MEMORABLE RACE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 77, 27 September 1924, Page 19

MEMORABLE RACE

SPEED KINGS All . COLOMBES

NEW. ZEALAND'S REPRESENTA- ' TIVE THIRD .

It was past seven o'clock when the speed team'began to prepare for the final, writes B. Bennisonin the "Daily Telegraph" when describing the. epic contest for the 100 meters'race at'the Olympic Games at Colombes, in: which the New Zealand competitor, A. E. Pw ritt, finished third. From the inside of | the track the positions were Paddock, Scholz, Murchison; Abrahams, Bouman, and Porritt. When the leather-lunged announcer gave it out that all was ia readiness for the start the silence was awe-inspiring. .Not.a whisper could be heard. Holes had been carefully due, and, to a 1 perfect start, off the men went like a shot. This and that man's name" Wu S screamed. On they -flew, with ' Abrahams in the.centre, showing just a suspicion of daylight between himself,- ' facholz, and Porritt.. And then at fifty yards Abrahams, amid yells of joy from the British, made his effort. It was herculean m its mightiness, and he took a lead 01 a quater of a yard from' kcholz, with Porritt only inches-behind tlie flying-American, Bouman, .was'next., - and then the awkward Paddock and Murchison. • ■.-.•■-.

Would Abrahams live through? He did. ■ Hs tugged at his big heart, hie,; ': jaws seemed to snap, his finely-chiselled tace was distorted, telling a~tale of iron determination. There was no-'crackinV.-of Abrahams, and on,: he. .flashed ' .to break the tape in front of Scholz. It-.-was one of .the; closest finishes-; -it.'was ">■ Uie merest trifle that: the1 Cambridfio1' Blue won by. But it was enough, and. there was given off a'crack of cnthns--'----lasm. No more popular"-victory: couldhave been. For the first time in the his-' tory of the. Olympic Games, as''they [have come to be, an Englishman" has' won the^sprint.; Except in. .1908, .when-: Reggie Walker, the midget South" Airi-' can, won at Shepherds-bush, the 100 ' metres has been captured by America,' and we had only come to regard the winning of the blue riband of. the track !by the United States as a matter of ■. | course.. , . , ' .. ■ ■• -. . ■; o ?r: p ,mdnS were: Abrahams (1), t £ , iZk ? or"tfc (3), Bouman 4 ■?- a j l 5)) Mpchison (6). Abrahams am 1U 3-ssec, which was precisely tho tune in which he won his heat. That Murchison was last of all came as something -like a,bombshell in the American Ct? p l ut tllere was no begrudging ' Abrahams, of his triumph. On every ' hand he was warmly congratulated, and when- he stood aad saluted the British' nag as !t was unfurled in token of his victory, there was one long cheer, and:" then, as the British National. Anthem was played, all the thousands of people' present stood at attention. It was a, : memorable day for England. ; '