Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-01-01
Closing Days Of the Convention Hall
Contest.
WORK Is TELLING ON TIE RIDERS
Finals for the Presidents Cup in
the Local Golf Club Tourney.
CURRENT SPORTING NOTES

/ Convention Hall have commenced. and the
| struggle is narrowing down. The men are
| reservfng themselves for the wind-up, ex
actly as they reserve their strength for the
close of each days races If any changes
/ occur, 1t will be either tonight or tomor-
| row. While the holding of seod positions
| in the opening of the race is a bolster for
| the closing part. yet every rider will have
| to ride, and ride hard to maintain his posi-
| ton. After holding their own for four
| days. 1t would be serious blow to Waller
| and Maddox if they. lost their positions. yet
| that is just what a good many are looking
| for.
| In spite of the good care and attention
bestowed on the men by their trainers, the
ride Is telling more plainly on them than
ever before. Though fresh and lively when
starting. the riders manage to keep in this
condition for most of the afternoon, but
afterWard their strength apparently wanes
The energy of the riders has not departed
however. and there is not one in the race
who cannot make a magnificent squirt when
occasion demands. Charley Ashinger ap-
pears to be the best man in the lot at pres
emit, so far as freshness Is concerned, aid
he rode in great style yesterday on more
than one occasion. He has worked off
about all of the superf1uous flesh which he
accumulated since the Madison Square
Garden race, and. as he expressed it, he
| las just SdlHeu MS OIQ rIQlng fOrm His
riding yesterday bore out this statement,
and ne was with the bunch on all sprints
nnisn1ng the evening in perhaps better con-
d1tion than any of the other riders. He
| Is content with holding a place in the line,
and rarely. If ever, sets the pace.
The terrible Swede" did some heavy rid
ing last evening just before the close, and
TINS extra exertion had a visible effect upon
weaker than at the close of any other day
| He Is still favorite with the audience his
frank, open face commanding attention,
ana there were frequent cries for him to
sprint and leave the bunch.
FORSTER appears to be riding better than
ever. and his trainer. Mr. Gross. predicts
Tor him a better place than sixth man In
| the wind UP. The "fying Dutchman' main
talned MS usual speed yesterday, and when
pacing was put In, he was perhaps the only
man In the bunch who endeavored to urge
the pacemaker to go at more rapid gait
| Harry Maddox is evidently feeling the
| strain of the ride more than he looks. and
| he made a big protest against the speed of
| Bald and Fred Sims, who started in helping
the contestants In the afternoon The pace
was 100 not for him. and he objected
Chapple's Withdrawal.
the English aggregation In the ride has
ow1ndled down to one man. Marks Chap
| pie and Hunter were put in by their man.
aSer. Ed Plummer. The first named drop
| ped out the first day. after covering twen-
AS stated in The Star yesterday. chapple
| dropped out, when, by the revised score
he had 433 miles IL laps to his credit. he
claiming two more laps than the referee
would allow him. The general impression
seemed to be that the pace set by the rid
ers was too hot for him, and that he could
not stand the strain, but this is most likely
q mistake. as the plucky Englishnaan was
| IN fully as good condition as any of the
other riders, while his record shows him
a and
| not sustained fall the first day he would
have held much better position in the
| schedule.
There were only a few laps gained yes-
| terday. Within a few minutes after open
| Ing Of the race Lawson was forced to
change his wheel, owing to a part coming
loose. The other riders. especially the
leaders, appear to be afraid Of the Swcde
| and they spurted while he was not riding
| gaining six laps. The Sxede for the first
| time was mad, and made an uGcompli-
nentary remark as he rode up to catch the
bunch to keep from losing a seventh lap
Little Hunter fell from his wheel last even
| ing while making the fourth turn and lest
| four laps before he could remount. He
suffered several bruises and one or two
| small cuts, but still he kept on. At the
great squirt just before the close he was
unable to keep up, and lost another lap.
These were the only gains made during
| the day.
| The pacing of the day was not as warm
as on the previous day. though the dis
lance covered was better on average
than fer any other day of the ride. The
leaders rode only one lap less than on the
opening day. while the other men broke
| their previous riding records for the eight
hours.
Sims Becomes Professional.
One of the features of the evening was
the appearance of Fred Sims, the local
! rider. with Eddie Bald. both pacing The
riders. The appearance of Sims ON the
track and making pace changed his ana
teur status, and he will hereafter have to
ride a professional. He was greeted
with great applause as he rode around,
and. despite his enforced idleness from
| riding. he made a fine showing.
Albert made pace in the evening for
some time. and he gave way to chapple.
who carried the contestants around at
good, steady speed.
Sponges have now appeared on the track,
and the riders manage to cool themselves
by wiping their heads and faces with the
moist sponge, which has been wet in luke
warm water. This revives the spirits. and
| makes the riders feel fresh for a time.
The consumption of food is increasing, and
the little tin cans are handed around more
frequently than ever Most of the food is
gwen in liquid state. and the rider swal-
lows it while riding around the arena. One
day Is the using of these food cans, each
rider endeavoring to get as much strength
as possible for the closing work.
The rectifying of the score proved to be
a harder task than was imagined. and the
riders did not relish the change. especially
the leaders. The scorers themselves on the
first day were not thoroughly acquainted
with their work. and made several mis-
takes. This had to be changed. and the
work of the referee was not entirely relish
ed by the riders. 1t appeared as though
the leaders had been scored more than they
rode. while the rear men suffered from re-
ceiving less than they were entitled to-
Exhibition Rides.
Teddy Hale rode mile in 2.37, being
fas ter time than he has made in any pre-
y:cus mile during the week
Fred. Schade. the local rider, went against
| the quarter-milc record of "a seconds but
could come 10 nearer than one second
above the time. losing much in making the
| turns Eddie Bald went again for the
| e-quarter-mile record paced by Fred
Sims and succeeded In bringing his time to
Il. just four seconds below his Unpaced
record of the previous night.
Tom Linton made a wonderful ride for
| ten miles. covering the distance in 24.36. or
| two minutes and eight seconds below his
I d.