The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-01-29
aulsen. Englishmen MAINTAIN

and Axel Paulsen. Englishmen maintain
that the arms have distinct function,
and that by bending their bodies low and
moving the arms from side TO side with
each stroke they succeed in keeping more
nearly in straight line.
The Dutch style as shown by the stroke
of Hanje is adapted for dashing advance
for short distances The Dutch racers
take much shorter and more frequent
strokes than the Americans and are very
serious competitors in distances under a
quarter of mile. Beyond that their speed
fails off and they have but little chance in
contests where endurance is essential.
Donoghue's stroke averages about six
yards in length and Hanie's only four
yards. In the mile race az the recent tour
nament at Heerenveen, Donoghue aver
aged sixty strokes per minute, covering
twenty feet at each stroke. In the quarter
mile dash Hanie took 158 stroke TO the
minute, the average length being ten feet
James Smart IN his races usually takes
abou: ren-yard strokes, and while this
long swinging movement properly exc
cuted brings victory over great distances
it is a well-known tact that the quick in
and ont movement practiced by the Dutch
with the heels kicked up behind would
enable even small boys at Amsterdam TO
get over the ice quicker than many foreign
professionals for few yards.
In speaking OF the Dutch style It should
be observed that reference Is made 70 the
stroke prevalent in Friesland, for in South
Holland skaters practice the easy and
graceful Dutch roli' which while pleas
ant as q motion and to look upon, is not
at all calcuia ted for high speed. Exper-
fence has shown that it is almost impossi-
bic TO maintain 10 strokes minute for
mile or over ninety strokes tor i've miles.
The English expert, T.. q. Tebbutt, Is of
h. -Aiyaf.. hat in -,ta m "a a
in three minutes man must cover i've
yards each stride at the lowest estimate,
and that SIX yards IS the best length.
Leaving then the Dutch style as being
ili-adapted TO long distance fast racing the
question OF superiority in style lies be-
tween the English and the American
stroke the main differences being the
swing of the arms and the length of the
skate blade. The Fen men are partial to
skates with shor; heels and curved toes. it
being impossible for them to use the long
fat runners adopted. by Donoghue
and the Norwegian skaters. The ten
dency IN Norway Of late years has
been to make the blades of racing skates
thinner, flatter, lighter and longer. Dom
oghue's skates are homemade, being the
handiwork of his own father. They are
eighteen inches long, one and ive-eighths
inches high, with blades one sixteenth OF
an inch thick. Like most racing skates,
they have wooden tops and are attached to
the shoes by straps. The Dutch profess
sionais in order to give free play to the
ankles wear no boots, which may have
theoretical advantages but IS undesirable
when the the thermometer Is IN the neigh
borhood of zero.
While fast skating has been cultivated
more or less during the whole century, it
is only of late years that it has received
its greatest development and encourage
ment. In 1851 the Prince of Wales gave
the art a new impetus by becoming a
patron of the National Association, and a
similar compliment has since been paid
the skating fraternity by the king of the
Belgians and Prince Alexander of the
Netherlands. Even in Paris. where fast
skating is but little cultivated, many of
the nobiiity-people like the Due and
Duchess de Noailles, the Baronne Victor
de Lesseps. the PrIncesse de Pax and the
Due de Grammont-haye become regular
visitors at the Cercle des Patineurs in the
Bots de Boulogne, where Jack Frost" a
brilliant young American skater. gives
them an idea of the possibilities of his art.
All over Russia, Norway and Sweden.
England, Holland, Canada and the United
States fast skaters have been honored and
invited to take part in international tour
naments which are becoming more and
more elaborate and successful every year.
In the winter of 1890 We find the skaters at
the American n. >. a. races SO absorbed In
the contests that the ten-mile race won by
J. Lappe was finished hours after darkness
had set in.
Regarding the speed which has been ac-
complished by the fast skaters of the world
il must be said that only during the past
ten years can the records be accepted as
authentic. Before that time wonderful
stories were in circulation from different
countries about marvellous feats of speed
and endurance. Many people believed
these stories and did not hesitate to de-
clare that it was possible to skate a mile
in two minutes, or thirty miles an hour.
under favorable conditions. I'm the
winter of 1s8O-s1 Fish" Smart, the
great English skater. managed with
great difficulty and with flying start
to cover a straight mile in three minutes
and demonstrated the fact that the pre-
viQls skaters who were said To have done
the same distance in half the time or less
had probably skated over courses which
had not been properly measured and with
timekeepers who were not provided with
the modern stop watches or anything re-
sembling them.
When a man has skated mile in three
minutes he can make up his mind that
very few people are going to skate away
from him.
Even today. with all the safeguards and
precautions which have been taken by the
various national associations TO insure &C
curacy and fairness, IL is not easy To class
ify the great skaters OF the world accord
ing 10 their relative speed. The conditions
which are involved change so constantly
and vary To such an extent in the differ
ent countries that IL is not possible
to say absolutely which of IA dozen
famous fast skaters now living are the
best men. Very much depends upon the
course over which the races are TO be
skated. In England the Old fashioned
parallel courses are still used, each skater
taking one side at the start and crossing