Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-06-23
LATE PEDEsTRiANiSM.
Great Twenty.FOur Hours walking
Tournanent Hs she Agricultural
Hall. ra aer N..t
from the London standard.l

From the London Standard.l
Before Weston came over and put
long distance walkers on their mettle,
walking race Of over seven miles
was of rare occurrence, but since the
Americans exhibitions Of endurance
there has been much discussion as to
the relative merits of Euglish and
American walkers, and numbers of
matches at all distances have been
decided in various parts ofthe country,
though only In few instances were
the performances at all noteworthy.
Weston's exhibitions in the provinces
do not appear to have commanded 80
much patronage as was anticipated;
and the class OF men who competed
against-or rather with bim--were all
on par with those that be had-ha to
meet at the Agricultural Hall. They
were untrained; the American there's
fore had everything all his own way,
and in consequence many began
country able to cope successfully
against the American at any distance
over fifty miles. Encouraged by the
large numbers that had attended Wes-
toms exhibitions, Messrs. w. Atkins
and r. Lewis determined to organize
monster competition open to the
world, offering 9l00 as first prize, be-
sides other money prizes, for o twenty
four hours walk at the Agricultural
Hall. Weston was invited to com.
pete, and the promoters literally
offered an extra 4100if the American
entered the competition. but even q
prize of G100 failed to attract him to
the lists. However, there was no lack
of entries, and the difficulty Messrss
Lewis and Atkin had to contend with
was to select only candidates of merit
and fairly representative of profess
sional athletes. OF one hundred ap-
plicants the entries of sixteen were
finally accepted, viz: w. Newman,
Of Camden Town; Miles, of Brixton;
Perkins (champion), of Camberwell;
w. Howse, of Haggerstone; A. Clark,
of Hickney; Vaughan, OF Chester;
Cooper, of Northampton; Ide. of Forth
Woolwich; Grassland, OF Sheffield;
Smalley, of Birmingham; Courtney,
of Barnett; Nelson, of Camden Town;
Simmonds, of Nottingham; Robson,
of Liverpool; Parry, of Sheffield; and
Gale, of Cardiff. OF this lot fourteen
came to the post, the latter two being
the only absentees. The arrangements
were excellent. The track was seven
laps to the mile; composed of sand and
loan, and at the western end there
were retiring boxes for each of the
competitors. Facing the judges
stand an immense black board was
hoisted with the names of the walkers,
and in front Of " hich string Of men
chalked down each mile or lap as
called by the judges, who were eight
In number-H. F. Wilkinson, T.
Griffith. J.Vandy, H. Green, J. Knott,
Jr., J. Jenn, G. Mather, and g. w.
Atkinson (Sporting Lsfe). A baud
was in attendance to ellliven the pro.
ceedings, and the men all appeared In
becoming costumes, each wearing y
any one possessed Of q programme
could recognize each with little din
Guilty. These sashes had very pretty
effect, and the scene just before the
start was most animated one. There
were then about 5000 assembled with
In the building, and the greatest ex-
citement prevailed. It was agreed
that the men should be despatched on
the stroke of nine by the report of \
pistol. Punctual to the minute 1t was
fired, and the fourteen pedestrians
sent on their arduous journey. Miles
at once dashed off with the lead, the
Brixton hero here cutting out the work
at a race pace, followed by Ide. Howse,
Clark and Vaughan. The frst milai
was completed by Miles In 8 min Is
Sec, Ide being only two seconds be-
hind; Miles finished the second In Is,
min. 81 sec., and the fourth In 80 min.,
upon thocompletion of which Perkins,
who was going fourth, was exactly q
lap behind, Courtney being last Of all.
In the first hour Miles walked little
over six miles, and In the second
eleven miles six laps and quarter,
Clark, Ide, Howse, Vaughan aud Per-
kins being we'll up, and squirting in
turns, loudly cheered bv the specta-
tors. The Chester representative was
going very steadily and well, but 1t
was evident Ide and Miles were going
too fast to last. At the third hour
Miles was about three-quarters Of q
mile ahead ofthe field, having covered
seventeen miles Ave laps and half.
At half-past eleven the band played
the National Anthem and the bell
rang for the visitors to leave the
building, but it was not until twelve
o'clock that the hall was cleared, and
then until five O'Clock the next morn
ing none were left within the great
building save the officials and the at
tendants. Despite the exertions OF
Ide, Miles retained the lead, covering
in four hours twenty-three miles and
three laps; five hours, twenty-eight
miles and four laps; six hours, thirty
four miles and one lap. It became ap-
parent on the completion Of his thirty
ninth mile that he could beat the
fastest time on record for forty miles
u hours min. 5 sec), and "Jemmy,"
getting the Office, put on o fine turn of
speed, finishing his fortieth In 2 hours
Il sec. In the eight hours Miles had
traversed forty-five miles and four
laps, and he completed fifty miles In s
hours 4s min. % sec., beating the fast
est record for that distance e hours 80
min. Is sec. by no less than 8 min. so
sec., SO 1t may be judged at what o gait
he was travelling. Ide, after his severe
spurts, now began to drop to the rear,
and Howse and Vaughan filled second
and third places, but at the compile
tion of the ninth hour Miles stopped
for a ahnrt raat and Hawaa 0ot In