Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-14

Edmundson is the man. In England E.
II. Montague once ran IN / minute II sec
onds but the conditions under which the
rdce was run are not very clear
The old record OF 1 minute 81 seconds
Tor the zoo yards standing on the books
to the credit OF the late Lon Myers since
1881. was altered by Lunghi. the italian
comet, who did 1 minute 27M seconds.
There is hardly a comparison. however,
for Myers record was made during the
progress of a half mile race while Lunghi
only ran the exact 200 yards. subse-
quently Lunghi attacked another easy
record in the two-thirds Of mile by
w. c. George. The time was minutes
4Sb seconds, II being the first two-thirds
Of his memorable mile race against Myers
when the Englishman won in the then
American record time of minutes 21h
seconds, and It was something worth re-
membering that the snow had to be swept
off the track that afternoon. Lunghi ran
the exact two-thrd Of the mile and his
time was minutes 45% seconds, beating
the American record. In the month Of
June, 1882, George did minutes 45 seconds
at Lille Bridge. London, and this is still
the worlds record.
OF all the track events the half mile fur
nished the real episodes of the season in
the thrilling tussle for the national cham
pionship at Seattle and the new record at
the Canadian champion ship at Montreal.
e. Lunghi, the Italian champion, represent
ing the Irish Amateur Athletic club, ran
the $50 yards at the latter meeting in 1
minute 52ts seconds, a worlds record, sup
planting the old mark Of minute 5S7s sec
onds. made by c. H. Fitzpatrick at the
London-New York Athletic club interna-
tional meet September q, 1895. Hardly
had the man from the sunny cline crossed
the finish line when a wave of suspicion
crept over the land that everything was
not right, and the sceptics drew their con-
illusions from two things. These were
that in the race Frank Riley did 1854 and
up TO that time Lunghi had not shown
within seconds Of his record.
Anxiety to See Him.
After he made his wonderful burst there
was great anxiety to see him in the half
here, but his astute mentors adroitly kept
him away from that distance. The far
games of the New York Athletic club Of
fered a golden opportunity for Lunghi to
substantiate what he did in Canada, for
the track was good and the day fine, but
he elected to go to the Dominion for an
other record which never came off, for he
only showed a shade better than 1859. He
started in the 1000 yards in the indoor
championship at Madison Square garden,
but pulled up when beaten before the last
turn for home. The winner of the race
was Harry Gissing of the New York Ath-
letic club, who made a new indoor record
OF minutes 1885 seconds and II is a fact
worth the notice that Gissing beat the
Italian every time he met him.
In coo yard race at Newark Gissing took
the measure Of both Lunghi and NJ W.
Sheppard on the same occasion and Incl
dentally made the best outdoor mark
for that distance, doing 1 minute 114S sec
onds. Again at the games of the Monu-
ment Athletic club at Celtic Park, Lunghi
was heralded to do all sorts Of things to
the outdoor record for the 1000 yards,
which is 2:1s, by Lon Myers This is the
one great record made by Myers which
has withstood the repeated assaults of the
best middle distance men for a generation
even Fitzpatrick at his best came no
nearer than 214-the best effort OF the
old world runners being 2:14% by w. E.
Lutyens of Cambridge university in 1898.
Sheppard was opposed to Lunghi when he
made the attempt to wipe Myers. off the
books but not only did the Iailian fail
but he was forced to take second place to
Sheppard. who won in little better than
2:20
The half mile national championship at
Seattle was productive of a great race
even the figure recorded being not a fair
criterion Of the real merits of the per-
formance. The winner was Clarence Ed
mundson and he came home in / min
ute 65M seconds, beating Gissing
by about seven yards, but the race was
enhanced greatly by the fact that while
1t was being run there was a strong wind
and a dust cloud, which at the very
least made a difference of couple OF
seconds Edmundson is a tall man with
a great raking stride and is the real race
horse all over. More than a year ago,
when he was student in the University
OF Idaho, he was credited with doing the
half mile in minute 5S7S seconds, equal
ling Kilpatricks record at the time.
Shun Tommy COnneff.
During the year none of the cracks
aspired to take fall out of the record
for the three-quarters OF mile by Tommy
Connect, the figures Of minutes 2M
seconds being on the books since 1895.
The mile record of minutes 15% seconds
also by Connect, was not approached, but
there were two firstrate performances at
the distance. The first occurred indoors
at the annual games OF Columbia uni
Versity Madison Square Garden, on Feb
ruary lS when Herbert L. Trube Of the
New York A. c., made hacks out of his
/ opponents and won in 4 minutes 1885 Sec
onds. This established a new indoor record,
and it was still more remarkable as be-
ing the first occasion in which a native
born American came inside 420 Connect
Vt may be remarked, is a naturalized
American. Later in the season j. r. PAUL
OF the University OF Pennsylvania reeled
off the mile outdoors in 4 minutes 174
seconds. an Improvement OF two seconds
on Trube's time. The same day which
was the intercollegiate meet at Cambridge,
there was a fraction knocked off the two
mile outdoor record OF minutes 274s sec
onds by J. p Taylor Of Cornell univer-
sity, who did minutes 27h seconds and
this is now the best American record.
There was also a new indoor record for
the distance for at the Columbia univer-
sity games George V. Bonhag OF the Irish
| A. A. c., won in minutes 2S1b seconds,
and this wiped away the former mark OF
I minutes s4e IL. h.~