Evening star., 1897-06-05
RAG ING CHAT.

It certainly seems HS though the people OF
this city are heHni,As to get educated to
good bicycle spot, 4 clear evidence of this
fact was the larHe crowd that attended the
| race meet last 4Deeofation day at Interna-
tional Athletic Park. When the grand
stand and bleafhersssare viewed by an or
binary person ie,certainly seems as though
there Is an abunsance OF seating room, but
when figured up the number is not so
large The graba sfand Is capable Of seat
ing something like 1,50O, while the bleacaers
will seat an additiopal 1900, making seat
ing accommodaS $equal to 5000. while
the private bos4f wYl add a. few hundred
more to the totaA .TEen there is an aound-
! ance of standing room. especially around
the picket fence; which protects the turns
of the track
Yet Decoration day the accommodations
proved entirely inadequate for the largs
crowds. For the first time in it's history
the park was filled to overflowirs, exceed
ing even the attendance of the circuit race
meet last fall The local cycle board Of
trade was exceedingly happy over the re-
suit. If they can secure such an attend
ance on the Fourth Of July and at the COM
ing circuit race meet the board will oe sew
eral thousand dollars ahead of the game.
The large crowd OF people that attended
came to witness good races. and in this
kind of advertising any race meet can
have. and satisfied with the sport the public
can be relied upon to attend other meets.
Not only in the matter of attendance was
the record broken at the park on Memorial
Gay. The number of entrants excccdt d the
best showing heretofore made. Last DC
tober. when the circuit races visited this
city for the first time, there We're in all Of
the events seventy-seven entrants. This
was regarded as an unusually largo num-
Der, far in excess of that of any other
meet At the time it was attributed to the
large number Of outside racers. especially
professionals, who make z speciality of fol-
lowing the circuit. The record made dur
ing the week was even much better. The
total number of. entrants reached as high
as eighty-three, and {. study Of the list
shows that all were residents of the Dis
trict with the exception: Of less than ten
men. 1t was q banner day. ard the local
amateurs turned out H. full force.
In the one mile handicap there were
sixty-one riders This is the largest Num-
bcr of entrants evar kn"wn for one race in
the District, and necessitated three heats.
There were thirty-seven woulG-bC racers
who started In to win II cir first racr. end
vet there was only or prize for the novice.
This, leo, was rim OF Ill three heats. In
the cne mile open. amateur. there were
thirty riders distributed in the three heats.
In the professional rlc.5 there weIe four
local men and six outsite men entered. the
entire ten participating in the three p;'ofes-
stonal events.
The general public sees races as they are
H.,
experienced in getting the men to the
scratch II the races are run off within
reasonable space Of time there Is very
little objection, but the least unusual delay
noticeable and the audience quickly notes
the fact by some demonstration or another.
A long lapse of time between the heats
makes a race draggy. slow and tedious.
There was nothing OF this sort In evidence
last Monday. According to the program
there were twenty events on the list. nine
teen of which we're run off. the third heat
in the match race between Michael and
ChildreSs being unnecessary because the
former won the first two heats. The meet
opened promptly at, 2:3O o'clock, and by
a few minutes after, 5 the last race was
completed. This ssclear evidence that
there was nothing dragging in the meet.
In Baltimore it topk three and half
hours to run leven.Rvents last week.
The success In this9respect, and which is
one of the main things in the success of
any meet, was the dispatch with which the
clerk of the course attended to his duties
While Mr.. j. H. Britain was down on the
program as the clerk of the course and
VIM. Gettinger: the, popular president of
the Arlington Wheelmen, as his assistant,
the bulk of the work was performed by
the assistant. who has had considerable
experience in this respect. 1t Is Il difficult
thing to get rider out on the scratch.
especially when he has participate1 in a
race that has Just been run and has rot
had time for good rub down.
The only thing that reflected in any way
on the success of the meet was the accom-
modations for the press. The box set aside
for the scribes was filled with outsiders,
croWdlng the reporters out. The space in
front was blocked most Of the tine with
humanity, obstructing the view ard other
wise interfering with their work.
The car accommodations may have been
all right in going out, though somewhat
behind schedule time. At the close OF the
meet the railroad facilities were very poor
for the handling of the large crowd. What
extra ears were sent up to bring the people
to the town were entirely inadequate for
the purpose. The railroad possibly had 1900
fares to haul to and from the park. 1t is to
be regretted that large number of per-
sons We're obliged to wait for fully two and
three hours before they were able to catch
car to return to the city. Unless the rail-
road accommodations prove better In the
future the attendance of spectators to the
races of the park may suffer in conse-
quence.
Carroll Jack. the professional rider from
Reading. Pa. Jared better than any other
rider In the meet, carrying away with him
something like $1i0 fer his afternoons
work By winning the two-thirds mile open
he secured $40. and in beating the bunch in
the one-mile open secured an additional
$5O. The two-mile handicap also netted
him $50 AL Newhouse of Buffalo, N. Y,
by taking third in the two-thirls-mile
open and second in the one-mile open won
$30 Charles j. Spencer of Baltimore. Md,
WIN Hdu IoO yarQS nandlcap, secured so
by Coming second in the two-mile handi-
cap. Charles A. Church secured $40. the
second prize IN the two-thirds-mile open,
while William Huffstettler of Jacksonville,
Fla.: came out $40 ahead of the game by
getting third in the one-mile open and
fifth in the two-mile handicap. Nat Mudd,
the local rider. won s25 for third place,
and Fred Sims $15 for fourth place. in the
two-mile handicap. Bail also captured a
purse of $l5. The bulk of the money it is
seen oy this was carried off by outside
riders 1t is understood that Jack. New
house. Sims and Church pooled their win
nlngs after the race, and divided evenly
In the amateur ranks Wilson undoubtadl
carried off the honor. His win of the one
mile District championship, and second in
the one mile open, gave him the silver
trophy and so gold watch as prizes In
winning nm the one-inile open Schade secured
$3s gold watch, and he and Griffin Hal
stead as winners of the tandem race eacf
secured $50 shotgun. Billie Sims secured
only one place. and that was third in the
one-mile open. emitting him to a $12 silver
watch. Harry z. Greer and George E.
smith each secured $40 revolver, the Sec
ond prize for the two-mile tandem. William