East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-07-21
WORLDS GREAT
MARATHON RACE
THIS YEARS EVENT
WILL BE BEST EVER.
Svanbcrg Of Sweden is Expected to
Win Over Seventy-one Rivals, Rep
resenting Seventeen Nations-COv-
ers Distance of 20 Miles-WOrlds
Greatest Runners TO Participate.

London, July 21.-With the inter-
national Olympic Marathon run but
three 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 its kind in the worlds
history. Seventy-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
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 in distance from a 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. or the seventy-two en-
tries. only five took part in the race
at Athens two years ago, notably Jo-
seph Forshaw of America John Svan-
berg and G. Thornos of Sweden,
George Blake of Australia and A.
Coutonlakis OF Greece.
Swede Expects TO Win.
On that occasion Svanberg distin-
guished himself by making a good
second to Billy Sherring of Hamilton,
Ont. his time being two hours 5S
minutes 20 4-5 seconds. and as he
finished strong then he may be reliea
upon to get the course this time for
certainty. Tornos, the other Swede
came in fourth, so he, too, may be
expected to do something. Blake
made sixth place, and 1t will be re-
membered 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
15 miles and looking like a winner
when he suddenly blew up.
Coutonlakis, the Greek, finished in
11th place, just in front OF Forshaw,
who is expected to do much better
this trip, as he is stronger, and has
the advantage of two years extra
training.
Though a number OF the prospec-
tive runners are unknown to fame in
America they hold records in their
respective countries.
Dorando Pietri, the leading Italian
nomination for the event. is said to
be a flier and to be possessed of ex-
traordinary stamina. He is native
of Capri and has been preparing for
the race since the idea of holding the
games in England was made known
]. G.. A. Lundberg, who will be a
good team mate for Svanberg the
Swede, is a CONSTANT performer for
the Marathon, as he holds the Swed-
ish record for 2 hours 40 minutes 10
3-5 seconds.
Nieminen, the only entry from
Finland, has a record of 2 hours A
minutes 90 3-5 seconds for the %
miles.
II. Muller, the foremost German
candidate, has no known record for
the Marathon, but he has done good
work up to 10 miles and thereabout,
and he has done a lot of pretty fast
road walking.
Undoubtedly the two best men on
the English team are F. Appleby
holder of the 10 mile amateur rec
ord, and who incidentally took the
measure of the great Shrubb in that
very same race, and A. Duncan, the
present four and 10 mile champion.
The official entries:
United Kingdom-F. Appleby. T.
Jack, A. Duncan. G. G. Beale, F.
Lord, j. Price, H. F. Barrett, F. b.
Thompson, E. Barnes A. Wyatt, S.
Stevenson w. T. Clarke.
Canada-F. Simpson, H. Lawson,
w. Goldsboro, G. Goulding. w. Wood,
f. Cotter, F. Noteworthy, J. Caffrey,
T. Longboat, G. Lister A. Burn, j.
TAFT
United States-J Forshaw, S. H.
Latch, Hayes, T. P. Morrissey, M.
j. Pyan, Lewis Jewanine, Roy We'll
ton.
Australia. NJ. Lynch. w. v. Ak
en-, C. B. Blake.