The Washington herald., 1906-10-22
ON TRACK And FIELD
Athletic Year Closes with
Many Records Broken.
AMERICANS AT ATHENS GAMES
KeIIy's Two Marks Not Acceptable.
ShepParti's Half Mile - Rodgers
Work as Miier-Samse's Great
Pole VauIt-HOrgan. Flanagan, apd
Sheridan in the weights.

The athletic record chapter for the sea-
son OF 1906 is an exceptionally lengthy
one, for there is a big list Of varied per-
! formances to treat While number Of
these new marks will never be honored
with the official stamp of acceptance by
the ruling authorities, great many are
beyond question and win replace old fig
ures in the record tables.
! In sitting the new claims for superior
! ity the record committee has had a hard
task. and in several cases it has taken
months 10 unearth the vital details as %
timing. measuring, and other conditions
at these performance. What has caused
The principal trouble to the investigators
/ is the unreliable data furnished, springins
from an eagerness in most cases that the
/ records claimed should pass muster. for
I the record craze is rampant \ set of
games nowadays is nowhere without some
sort Of q record being shattered, and in
/ the eDdeavOT to keep pace with the times
managers and other officials of various
meets often indulge in ridiculous ma
1 neuvers IN support Of the record mania.
The increasing popularity of track and
/ field SPORTS has given a fiIlip, as it were.
10 the contagion. Until recently record
breaking was confined mostly 10 the East
and Middle West. but now the far West,
/ North. and South are in evidence and with
vigorous ambition.
Another feature Of the season which
attracted worldwide attention 70 Ameri-
can athletics was the olympic games at
Athens, Greece. The brilliant victory Of
/ the Yankees has now become household
gossip throughout the globe, so that a
heavy job awaits the historian OF amateur
sport TO recount the transcendant feats
OF the athletic year now on the wane.
keIIy's SPrInting Record.
on account of the universal popularity
of sprinting one Of the most important
records Of the year was that made by
Dan II. Kelly. Of the Multnomah A. e.
Portland Greg, in the 100 yards at the
( Northwestern track and field champion
/ ships at Spokane, Wash, on June %. The
figures returned by three timers were
@ 3-5 seconds, which, Il the conditions
were correct. made new mark for the
century, and incidentally cut a big notch
In The fame post Of sprinting not only In
America. but in all other Climes where
{ n
Though the shorter distances. such as
the forty. fifty. and sixty yards, were
I subjected to incessaBt attacks, nothing
new was forthcoming At the Boston A.
\. indoor games on February 10, w u.
Eaton and G. J. SeitZ. both were clicked
in + 3-5 seconds for the forty yards. and
this fell short OF the old mark by a fifth
OF "A secOnd-tO the credit Of Eaton him
self since February, 1895 in the nifty
yards Walter Merrill. "a freshman of Chi
cago University, was the top-notch man
with . - seconds at Chicago on Febru-
airy 10. This equals the record held joint
lys by Victor Rice and ". y. Eaton.
Hahn Best at sixty Yards.
Archie Hahn proved the best Of the lot
lat sixty yards, and DE annexed the a. 4.
L. indoor title AT Madison Square Gar
den, on March Il. and defeated Eaton.
though the latter was penalized yard
for breaking. The time was 9 A. sec
onds. two-hfths slower than the record.
Nothing startling was shown at any Of
the intermediate distances between the
100 yards and 22o but here again the
name Of Kelly looms UD. On the same
day, in which ne distinguished himself
at the 100, he won the furlong I'm the
cracking time of 4 Is seconds. and this
ties the worlds record for straight
away course, made by B. J. Wefers II
Manhattan Field on May 30 1926.
The quarter-milers were rather medic
ere this year. and a man who could beat
30 seconds would have taken the measure
Of the best of them any day.
Half Mile in I:53 s..
One Of the most notable attempts at
new figures in the middle distance de-
partment goes to the credit OF NJ. W
Sheppard. who. at the games of the New
York 4 C., at Travers Island. on Septem-
Der .. in special handicap was clicked
/ minute 50 30 seconds for the half mile.
This is NTH OF a second slower than
the world 5 mark, made by c. II. Kill
patrick, at the international meet be-
tween the New York A c. and the Lon
don A c.. at Manhattan Field on Sep
TENDER p, 1885. Had not one Of the PAGERS
interferec with Sheppard the fitzpatrick
mark would have been eclipsed, and II is
perhaps only matter of time when Shep-
pard viii do the trick anyway.
Th&ecord craze and the thirst for some
thing new weFe evident here again. for
no sooner had Sheppard crossed the
finish line than he was hailed as the
hilpatrick's record to the contrary. and
no mention az all was made of Walter
Dohm or l. +. Myers.
Long Distance Races.
The So0-meter race at athens. when
Pilgrim defeated Lightbody, was a note
worthy event in middIe-distance racing.
but Lghtbody by his victory in the l.5O0
meters did d lot to place American dis
tance runners toward the front He won
from such good men as Crabbe, of Cam
bridge, who had beaten minutes 20 sec
onds for The mile, and John McGough, of
Scotland who once beat Shrub in a
level two miles. McGOugh subsequently,
made new Scotch record, ( minutes 20 90
seconds.
The best mile run. either here or in the
old country. was the English champion
ship. which was won by G. Butterfield
in minutes IS 2-5 seconds. Here T. A.
Rodgers ran a couple of siashing miles.
and he was easily the best of the lot
At the National \. A Z. championships
his time was minutes % As seconds. and
1t was the best race ever run by a native
born American, and ties similar figures
made by J. p. Sullivan last year.
The long distance records remained In
tact, but several EngIishmen put up good
races. but far behind anything like
Shrub would reel off were he still in the
amateur ranks. On this side Bonhag's S
two miles in 3 minutes 20 4-5 seconds
turned out to be the higf-water mark
OF the season. though ii was far behind
the record OF 8 minutes =. 10 seconds by
Alec Grant in 1903 Out on the Pacific