The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-03-05
SOME NEGLECTED SPORTS.
Little Attention Given in These Days
to Jumping, Hurdling and
Running.
Position and Tactics Employed by
Champions in the Burning
Broad Jump.
Method for Measuring = L.cap-Champtsn
of tho World, Reber, n Mtsscurian
"@s His Record. j.
Written for THE HELENA lSpxrrSpsSr,

Written for The HELENA lNprrENpENr.i
Boys nowadays give SO much attention
to the intricasios of baseball and football
that thev seem to have little timo left fol
the vastly moro simple and natural sports
of jumping. hurdling and Every
boy has his rating among his fellows as I
fieldcs or batter. or as II rusher or hall
back; but how many boys, / wonder. have
any idea 81 to how fast they conld run ion
Yards or a quarter of a mile; whether they
could clear an obstacle at all, on the run
and whether u ditch would have to be
eighteen feet wide or only a dozen to be
impossible except by means Of a bridge.
B.oad jumping is a very different sport
TO-DAY from what it was twenty years acc
Then The athletes jumrsd from a white
washed line. They took = short run. \
great spring, and came down on their heels
on the hard ground, with a shock that you
would think would loosen their teeth. In
those days championships wsre won by u
leap of eighteen feet, and the jumper that
could clear twenty feet was looked upon as
wonder.
Suppose you visit the grounds Of q mod
esn athletic club. On the field. inside tho
oval quarter-mile running track, you will
find s. straight track about ninety feet long
and three feet wide. 1t is topped with .
coat Of cinders OF brick dust, is smooth as
tsble. frm and springy. This Is the
run"
Across the end of the path, nearest the
grand stand, is a thick, w~hitewashed, wood
En- plank. five inches wide. Look at the
blank and you will see that the upper side,
which is level with the surface OF the run-
ming path, is full of little holes, as though
tacks had been driven in and then with
drawn. This plank is the "take-oH," Or
line from which the jump is made.
Ten or a dozen feet from the end Of the
track and plank is a square pit" 1t is.
perhaps, sixteen feet long and seven or
eight feet wide. The pit has been filled to
sand and loan. The soil on the side of the
track noxt to the pit has been removed.
leaving q little ditch three inches deep and
six inches wide.
Now watch the expert jumper who has
come out for Il little practice. lie first
measures of about eighty.hve or ninety
feet from the stake off" and carefully
way to the take-off, he places a check
marks handkerchief, or a bit of white
paper. He takes a little run to timber up
his muscles, and then he ia ready to jump.
Notice that the shoes he wears have each
six sharp, halt-lnch spikes III the toe, ana a
similar spike in the hsel.
The Jumper toes the line which he has
drawn across the run at his starting mark.
His eye is fixed on the check mark.
Toward this he runs. slowly at first, but
increasing his speed with each stride. His
stride is SO regulated that no will exactly
A.. l. 1ha1lr ynorL Fr0ro Tho OhAnE tr
the take-off the jumper PUSHES at full speed
it was only r%ecsntlv that the value OIL
speed as a factor in broad jumping was
fully recognized. He strikes the take-of
with n rush. The toe of the foot from
which he jumps actually reaches over the
edge of the plank, though not far enough
to cause him to step over altogether, OF
FOUL The spikes in his shoes prevent
danger of slipping. He takes a big spring.
getting lots of elevation and comes
down with a graceful curve-at least that's
what you think he is going to do, but at
the last moment, before alighting, he gives
his legs a jerk forward, and his feet land a
foot or eighteen inches ahead of where you
expected. They sink over ankles in the
soft pit. No fear of a jar here. l once saw
q %vaulter, whose pole had broken, some
down into one of these pits from q height
of ten feet, squarely on his head, but e1-
cepting that his eyes ard ears were filled
with sand, he suffered no hurt.
When the athlete measures his Jump you
will sse that he measures from the edge of
his take-off nearest the pit to the nearest
break or dent made in the pit by any part
of the body. This is the rule for measur-
ing, no matter how far back from the take
off his jump actually began. More tina
once I have known an athlete to lose prize,
because, though his actual jump may have
been some inches greater than that of his
competitors. he more than lest this by
"tAking-of" or starting behind the plank.
To strike the take-off accurately, therefore.
foot goes into the ditch and you lose your
jump; if you jump from behind the take
of you loss that amount when your jump
is measured. The ruls may not at first
seem fair, so let us apply a practical test.
Suppose an athlete who could jump TWEEN
ty-one feet tried to clear a ditch twenty
feet wide. And suppose he took OFF, four
teen inches behind the edge. Suppose an
other jumper who could do just twenty feet
then tried the ditch and managed Just to
toe the edge, which would you CON
slider the better jumper? Would it
not he he who combined with
strength of muscle the skill to make the
best use of his powers and the nerve to
rush to the very edge of the ditch? An ex-
pert jumper will often strike the plank
accurately half II dozen times in succes-
sion. And this too, in spite of the fact that
eltnef the weather o. the condition of the
run may make a difference in tho length
of his stride. The stride ia always longer
Oh q warm than ON a cold day. The heat
rela1cs the muscles and enables the athlete
TO ''e1tend' himself. An athlete now
ndays who can't clear twenty-one fee,
hardly thinks it worth while to enter
for q cham pionship competition. DAWN,
an 1rishman, holds the English record,
which is twepty-thiee feet two inches. We
are away ahead of our cousins across
the water. for we have developed three ath-
letes who havs records better than Day
ms. Malcolm w. Ford has Ieaped twenty
three feet thee inches; A. Il. Copeland hnt
jumped one-third OF an inch further than
Ford, and Charles ). Reber. the champion
of America and holder of the worlds re.
cord, is credited with the remarkable dis
lance of twenty-three feet six and one hal
inches.
Reber is a student of Washington uni
~velsity, Missouri. He is but u years old
and up to last epring had only a local rep
utation us q jumper. Rsber does not TAXI
so long u start as the other e1uerts. as h,
thinks Il run of ninety or 100 feet takes tn
strength out of the muscles.
Reber jumps awkWardly, at least it an