RANDOLPH ROSE

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1780, 8 July 1926, Page 5

RANDOLPH ROSE

HIS METHOD OF TRAINING WRONG A well known authority stated to a Dominion reporter that the performance of R. A. Rose in the English championship was what anyone might have expected who knew anything about athletics. "It is a severe disappointment, but under all the circumstances it was what I expected would take place," said this authority. "I was one of those who was present in Masterton when Rose did the mile in 4min 13 3-ssec on a grass track—the world's record. I was with him immediately after he finished, and from what he told me, I knew he could have done better—could probably have taken off another three seconds. It was that performance, and those subsequently given ' when he beat Hahn, no mean opponent, that induced the public of New Zealand to send Rose Home to meet Nurmi over the mile.

"What happened? He went away, and the first race he competed in at Home was a three mile race, done in 15min 18sec, and the next is a two mile race done in very slow time. We did not send Rose Home to run three and two mile races. We sent him Home as our representative miler, and if you are training for two or three mile races you cannot train for a mile. Anyone who knows anything about specialisation in training knows that, and I was very surprised to see Rose start in any distance other than the mile. It was all wrong, and I believe that is the real reason why the New Zealander made such a poor showing in the mile" race on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.

'•He might, with safety, have competed in quarter and half mile races. Probably he would have been beaten, but .each race would have tuned him up until you would have had him running a record mile. You do not train a horse over a mile and a half when he is to be entered for six furlong races. It can't be done. Rose has been beaten on historic ground, through a misconception of the fundamental principle of training. If I had any say in the matter he would not 'have run any distance over a mile, but I may have started him in races under that distance."