ONE THOUSAND MILKS IN ONE THOUSAND HOURS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume X, Issue 2910, 27 May 1873, Page 3

ONE THOUSAND MILKS IN ONE THOUSAND HOURS.

[FROM TILE " LYTTLETOX TIIIES."] Of the ninny varieties of pedestrianism extent, it would be a ditllcult matter to find anything which affords a greater test of physical endurance than walking one thousand miles in one thousand hours. .Regarded in tho abstract, it would appear impossible that an individual could for the space of five weeks six days and sixteen hours continue to walk one mile in every hour ; thus, even bv walking a mile in the last quarter of one hour and another in the first quarter of the next hour, never obtaining more than about an hour and threequarters' rest at once, The best proof of its difficult character is afforded by the small number of times it has been accomplished ill England. Captain Barclay, the famous amateur pedestrian, was the first who succeeded, and since then such a feat has been very rare. In iVXelbouvne a Mrd. Douglas accomplished tho less ditllcult task of one thousand half-miles in one thousand half-hours but neither feat has been attempted in this colony until yesterday, when air. J. Lewis Wiltchiro entered upon the one thousand miles' task in a paddock neur the railway station. Mr. Wiltchire is comparatively anew arrival, and previous to his leaving England had won a match by walking eight hundred miles in the same number of hours, but has never previously essayed the one thousand miloß' task. Several bets have been laid upon the result, amounting in all to about £150 ; the time-keepers being Captain Mereditch and Mr. P. Bourgeois. A good course, surveyed by Mr. Blanchard, has been formed in the paddock, and it is not only enclosed with a clOße puling fence eight feet high, but the path has been roofed in, so as to afford protection from the weather should rain set in. The course is 135J yards in circumference, eight laps and seventy yards being therefore required to make up each mile. A booth has been erected to provide a retiring room, and at night lights are placed on the course, so that the walker can be seen all round from anv given point. Altogether, the arrangements are business like, and the surrounding circumstances generally speak well for the otia fides of the affair. The walking was commenced at eight o'clock last night, this hour being selected so that the finish of the feat would occur at mid-day. ihe first mile was accomplished in twelve and a half minutes the second in one minute less, and the third in eleven minute s.