SOME WORLDS RECORDS YET TO BE BROKEN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1291, 26 November 1896, Page 11

SOME WORLDS RECORDS YET TO BE BROKEN.

There is an article in the Gentleman's for September which will be read with interest by a very wide public. It is entitled " Extremes of Human Achievement," and ia in fact an account of 11 Records " which the modern athlete has established, and which it is the object of all athletes to break with as little delay as possible. The writer thinks that " the introduction of the present-day system of athletics in this country dates from about 1850, when the great athletic meetings began to be held." Here are some of the facts and figures: CYCLIKO, SKATING AND STILTING. "One mile has been cycled in 1 minute 50 seconds, 100 miles in 3 hours 53 minutes ; in one hour 28 miles 1034 yards have been covered, and in twenty-four hours 529 miles 578 yards. As tours de force, of endurance note may be specially taken of the cycling of 1404 f miles, in six days of eighteen hours a day, of 1000 miles cycled on the road in 5 days 5 hours 49 minutes, and of Mills' wonderful ride from Land's End to John o' Groat's, 900 miles, in 3 days 5 minutes 49 seconds. The skater far outstrips the runner in speed, but does not nearly come up to th* cyclist. A mile has been skated in 2 minutes 12 3 5 seconds, five miles in 17 minutes 45 seconds, and 100 miles in 7 hours 11 minutes 38 1-5 seconds. " A form of competition quite unknown in this country—stilt-walking—ispractised to a considerable extent in some district* of France. Recently, at Bordeaux, a young man beat the record by covering 275 miles in 76 hours 35 minutes. The stilts used were about six feet long and weighed 16 pounds. With these rarher ungainly implements he took steps of four feet in length, thus being enabled to cover the ground with comparative ease." RUNNING AND WALKING.

•* There is little doubt that twenty-five years ago there were very few men who could run a mile in five minutes, whereas now four minutes and a half for the same distance is considered to be below the standard of first-class performances. The mile, indeed, was actually run, in 1886, by W. G. George in 4 minutes 12f seconds. Briefly to recount some of the most prominent present-day ' beats on record ' in running, one hundred yards has been run in 9 45 seconds ; half mile in 1 minute 53 2 5 seconds ; five miles in 24 minutes 40 seconds ; twenty miles in 1 hour 51 minutes (3 3 5 seconds ; and a hundred miles in 13 hours 26k minutes. The celebrated 'Deerfoot,' in 1863, ran 11 miles 970 yards in an hour, and in 1882 another performer ran 150 miles 395 yards in 23 hours. "In walking contests, which are by no means ao attractive to the ordinary spectator, a mile has been done in 6 minutes 23 seconds ; five miles have been walked in 35 minutes 10 seconds ; and a hundred miles in 18 hours 8 minutes 15 seconds. In one hour 8 miles 270 yards have been

covered by walking. The only other i pedestrian feat of which mention need here be made is the remarkable distance of 623 miles 1320 yards done in a six days' contest iu 1888 by Littlewood, at New York —a truly remarkable example of what can be done by unaided human effort." JUMPING AND THROWING. 41 In no department of athletics has a more remaikable improvement taken place than in jumping. At the first Oxford and Cambridge meetinp in 1864 the best high jump was only 5 feet 6 inches, and the best long jump 18 feet. Not many years ago it was supposed to be beyond human power to jump higher than 6 feet, and to cover by a long jump more than 22£ or 23 feeb was thought little short of impossibility. Yet these have all been exceeded, to the incredu lous amazement of foreigners who take the trouble to interest themselves in such matters. The record for high jumping stands—and probably will long remain—at the remarkable height of 6 feet 5 5 8 inches, and a running long leap has been made of 23 feet 6k inches. In polejumpihg, in which human effort is aided by the use of a a height of ilfeet 0 inches has been cleared. 11 In other branches of athletics which do not attract so much public attention as the more showy walking, running, or weight-putting and hammerthrowing have also had their champion performers, who, by training other muscles, have been able to make remarkable records. The sixteen-pound weight has been thrown a distance of 4? feet 10 inches* This performance dates only from last year, and this year the hammer, also weighing eixteen pounds, was thrown 147 feet. An apparently much more astonishing performance is that of throwing a cricket ball the extraordinary distance of 127 yards 1 foot 3 inches before it struck the ground, which has not been surpaseed since 1873 "