The Most Taxing Sport

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6841, 23 April 1932, Page 10

The Most Taxing Sport

Old sportsmen, like old soldiers, fade away, hut in different spheres of sport there are varying rates of fading, and an interesting question is raised by tile fact that Roger Froglcy, one of the outstanding English “stars” of (lie speedway, has decided to retire from regular racing (says a writer in an English paper). We. arc on the tlireshhold of the fifth speedway season in Great Britain, and already prominent exponents of “broadsiding” are feeling the strain. Tile evidence available indicates speedway’ racing as the pastime which results in most wear and tear of physique and nerves. There is the physical strength required to control the skidding machine on the bends of the track, and the nervous strain imposed by the necessity for quick action to correct wrong tendencies on the part of tile motor-cycle. Multiply the stress of each race by the amount of riding accomplished in a full season, and one can cease to wonder that the racing life of the first-class rider is, on the average, some three or four years.