SOME OLD ATHLETES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIII, Issue VIII, 25 August 1894, Page 185

SOME OLD ATHLETES.

• No one in a position to judge will dispute the fact that the class of men taking part in athletic sports has been sinking lower and lower for years past.’ Thus Mr Sydenham Dixon, son of ‘ the Druid,’ in Baily's Magazine. Mr Dixon excepts the Universities, of course, from his ciicfum, but there is a fine opportunity here for some person in a position to judge to come forward and deny Mr Dixon’s rather emphatic piece of pessimism, if possible. Meanwhile, Mr Dixon does not dispute that the lower class, if it be so, runs very much faster than the athletes of the old days did. When we hear of • Deerfoot ’ only running a mile in 4min. 40sec., we may perhaps wonder whether the North American Indian was better ‘ class ’ than our average mile-runners in any sense of the term. DEERFOOT’S STYLE AND PACE. This series of articles on • Old-time Athletes,’however, promises well ; and the first instalment gives one or two interesting reminiscences. Mr Dixon saw Deerfoot run in most of bis races, and this is his description of him :— ‘ He stood very little short of 6 feet, and his fine face and figure were well set off by the eagle’s feather and heavy wolf’s skin in which he generally paraded round the track prior to a race. No one ever ran in much worse form—not even Hazell, who always seemed to stride 7 feet with one leg and 5 with the other—as he rolled about all over the course. He possessed very little speed, and 1 don’t suppose he could have got inside 4min 40sec for a mile to save his life; but he could do very nearly that time for the first mile, and then continue a reel off mile after mile each occupying a shade over five minutes, until further orders. It is a recognised fact that, for some mysterious reason, everyone connected with professional pedestrians infinitely prefers to get £lO “on the cross ” to winning five times that amount “on the square so, of course, Deerfoot’s “ gaffer,” instead of letting him run long distances on his merits, elected to pay various men to run behind him in four mile races. This sort of thing was bound to disgust the public in time, but Deerfoot’s reputation is firmly based on the fact that his record for one hour’s running (11 miles 970 yards) is still unbeaten, though W. G. George gave it a severe shaking.’ ONE OF THE FIRST AMATEURS. It is interesting also to be reminded of the early amateur performances of Mr W. M. Chinnery, who, in 1892, distinguished himself by opposing John Burns in Battersea for Parliament, and got a beating unlike anything in his running career. He was, according to Mr Dixon, the first amateur who made a really big mark on the running path, the reason being that just in his day the important running grounds in London at Beaufort House and Lillie Bridge were started. What a * game ’ runner he was is shown by the account of bis match with John Scott for the London A.C. Mile Challenge Cup. • The race was run in a perfect gale of wind, which must have been very distressing to a man fairly choked by a bad cold as Chinnery was. In fact, when 1 went to speak to him in the dressing-room as he stripped for the race, I found his voice completely gone, and he told me in a hoarse whisper that be had not been able to put on a running shoe for nearly a week. Still it did not seem to affect him in the race, and he came away at the top of the straight and raced home an easy winner, just in the old style. To reach the tape inside 4inin. 30rec. under such conditions was a wonderful performance.’ AFTER JUMPING OVER A SHEEP. Another well-known runner was E. J. Colbeck. whose distance was the quarter-mile. But the story which Mr Dixon tells of him reminds us that we must not crow too much over a compaiison of our ‘ records ’ with those of the old runners. Our running paths, with their long straights and few turns, are now looked after as carefully as if they were billiard tables. But that used not to be the way. In Colbeck’s best quarter-mile be had to jump over a sheep as he rounded the last turn at Beaufort House. This would put the best of our quarter milers ont of their stride.