MELBOURNE STOCK EXCHANGE WALK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9795, 15 July 1903, Page 1

MELBOURNE STOCK EXCHANGE WALK

The Melbourne Stock Exchange walk, whicli took place recently, from Brighton Beach to Cheltenham and back, a distance of 13i miles, seems to have been an exciting event for the competitors, and, m some respects at least, a diverting dJßplay for the spectators. Unlike the professional pedestrians, whose total outfit would not weigh more than a few ounces, the Stock Exchange athletes were not disposed to treat their walk lightly. A writer m the Age, who gives a bantering description of their preparations, enumerates, among the luggage of each competitor, " his walking boots, heavy sweaters, a dozen Turkish towels to rub him down, two or three top-coats to keep him from cooling too quickly, if he should manage to get heated, a case or two of lemons and oranges to sustain him on the track, breath tabloids, his own camera and the cameras of a score of friends to photograph him" m various athletic postures, and rosettes and ribbons, so that he may not be mistaken for a noncompetitor or a 'jobber.'" A huge concourse of people watched the 21 competitors start. An ex-walking champion, who was easily level with the leader at the end of the journey, gave them some good advice at starting, which they forgot immediately. The organiser of the walk, a diminutive sharebroker, who cut rather a ludicrous figure on a very large horse, "like a thimble upon a mountain," rode alongside of the competitors. At the word "Go" the ardent competitors dashed forward at a violent pace, which temporarily left the ex-champion far behind. A large number of cyclists and persons m vehicles followed the .athletes, whose rate of speed diminished greatly after the first mile or two. v The crowd, consisting of many thousand people, who about two honrs and a-quarter later witnessed the brokers' return, were clamorous with excitement. In frorit of the competitors came the equestrian organiser, followed at a short distance by a cyclist, and then by the three placed men, Messrs A. Sparling, H.- Martin and W. J. North. The fourth man was still walking well when lie gave up. Altogether 14 finished. The winner averaged 5 4-sth miles an> hour. The best time of the London Exchange walk was 5J miles an hour for 52^ miles, and m the Paris Exchange walk the winner. covered 25 miles at the rate of 5i miles an hour. It is understood that a professional walker would have covered the distance of the Melbourne walk m something less than two hours.