Evening star., 1897-01-23
LOCAL SKATERS TO RACE.
Contests for the Cham pionship
Convention Hall.


Convention Hall.
The races for the skating championship
of the District and Maryland next week at
the Convention Hall Ice Palace will bring
out about all of the local men who are at
all proficient on the racing steels. The
races will be for one. two and three miles.
and will be skated Thursday. Friday and
Saturday nights. The winner of each event
will be given a medal, and when the meet
is over the man who has the highest num-
Der of points will be given the champion
ship medal.
There are many local skaters who have
through the Introduction of the ice rink.
become proficient, not only on the rocker
skates, but on the racing skates as WELL
and although they have been at it but a
short time many show promise Of some
good work. AS rule. they are about even
ly matched. and the races will prove to be,
interesting and exciting.
The holder of the championship from last
year is Harry Sites, who is probably the
fastest man in this vicinity. He will enter
i'll all the races, and as he has been train
ing hard for some time he will be prepared
to defend his title. Am0ngsthe others Who
will compete are R. lie Mat, A. P. Morris
Fred Frear, p. 3. Lewis. Ed. Hughes. r. T.
Strickland. David Williams. Chic" Cassin
and Bailey. These men are all considered
as having an excellent chance, and the re-
suit of the meet will be In doubt until the
last race has been skated
OF the racers enumerated, Norris Lewis
Hughes. Williams and Cassin are new
corners, and have not been racing more
than two or three weeks They are all ex-
cellent skaters on the short blades, how
ever. and the change to racing skates did
not affect them very much. Since their
entry upon the track they have been put
ting in some hard work. and here is every
likelihood of a dark horse being among the
lot. OF the others LIE Mat is remembered
fro, los plf ~.
did not do much on account OF fall which
he received during one of the races with
Joe Donoghue and which cut his hand so
severely that he was obliged to give up
racing for the season. This year he has
shown marked improvement in his work.
and lately has been training faithfully
Strickland is well known as probably the
best fancy skater at the rink. His work On
the short skates Is exceptionally good ard
often the subject of comment on the part
Of spectators at that resort Strickland Is
remembered also from last year as having
given Joe Donoghue one of the closest
finishes during that skaters stay here in a
short handicap race, and while he has not
been training this season is confident of
being able to uphold his own In the races
next week
Fred Frear has been training since the
beginning of the season, ..nd his hard work
Will not fail to tell In the result of the
races. Bailey Is another skater who was
on the track last year, and from all ac-
counts his work this year entities him to a
place in the front rank of the local cracks
race between Bailey and Sites has long
been talked of In skating circles and their
coming together next week will he watched
with interest Although Harry Sites
promises to be made the favorite. there is
no doubt but that he will have to work in
order to retain his present right and title.
Wednesday night at the rink will see a.
game of hockey between the team from
Johns Hopkins University and an All
Washington team. The Johns Hopkins
team is the one which tied Yale early in
the season. and Is looked upon as being
one of the strongest hockey aggregation
in the United States. The team which will
represent Washington will be made up
from about sixteen or eighteen players who
have been practicing at the rink ever since
the beginning of the season.
Owing to the fact that the National
Guard will use Convention Hall as dcill
ground Monday and Tuesday of each week
until the close of the season, there will be
no evening sessions of the lie Palace on
those days. but the morning and aft .rnoon
sessions will be continued as usual Be-
ginning with next week no charge will be
made for ice privileges at the afternoon
sessions, one admission sufficinS for all the
facilities for amusement afforded by the
rink