COLLEGE STUDENT WINS HIS WAGER.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 183, 4 August 1931, Page 5

COLLEGE STUDENT WINS HIS WAGER.

WALKED FROM CITY TO ASHBURTON AND BACK, By walking to Ashburton and back in less than forty-eight hours, Mr D. D. Thorpe, a College House student, who arrived back in the city at 3.30 p.m. yesterday, won a wager of £7. His time for the journey was 46 hours 30 minutes. The effort arose out of a discussion as to whether a man could walk to Ashburton and back in less than forty-eight hours. The distance is 10S miles. Memories of the “ good old days ” when long-distance walking was a popular sport have been revived in the minds of many of the older generation of Christchurch residents by Mr Thorpe’s walk. Since the advent of the motor-car., walking as a pastime has been declining in popularity. This is the opinion of several of the old identities. “ Certainly, there are tramping clubs nowadays, but the number of young people who enjoy walking has dwindled with the yfears. Hiking is becoming popular in the United States and on the Continent, and it may be that this healthful form of recreation will claim many devotees in New Zealand.” stated a well-known old-time sportsman last evening. Slump May Alter Things. “The motor-car, with its ease and inviting comfort, has been responsible for the decline in the number of walking tours, but the present slump, when a fair proportion of the cars have been put away as being too expensive to run. may through the very pressure of the economic position see walking regain its former proud position in the scheme of things recreational. ‘ Since the war life has been lived very fast—at far more than a walking pace, apparently—but it is slowing down now, and I should not be surprised to see the sport come into favour again.”