ATHLETICS

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 February 1926, Page 12

ATHLETICS

NURMi. PER SON A L LMRR E SSI ON S. FINNISH ATHLETES. Personal impressions of Nurmi, the great Finnish runner, were given to a Christchurch paper by Air. J. T. \\ . Fawcett, an Englishman for many years resident in Finland, who is at present touring Ney Zealand. ‘•Nurmi stands absolutely alone in the world of athletes. He is before anyone else in the class of work he does, and has a style and action all his own He runs from the hips, which, I think, no other runner does to the same extent. Before lie runs in any race lie tells you the time lie is going to do it in, and does it, to the second, lie runs with a stop-watch in Jiis left hand, and times the front man, calculating his own speed from what the former is doing. Nurmi is the only man that I know who can sprint and then slacken off in any race. It is a known fact that athletes in fast running can only sprint once, after which they are finished; their muscles will not answer again. But Nurmi, if he is running ahead of the time he has set himself by his watch, will slacken off. I have even known him to stop. And if he is running behind time he will go ahead like a shot.” ■Air. Fawcett went on to say that when Nurmi broke the world’s, record for the 10,000 metres in approximately 30min 34sec, Ritola, another Finn, who is the only man in the world to approach Nurmi’s standard, came to England and broke Nurmi’s record, in pouring rain, doing the distance in 30min 28sec. When Nurmi returned from the Olympic gamees, on a hard track and with the greatest ease he walked away with the distance and ran it in 30min 7sec. He challenged Ritola and told him that if he cared to run the 10,000 metres against him, he (Nurmi) would do it in 29min 40sec. “I know that New Zealand has been trying to get Nurmi to come out here and run,” continued Air. Fawcett, ‘‘and it may interest you to know that countries like Great Britain and France have been trying for the last two years to get Nurmi to run there, but lic always refuses, because, I. presume, the competition would, not be strong enough. Consequently it- would appear a. very difficult tiling to get him to come to this part of the world. As your great runner Rose’s time for the mile is, I think, 4min 24sec, while Nurmi does it regularly in 4min 10 3-ssee, a difference of 13sec, which is a lot in a mile, there isn’t much hope of your getting him. “1.F.K., the leading athletic club in Finland, of which I am a member, has over ten men who can do the mile with ease in 4min 20sec, and in other clubs there are many men who can do this and under. So you see the standard of these men is extremely high. In Finland there are more than twenty men who can run 5000 metres in and under 15min. Javelin throwing, the discus, wrestling and all distances above threequarters of a mile are certain winners for Finland.” Asked how it was that Finnish athletes had until recently hidden their lights under a bushel, Air. Fawcett replied that formerly the country had been under the control of Russia, and opportunities had not come their way. In parts of Finland every town, even those that had only 2000 or 3000 people, had a 440 yards running track, where anyone who wished might at any time run. That encouraged the younger generations to spend their evenings on the running track. For the small sum of 2s any man could become a member of one of the leading clubs in Finland, and thus obtain full training and attention .

“Finns are naturally strong and very heavily built across the shoulders, thus Finland is to-day the leading country in amateur wrestling and any sport in which endurance and power are needed. All Finnish athletes, and other Finns also, take their steam baths once or twice a week; they had a steam bath specially built for them at Olympia In their training dieting thev take little. Sauces, vinegar, and shellfish are strictly forbidden, and fish, black bread and buttermilk are as strongly recommended. Buttermilk, by the way, is a universal drink in Finland.” A GOOD EXAMPLE. Speaking to young athletes in Auckland, Mr. Hahn, the American distance runner, said that he had gained a good many points about running by watching Paavo Nurmi, whom he regarded as ono of the world’s smoothest runners. These he would willingly pass on. RUNNING WELL. A. E. .Porritt appears to be finding some speed, as he won the 150 yards handicap for Blues at the Cambridge Freshmen’s sports. The New Zealand athlete was on the scratch mark, and, running well, he got past all his rivals to score in 15sec. “Even” time at this period of the year is a high-class sprinting, and Porritt may possibly surpass all his past efforts next summer, particularly should the weather be hot and dry.