The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-04
Cycling.
RAIN PUTS END TO CYCLE RACES
TRACK TOO WET FOR RIDING
AND RACES POSTPONED.
Will Be Run Off Tonight-Admit-
lance Free to Those Who Were
Present Last Night.

Rain brought the Salt Palace cycle
races to a premature end last evening
Just as the pistol cracked for the
! start Of the first event of the evening
a sharp shower came down, wetting
! the track SO that two of the riders SUI
Tered bad falls. The meet was then
called off and the announcement was
made that it would be run off this
| evening
Twenty-Five hundred people braved
the threatening weather and took
chances on ducking to see the races.
No more positive tribute to the popu-
larity of the sport could be paid. All
day long the clouds had hung low on
the mountains and several times during
the day there were slight showers.
Despite this the crowds thronged Salt
Palacewards long before darkness came
on and half an hour before the races
began there were few seats unoccupied
in the big arena. Most of the crowd
came well prepared with umbrellas.
machintoshes and galoshes to fend OF
the Wetness should it come.
The band in the center of the arena
was playing merrily when Starter
Schefski called out the starters for
the first head of the one-mile handi-
cap professional. Glenn Turville was
on scratch, Frank Cotter at the thirty
y clu MAJ N, D IL SIldTllldn at sixty
i've yards and Tod Game at 100 yards.
a few premOnitory drops of rain had
been coming down as the riders came
out and took their positions. People
began to raise their umbrellas and
the officials down in the center turned
up their coat collars and wished they
We're elsewhere. Faster came the rain
and soon the board track began to
glisten, wet and slippery, in the light
Of 1er
the men off and at the crack of the
pistol the rain began TO come down
harder than ever.
Around the previously slippery track
the riders sped. Cotter caught Shar-
man in the first lap and both of them
bumped themselves over their handle
bars until on the second lap they had
caught Caine. Meanwhile Turville had
not been idle. Rapidly he cut down the
other fellows and on the fourth lap
he had caught them. So they circled
for lap and a half, Game pacing and
Skarman riding high on the track even
with COtter whose rear tire Turville
was hugging.
Swinging around on the sixth lap the
water was flying all over them and as
they came down to the tape Cotter and
Turville backed out and started to
jump by the local riders. The move
Swerved and shot from under him like
a flash and he coasted down across the
tape on his side like a projectile from
a gun, sliding a full sixty feet before
he rolled from the track. Turville's
wheel had struck COtter's and Turville
turned a triple summersault and
landed in the arms of the judges.
Neither rider was seriously hurt and
Cotter Immediately grabbed his wheel
and mounting again started to finish.
But Sharman and Game had gained a
lap by this time. Sharman now had
the pole and with a burst of speed he
opened up a half length over Game.
Game climbed dangerously high on the
wet curve into the tape, however, and
by pretty sprint pushed his wheel
six inches ahead of Sharman's as they
crossed the line The time was 2:10 3-5.
The rain was coming down in sheets
now and several riders urged the
referee to call the races off. People
We're already streaming out of the
exits, seeking a dryer cline, so pres
emily Announcer Emise picked up the
big megaphOne and said to the crowds
that the races were postponed until
this evening and that rain checks
would be given at the gate. The crowd
made a grand rush for the exits and
at the gate the ticket takers were i'm |
mediately swamped with those de- /
rain checks. The street car
were not prepared for the |
rush of returning people so early and /
but two or three cars were in waiting I
and most of the crowd had to wait |
some time in the rain before they could !
obtain transportation. I
President Nelden stated late last |
evening that a great proportion of the /
crowd went away without rain checks. !
So that all may be satisfied the Salt |
Palace management has magma
offered to admit all to the /
grounds this evening who say they |
we're in attendance at the races last
night.
To prevent a promiscuous thronging
10 the park the older people will be
admitted first, the small boys later.
Grey hairs and whiskers will doubtless
De at a premium today likewise soggy
straw hats and bedra ggled garments.
MILE RECORD SMASHED.