Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-09-08
DISTANCE RUNNING
THE MOST TRYING
Loss or MUSCLE MUCH GREATER
THAN I'M SHORT
sPRlNTs.
BUT LESS DISTRESS IN END
AND RETURN TO FORM
MUCH QUICKER.

There is no better advertisement
for medical practice, says London
Field, than the proposition Of some
unsupported physical peril or ailmenl
or remedy to create scare or STAN
pede among the public. and never
more enectually then when ascribed
to sport or pastinle Allegations made
broadcast of pneumonia from the
ballroom, splayfoot from ladies'
hockey. dementia from chess, oD
thalmia from Alpine outings, h.4g
disease from wool or crewel work,
hunchback from juvenile violin study
ague from angling, elbow damage
from lawn tennis, brain shaking
from conclusions of shooting-aH
have served in turn to raise panic
and to make nervous folk doubt
whether life is Worth living.
There will be sexagenarians who
can recall the Skey crusade against
university boat racing and the alleged
wreck of students constitutions, also
the statistical counterblasts from the
pens of Morgan and MacMichaeI, dis.
closing abnormal longevity in old
Blues. Meantime the latest scare to
unsettie the nerve of parents and
guardians has been on the subject oil
long-distance running, mainly as
the outcome of the Marathon race in
the Olympic Stadium at Shepherd S
Bush and the sensational and senti.
mental results from the same, fortl-
fed by renewed matches on similar
lines before transatlantic crowds.
But the normal public school curricu.
lum of sport has not in any way been
affected by these professional com.
petitions.
Attacks of Critics.
The schools have been content to
pursue the noiseless tenor of their
way, as for long decades, nay genera
tions, until suddenly they find them
selves arraigned by section of crit
les, as if they had but lately EN-.
barked upon a course of pastime
which was calculated to engender dis
ease and constitutional collapse in
the rising generation. And yet, his
torically, the Rugby Crick run and
other similar traditional school spins
have been annual occurrences, and
ambitiously so, against Father Time
as the chief opponent, while paper
chases in general have been common
objects; octogenarian Crick runners
have written of late to the press to
announce that they are hale and
hearty, and up to date there had
been no suggestion that rates of life
insurance had risen with regard to
quondam opponents of public school
prowess It is interesting to note
that, on the whole, paramount peda-
gogues appear to be sound and sports
man ike upon this topic where their
opinions have been canvassed. Their
health does not suffer under these
competitions, safeguarded, as 1t is at
al schools. by careful medical inspec-
ton and by drafting of all subjects
whose health, for the day or for life
seems to be untitled to risk possible
over-exertion.
There are divers features of inter
est which appear to invite inspection
and comparison when once this topic
is brought on to the tapis. In the
first place, it may be noted that the
present protest has been mainly di-
rected against long-distance running,
as if that were the more detrimental
(if any branch of juvenile pedes.
us out when we PROFOUND that, If one
kind of running more than another
can be supposed to produce latter
day injury to constitutions, it will be-
not so much Flooding test of en-
durance as sprinting. A quarter or
haff1mile run exercises create. strain,
by reason of the continued high pres
sure from start to finish, than a two
to eight-mile run, wherein second
wind settles down, and the subject
wins or loses according to degrees OF
fatigue. The strain upon the vascu-
lar system is sharper in these shorter
than in the longer contests.
Pace That Kills in Races.
1t is in conformity with the time
honored adage that il is pace that
kills. We herein are far from saying
that even brief high-pressure races oil
this sort are (under normal school
medical precautions) calculated To-
damage Juvenile health: in fact, sta
tistics seem to point in the other di'
rection, IL inference may be drawn
from the more than average health
and longevity O. Alverstone, jersey.
Lafes- wittewronge, Pelham. GARNER,
Fft<iIerbert, and other sam
PIES of public school and university
foot.racing, The most we would say
Is that, IL crusade is to be justified
from any point OF view, it should be
against the spr'nters in preference TOT
the savers. Another feature is thel
readymade fitness Of thel
schoolboy for long running, as com.
pared to the average condition o
older men: the latter need more sps-
cial and more severe preparation IN
order to enable them to do full just
tice 10 Their powers: but the sch"of 1