Across America on Foot for £5,000

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6667, 21 July 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

Across America on Foot for £5,000

THE originator of this huge crosscountry marathon is the same C. C. Pyle .who threatened some time ago to pilot Suzanne Lenglen round the glohe (Auckland was included in the itinerary) on a gigantic dollar-huntlng expedition. Pyle, however, thought there might be more money in a transcontinental foot race, and as it turned out, the astute promoter seems to have done pretty well out of it. Many of the smaller towns en route paid thousands of dollars for the privilege of being included in the itinerary. Leaves New York "Cold” Hard-boiled New York, however, turned a cold and fishy eye on C. C. Pyle. Only 500 people, the smallest crowd . in the .history * of Madison Square Garden, turned up to see Tex Rickard, the fight promoter, pay out cheques totalling' £9,700 to the, ten placegetters. American sports writers gave the whole stunt an unmerciful castigation. Read John Kieran, in the “New, York Times”: — \ What Bill Pickens, chief assistant to the Hon. C. C. Pyle, called “this titanic struggle” ■ either".shoved off' ‘or was pushed from Los Angeles some time ago, the exact date being asubject of jbitter .dispute; among historians.' t -. ; , • Peering through the mists of antiquity, or what Swinburne referred to as “the dusk of. dolorous years,” one ledrns that there were some 300 startters in this-“titanic struggle,” including several gentlemen with whiskers. A few survived. There was Andy Payne, for instance. Andy won first place and takes doWn the first prize of 25,000 dollars, with which sum- he plans, to lift the mortgage on the old home at Claremore, Okla. A highly laudable aim. >■ * . /’ .• ■’ ~ ..Through the mountains of California and across the plains'of New Mexico

the leader of the trans-continental trot was one Arthur Newton, of South Africa, a man who took up longdistance running because ho had a grievance against the Government. He explained that he wanted to get some personal fame, so that his claim for a land, grant as an ex-soldier in the British Army' would be filed somewhere else except in a South African Government trash basket, so he set all .sorts of new long.-distanee records running from kopje to kopje in • the Kimberley region. His claim was riot recognised even then, so he has kept moving around the world with a

grade- against all Governmcmts, which he. satisfies by entering longdistance races for the sake of wearing out the roads; But Newton bogged down with a pulled tendon somewhere in the West, and he did the last 2,000 miles of this race on balloon tyres, a method which is infinitely more comfortable In the long run. A pulled tendon is a reasonable excuse for resigning from a foot race, but. what shall be said of Pete Gavuzzi, one of the whiskered entrants,; who ran about 2,500 miles and, leading tlie pack at the time, quit the race because his teeth hurt him?

Decidedly, this has been a peculiar contest- 1 During a ,brief spell in the, hinterlands the race - was proceeding so slowly that the sheriff overtook It. When the limb of the (law overhauled the parade, he laid violent hands upon the “palace automobile” in which all the officials, Including C. C. Pyle, were travelling. It looked' for a time as If Mr. Pyle would have to “light down” and finish oiit: the remainder of the race on, foot with the .contestants, but the little difficulty was, straightened out in a-day or. so and the “palace automobile”''steamed ahead and caught up once more with the field. ' f Keeping Time ,■ i ‘ Like Othello, 'Mr. Pyle can tell of “moving accidents by flobd and field.” Some of his runners gave out among the snowdrifts in the Rocky Mountains. Others foundered in the sands of tho Arizona desert. As the race progressed into the. civilised districts the danger Increased, Several runners were knocked down' by passing automobiles and one of the contestants ,was*run down by. a bicycle. The casualties 1 were- so heavy in the fore part of . the, “titanic struggle,’’ that it looked as though it would be necessary to halt in Kansas City arid open a recruiting office for fresh'runners. There ■ has ■ been one grave fault with this race.- The distance'covered was magnificent, but. the time-elapsed has been atrocious. Jules .Verne’s hero wet* around the world In 80 days, and C. ,0. gyle’s runners'have taken longer than that to get l across a single continent. .'. • . . . • . ■ . When it is considered that Edward Payson Weston walked from coast to coast in'7o days, it is apparent that the "titanic struggle” was misnamed. It was really a leisurely jaunt. A good man .would have .walked it In faster time.. - . . .