The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1908-07-21
GREATEST CONTEST
in WORLDS HISTORY
Course Is in Good Condition, Covering
Twenty-six Miles, Start at Great
Park and Finish at the Stadium,
With Twists and Turns.
Hearst News Service.


London, July 21-With the Inter-
rational Olympic Marathon run but
.hree days away, interest in the event
Is at a white heat and many wagers
are being made on the result. There
Is no doubt that the contest will be
the greatest of it's kind in the worlds
Seyenty-two of the worlds
best distance men, representing sew
enteen nationalities, will engage in
Fridays struggle for supremacy. The
course is in good condition. 1t covers
a distance of twenty-six and one
third miles, with the start in Windsor
Great Park, and the finish at Shep-
herds Bush Stadium, the scene of
last weeks Olympic games. The
course abounds in twists and turns,
varying from a matter of yardsshr
varying in distance from matter of
yards to one of miles.
One of the most interesting con-
testants in the race will be Tom
Longboat. the phenomenal Canadian
Indian runner. OF the seventy-two en-
tries, only five took part in the race
at Athens two years ago, notably Jo-
seph Forshaw, of America, John Swan
berg and G.. Thornos, of Sweden,
George Blake, of Australia, and A.
Coutonlakis, of Greece. On that &C.
casion Svanberg distinguished him
self by making a good second to Billy
Sherring, of Hamilton, Ont, his time
being 2 hours So minutes 20 AS sec
onds, and as he finished strong then
he may be relied upon to get the
course this time for certainty. Tor
nos, the other Swede, came in fourth,
so he, too, may be expected to do
something. Blake made sixth place,
and it will be remembered that it was
the Antipodean who made the pace
such a cracker as the men dashed
from the village of Marathon, and he
was in the lead at Is miles and look.
ed like a winner when he suddenly
blew up. Coutonlakis, the Greek, fin
ished in eleventh place, just in front
of Forshaw, who is expected to dc
much better this trip, as he is strong
err, and has the advantage of two
years extra training.
Though a number of the prospective
runners are unknown to fame il
America they hold records in their re
spective countries.
Dorando Pietri, the leading Italian
nomination for the event, is said t.
be fiier and to be possessed of ey
traordinary stamina. He is a nativ
of Capri and has been preparing 70
the race since the idea of holding tn
games in England was made known.
J. G., A. Lundberg who will be
good team-mate for Svanberg, tn
Swede, is a consistent performer 70
the Marathon, as he holds the Swedis
record for hours 40 minutes 10 g.
, seconds.
Nieminen, the only entry frol
Finland, has a record of hours A
minutes 20 So seconds for the twent.
five miles.
H. Muller, the fol emost Germa
candidate. has no known record fC
the Marathon, but he has done GOO
work up to ten miles and thereabou
and he has done lot of pretty fat
road walking.
Undoubtedly the two best men c
the English team are F. Applet
holder of the fifteen-mile amatel
record, and who incidentally took II
measure of the great Shrubb in tn;
very same race, and A. Duncan, tt
present four and ten-mile champion
The official entries:
United Kingdom-F. Appleby,
! Jack, A. Duncan, G. G. Reale, F. Lor
J. Price, H. F. Barrett. F. B. Thorn
son, e. Barnes, "A. Wyatt, s. Stevel
son, w. T. Clarke.
Canada-F. Simpson, H. Lawson, Y
i Goldsboro, @. Goulding, W. Wood,
Cotter, F. Noteworthy, J. Gallery,
!, Longboat, G. Lister, A. Burn, J. Tai
HI United States-J. Forshaw, s..
\ Latch, J. Hayes, T. P. Morrissey,
\ J. Pryan, Lewis Jewanine. Roy W.
] ton
!