 30 miles a day for eighteen days, traversing eighteen counties, for 500 guineas. Mr. Oltvor in 1811 walked 100 miles in ten minute 1 } less than twenty-four hours ; but Mr. Miller in the previous year did the same distance in twenty-fivo minuted less. A Lancashire pedestrian, Waring, performed 136 miles in thirty-four hours from London to Northampton and back ; but Glanvillo, a Shropshire man, did a better time : no walked 142 miles on tho Bath Road in twonty-nine and three-qutrter hours, which is tho most extraordinary performance of tho kind on record, and the betting was 2 to 1 against him. In 1804 Mr. Bell walked at Fuhnmersmith 58 miles in eight hours for 200 guineas. Wall, a hawker,^ walkod C9 miles on the Bath Road in twelvo hours, and is said to have jjono nearly .8 miles in tho last hour, which, however, is not credible Captain Walsham walked 60 miles in twelve hours with ease in August, 1800, and Mr. Hopper walked 63 miles in eleven hours and thirty-nine minutes. Olough, a groom, walked 50 miles in nine hours for a wager of 50 guineas, doing tho first 30 nfiles in five hours. This took place on the Bath Road in 1811, and in tho same year a publican of tho name of Shorehun wont 80 miles in thirtcon hours and ton minutes, going at tho rato of more than six miles per hour. In 1812 Lieutenant Groats undertook , to go 72 miles in twelve hours for a bot of ■ 200 guineas ; he started from Blaokfriars Road to Gantorbury and thehce to Stroud, winning by six minutes. William Staniland walkod, from Driffield ,tq £faUl»nd back in 'seven and turee-quartpr.hpurs, Abe distance | being 54 miles. J-Weld, the'ttolied Hampshiro I pedestrian, walked 100 miles in one day and ,50 miles in nine hours.' 1 The times and i distances are taken from the numbers of the 1 Sporting Magazine. t Tho French Derby, run on the 28th M.(vy, was one of tho finest on record,; It llpcl throughout been regarded as a particularly •open contest, owing to the withdrawal of Kraconnior, who had swept the board ef 'all the principal three-year-old events this year. Tho first favourite was Baron Rothschild's famous Kilt. There were no loss than eight false attempts ; but, ultimately; the flag was dropped to an excellent start. Camcmbert (ridden by Archer) took up tho running till the second turn, when he was pulled back, and Filoselle assumed tho lead, followed closely by Jonquille, till the turn for homo ; when Kilt* who had held a prominent position amongst tho leaders, came on in pursuit of Jonquillo, and, soon afterwards headed him. The race ended with a splendid Struggle homo between Kilt, Ashwntee, and Enguorrande. Tho excitement when these three horses noared tho post was inteuse ; and, ultimately, Kilt, came -in first, Engucrrando second, and Aalianteo third, — the distance between the first, second, and third horses being only a toad ! Camembert was fourth. Tho betting was 2 to 1 against Kilt, 10 to 1 against Ashantee, and 12 to 1 against Enfuerrande. ToupusTONE.