Los Angeles herald., 1891-05-24


treat i'll store for them. The meeting
to be held next Saturday at Agricultural
park under the auspices of that pop
ular organization, the Los Angeles Ath-
letic club, promises to be by long odds
the best ever held in Southern Califor-
mia. The best amateurs in this part of
the state will battle for supremacy in
running. jumping and other athletic
events. Every contest will be decided
entirely on the merits of the competi-
tors. This is why amateur athletics
stand so we'll with the best people of the
land. The average spectator delights to
see genuine and hotly contested race.
The majority of the amateur records
OF Southern California are destined to
take tumble next week, and it is to be
hoped that several of the boys will make
creditable records at the different
games.
The greatest interest is taken in the
100-yard race for the championship of
Southern California. There will be a
big field OF starters, and it will be quite
a difficult feat to pick the winner.
AL Austin, Ward, Phil Percival, T..
McAleer, Ed. German and E. Chap
man will be among those who will up
hold the prestige of this city in that
event. Robert Bettner, of Riverside,
DIR. Yates, of Fresno, Barney Benjamin,
of San Diego, and Prince, OF Pasadena,
are also reported to be training for the
hun6 red yard dash. At this writing it
looks as if fully dozen will toe the
scratch. 1t will be race from the crack
of the pistol.
The best known of the competitors is
probably Robert Bettner, of Riverside.
He holds the club record with a mark of
eleven seconds. Yates and Ward are
both speedy and are held to be 1O34 Sec
ond men. Very little can be learned
about the Pasadena entry. He is prob
ably the dark horse in the race. Perci
val is showing up surprisingly we'll in
his trials, and is reported to have al
ready shown hundred in 1034 seconds.
Barney Benjamin is training hard. His
favorite distance is the quarter, but he
is fair sprint runner and should have
a fighting chance, esp ecially if the race
is not run as fast as l034 seconds.
AL Austin is good, strong runner and
will be in fine condition next Saturday.
He will also be dangerous factor in the
220-yard race. Very little is known of
the sprinting ability of either T. Nc
Aleer, Ed German or Ed Chapman. In
addition to the above there are sure to
be several dark horses.
Victor E. Schifferstein is the cham
pion hundred runner of California. He
ranks with the best in America. At the
championship games of the Pacific
Coast Athletic association, "Schif'
has won the hundred four years in sue
cession.
at the American Amateur champion
ship games last year, J. Owen, Jr;, OF
the Detriot Athletic club, was ere edited
with running the hundred-yard dash in
4-5 seconds, which is the amateur rec
ord of America. The best previous rec
ord was ten seconds, which has been
made by several athletes. Asglance
through the records shows that 10 2-5
has been good enough to win on great
many occasions.
In 1884, Ford won the one hundred
yard championship at the games of the
American Amateur Champion athletes,
with record of 10 4-5, At the Eng
lish championship games, j. M. Cowie
won in 10 3-5, but 10 l-5 and 10 2-5 has
been made quite often, while in 1886,
Wharton ran in 10 seconds fiat. Ten
and four-ffths has been good enough to
win the Irish championship twice in the
past seven years, and theSbest time ever
made at an Irish champion
ship meeting was 10 2-5 seconds.
The best time ever made at an
Intercollegiate meeting was 10 1-5 Sec
onds, while 10 So has been fast enough
to win four times in the last eight years.
The Canadian records are very fast for
the hundred on an average, but this is
due to the fact that the path is little
down grade. The fastest time on record
at a meeting of the Pacific Coast Ath-
ietic association is 10 2-5 seconds. The
event has been won twice, however, in
10 3-5 seconds.
The starters in the quarter mile are
yet an enigma. Howard, Austin, Ward,
McAleer and Hopperstead will probably
be among the contestants from this city.
Pasadena will be represented by Chas.
Bell, and several other outside towns
will have representatives. This is an
especially hard race, requiring both
speed and stamina. In order to make
fair time the athletes will have to show
up in good condition. Wonderful i'm
provement has been made at this dis
tance in the past five years, and the
athlete who cannot show So seconds has
not much chance to win championship
honors at the regular championship
meetings held in America, Canada, Ire
land or England. The Irish records at
this game do not compare with the Amer
ican records. For instance, the best
time ever made at the Irish champion
ship games is So 2.5 seconds. while in
1889, R. d. Freeman, of the Dublin uni
versity, won in 81 seconds.
The Pacific coast records made at
championship games are not what they
might be. The winners of this event are
as follows: 1885, j. O'Kane, 55R sec
onds; 1888, w. A. Magee, 541a; 1889, W.
A. Magee, 54 seconds, and in 1890 S. V.
Cassidy, 81 4-5 seconds. The writer con-
fidently expects that the winner of this
race next Saturday will make record
that will compare favorably with the
records made by several of the holders of
coast records at this distance. The track
will initiate against the Los Angeles
boys making especially fast time, but the
quarter should be run in 55 seconds,
which would be equivalent to 81 seconds
on fast track. This event has been
xuon bowavar in tho follouinu timas of