The times., 1898-08-07
Record of AL Moran, Who Will
Ride Against Michael.
A CONSCIENTIOUS WORKER
His Rapid Advancement Into the
Front Ranks of the Crack Follow
ers of the Cinder Path - Schade
and LeCOmpte Fall Victims to His
Prowess-WOrk ON Local Track.

ran, the local public has been quite we'll
informed of the little Welsh wonder,
though but attle has been said of the
local man. It has probably been thought
that Moran is perhaps too well known
to need any extended comment, but
| there are good many who will attend
| the race meet tomorrow evening who
| know comparatively little of the man,
He is almost a new rider having made
MS llrst appearance on the track two
years ago. and last year was one of the
most successful amateur riders of the
season. In the faH of 1896 he did some
! good exhibition riding, establishing the
/ third of a mile track record unpaced,
| at the International Park; time, G:42 1-5
| He also won one race, got place in two
! others, and won three heacs. but he
| gave no promise of jumping into prom
| inence the way he did last summer.
/ Jimmy" first began to show his ability
at the annual Decoration Day meet at
the Athletic Park last year when he was
! only beaten by an eye,ash for the cham
| pionship of The District by Wilson. 1t
Was a beautiful finish. Moran jumped
the sprint away round from the quarter
| pole. He turned into the stretch riding
/ like demon, with Wilson close behind.
! He seemed to be winning easily, but just
about fifty yards from the finish he APP
1 peared to slack up, and in an instant
Wilson had taken advantage of this and
| showed his front wheel across the tape,
! not more than an inch in advance of
Moran
! On June 25 Moran won three frsts at
| River View, and on the following day
/ two firsts at the International Park.
| The first of these latter races was the
one-mile handicap, and he was not given
| much credit for winning, as both Wilson
and Halstead fell. However, when he
| met both these men in the mile open.
! and again demonstrated his superiority
| by winning, IL was evident that II was
not mere luck that carried him
! through Up 10 this time Moran had
| not met Schade, and the meeting of the
| two cracks was looked forward TO with
| great expectation. They came together
at Frederick on July g. and Jimmy
| came on top both times. Besides Schade,
he met and defeated HaStead and
! Smith, and all Of the best of the Balti-
more riders, including LeCompte and
| Wilkerson. July 5 he came to the front,
| and captured the, mile open in the fast
! time of 2:14. which isi the record for the
| track in competition also two-mile ham
| dicap. one-mile team race, and ran sec
| ond in the multicycle race.
Moran's Great Two-Mile Race.
| These three races made him ten con-
secutlve nrsts. His ride In the two-anile
| handicap on this day was something to
| be long remembered by those who saw 1t.
He had just ridden a hard heat, AMI a.
most Immediately. was called out for the
! finals. Mafchett and Wrenn had one
| hundred and twenty yaFds. and they set
! a terrific pace. II. seemed worse than
| useless for the scTato.l. men TO try and
! oyertake them Schade evidently
/ thought so, for he dropped out after ehe
! third lap. Moran. however. plugged on
! and on the very last lap he shot away
! from Wilson and George Smith and pass
/ ed man after man, and u was only when
| few yards from home that he passed
| Matchett. 7; was wonderful exhibition
| Of pluck an1 endurance, and was only
| equaled by the phenomenal ride in the
| muiticycle race.
With a handicap of only 200 yards, he
| apparently waited for the tandem with
! Schade and Halstead, which passed him
( at terrific clip He, however, caught
/ them. and tackled on 10 their rear wheel
until overtaken by the triplet, mounted
! by Greer, Wilson and Smith 20 which
/ he transferred his attention by tacking
| on to them. In doing this he displayed
! rare judgment, and despite the repeated
| efforts of the triplef crew TO shake him
I he hung on to them 10 within a hundred
yards of the tape, when he sprinted,
/ finishing well up past the middle man,
/ beating the tandem out by two lengths.
| This was the occasion for another ova-
/ ton 10 the stocky little rider.
| From this time on he had one accident
after another. He fell at Staunton and
| cut his ear almost entirely off After the
! dootor had sewed 1T UP, he insisted on
! riding in the final of the mile open, and
Schlade only beat him after a desperate
| struggle. He had only begun to recover
! from the effects of the fall when he went
to Ph7,adeIphaa, and in the very first
! heat in which he entered he fell on the
/ hard surface of the Willow Grove track
/ and 1t took the surgeon AN hour TO pull
! the spl.riters of wood out of his head
and arms. On Labor Day, however, in
spite of these falls he won the mile
/ open in one OF the pretuest finishes of
| the year. Moran, George Smith, Wilson
| and Scllade finished in the order alaznesl.
! and so closely punched that no one but
/ the judges could tell who had won. He
I received a bad fall at Norfolk shortly
/ after this from which he has never fully
recovered His ankle was badly wrench
ed by being thrown right through
/ picket fence. In spite of this terrible
strain he rode at Petersburg the follow
! ing Saturday. and won several prizes.
Defeats Schade and LeCompte
! One of the most important of his sea-
sons successes was his match race with
/ Schade whom he defeated with appar-
| ent ease at Georgetown College. At
| Norfolk he established two Virginia
/ State records, riding from scratch in
the two-mile handicap in 4;36; and also
riding in the three-lnile handicap in
7:O9 20. In local trial againsr: time
he rode a quarter ofTsa mile, unpaced
flying start, straightaway. in 20 seconds
/ fat which is a remarkable performance
This year his riding has not been so
successful, but it is attributed to his
training at the beginning of the season
| for middle-distance Gwerk. During last
| winter match race for twenty miles
| was arranged with CHI w. LeCompte of
Baltimore, to take place in that city.
| He trained hard and faithfully for the
! event, and when she match came off he
! easily defeated his man. The time of
/ the race was little over So minutes
The time was slow owing to the fact
that both riders fell, and We're injured
more or less. He was looked upon as
| the winner of the District championship
race, which was held on June %, but un-
fortunately on an adveres report of the
local referee who claimed that he used
| indecent language in an argument with
him. Moran was suspended by the chair
man of the racing board which barred
him for the race. A short time after
| ward he was transferred to the profess
| sional class. Perhaps his best perform
| ance this year was the riding of a paced
| mile. exhibition, in the fast time of ia.
| This was while he was an amateur and
lowered the worlds record for the dis