Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-06
HE SIX DAY RACE.
Sixteen Trained Riders Will
 Start To-Morrow Night.

| Sixteen Trained Riders Will
 Start To-Morrow Night. l Young Fenn of This City Will Be One
 of the Contestants-His Partner Will I Be Keegan and They Are Called the Irish Team Foreigners Are Well Represented and the Battle Should I Be An Interesting One.
 A few minutes after midnight on l Monday morning pistol will be fired in Madison Square Garden, and simul- taneously sixteen men, each the repre-, sentative of team, will be started in the presence of thousands for the an- nual bicycle race of six days and six nights on ten-lap board track.
 The sixteen teams entered for the contest this year comprise six pairs 1 from Europe and ten teams made up from the well known riders of this country. The official list of the teams l that will start is: Stinson and Moran, l Boston team; Keegan and Fenn, Irish team; Bedell brothers, Long Island team; Franz Krebs and Barclay, Jer- l sey team; Butler and Turville, Quaker team; Leander and Floyd Krebs, west ern team; Mcfarland and Maya, Cali fornia team; Peterson and Hedspeth, l Chicago team; Newkirk and Jacobson, New England team; Bald and Bikes, l All-American team; Gougoltz and haser, French German team; Buisson l and Bruni French team; Heller and l Doerflinger. German team; Breton and Darragon, Alsatian team; Lootens and Barasquin, Belgian team; Calvin and Root, Massachusetts team.
 l This will be the tenth six-day bicycle race to be held in the Garden. except I ing one in which women were the com petitors, held in 1895.
 I The first six-day affair was held in 1851. when all the contestants rode the old style high wheels. Then it was q l continuous ride, or as nearly so as the men could make it. It was rider against rider and they rested only when disabled or compelled to relax l by nature. In that year s.Plugger l Bllf Martin, as he was even then known, was the winner. He rode l.. 466 miles and 6 laps in the 142 hours. | This was twenty-five and a half miles better than Charles Ashinger, who was second. succeeded in doing.
 In 1892 the men rode only twelve hours each day and Ashinger finished first with 1922 miles and laps to his, credit Lamb was second and Martin l third. In 1893 the six-day race demon strated the superiority of the safety bi- cycle as it had not been done before and settled forever the arguments that then were rife among wheelmen as to "hether or not 1t was an improvement on the ordinary. Because it was a. 1 quetslon In the general mind whether the safety offered any advantage and because some thought the high wheel | better, Albert Shock was allowed to en- ter the race on even terms with q safe- ty. He made laughing stock of all the orhers, who were mounted on high wheels. He won by a score of 1 500 miles and l lap, which was oyer 100 mlles more than the scores made by such veterans as Martin, Ashinger l Waller and Golden.
 1nere was no race in 1894 because Ine one or 1893 was not paying ven- lure. ln 1895 race for women was l won by Frankie Nelson In 1896 Ken nedy and Powers, the present pro- hlotefs, took charge of the race, and every year since then it has aroused interest all over the country and been one of. if not quite, the best attended shows held in Madison Square Garden The winner in 1896 was Teddy Hale Of Ireland, the first and only foreigner who ever has won the race. He made a new record of 1908 miles and laps. Tn 1897 Charles Miller of Chicago won the race and showed the record LID to I 2,093 miles and 4 laps, which is the greatest distance ever ridden by any man in 142 hours. Miller won again
 1n 1898. but did not equal his own rec
 ord, his final score being 2,OO7 miles and laps.
 In the spring of 1899 the New York state legislature, in response to argu-
 ments that the six-day ride was cruel
 ana Drutallz1ng, passed q law stipulat- Ing that no man might ride in a race more than twelve hours of the twenty four. The law was expected to kill the slX-day race. It was designed for that end, but the result was to the contrary.
 The promters planned out a race for teams, each team member riding twelve
 hours day, not continuously, but in total In consequence, the race became one Tor sprlnters instead of pluggers.
 The faSt riders formed teams and by
 changing about every hour rode the
 slow, sturdy and steady pluggers off the track. The new plan made q fast
 and hot race of it from start to finish.
 The first team race, run in 1899, was
 won by Miller, with Dutch, Frank
 Waller as team mate They rode g.
 433 miles and 4 laps, which is still the
 team record. In 1900 the race was
 won by Mcfarland and Bikes with a
 score of 2,628 miles 7 laps
 I The race of last year furnished a blanket finish between the first five
 men. The order of the finish and the
 scores in 1901 were: Walthour- NJ Each I ern, 2,555 miles laps; Maya-W Wilson.
 2,535 miles 4 laps; Newkirk- -Munroe. g. aI 555 miles laps; Babcock- Turville, g.
 o55 miles 4 laps; Butler Mclean, 2. 1853
 miles 4 laQs; King -Samuelson, 2,555
 miles lap; all -McLaren, 2,442 miles 9
 laps; Fredericks-Jaak, 2,231 miles ? laps.
 tThe men in fhfs vear,s raco aro on