The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-04

The races will be rowed upstream this year for the first time because of the tide.
 Men prominent in the world of college rowing are discussing the situation at length and have come to the conclusion that the rowing of the races Upstream will not in the least interfere with any of the other conditions that have gov erned the event in the past. The starts of the three races which annually make up the programme at Poughkeepsie will be made at practically the same time. It is planned now to send the freshmen eghts away from the mark at 3:30 D. m.. and allow one hour and a quarter be- tween the starting times of each of the following events. Thus the start of the
 varsity four-oared race will be made at b minutes past 4, and the main feature. the varsity eight-oared race, at 5:30.
 One of the most important features to develop during the winter is a new ruling that will govern the rowing of the var sity four-oared race. There has been much discussion of late years as to the advisability of having coxswains to do the guiding in this event All close fol- derstand that the four-oared boat is made up of what might very properly be termed the " varsity eight leftovers' and since the varsity crews are not always picked much in advance of the rowing of the big race of the spring, these four-oared sweep swingers have little time to prac- tice together The bow oar, of course. in a four-oared shell, does the guiding, and as this requires no little practice, the men consequently have not been as per- feet in the art as they might have been in past races.
 Coxswains will not be permitted in the fours next spring, but a new rule has been adopted which will undoubtedly have a tendency to make the bow men more efficient in their work. The rule reads as follows 'In the case of four-oared crew candidates for bow not more than two in number shall be nominated by each entrant on or before June 8, and the final nomination for bow must be made from the candidates then entered 2 In this way 1t will have at least 23 days practice In their position.
 This promises to be an unusually in- teresting season for the ice skaters.
 A number of big meets are now in course of arrangement and more will be planned as opportunity offers. The prin- cipal events now to come will be the car nivals at Saranac lake and Montreal. John Harding of the Saranac Skating as- sociation was in New York a few days ago securing an eastern amateur skating association sanction for the affair up the state and acquaint the local skaters with the details of the meet
 The carnival will extend over the entire week of February 1-6.
 The Montreal games will be the first of their kind in several years. There, too, a weeks carnival is planned, the meet ing winding up on Saturday, January 6, with the international championships. All the titles will be disposed of at one ses- sion as in the past.
 Except that they will be held at Orange lake, Newburg, N. Y., nothing has been decided regarding the national champion ships It is very probable, though no of ficial announcement has bein made that Lincolns birthday will be decided upon. It falls on a Friday this year, but that will be quite as good as Saturday under the circumstances
 I understand an effort Is being made to match Sherring, the little Canadian who won the last Athens Marathon, and Tom Longboat, conaueror of Dorando.
 Sherrings registration. card was with drawn after he accepted a gift of 5000 and house and lot when he returned from Greece, but they never really called him a professional in the generally ac- cepted meaning of the word.
 But Sherring has other things in mind. Perhaps it Is because the purses offered have not been large enough to tempt him. At any rate, he declares that he will never run for a cash prize. Instead he Is pulling all the wires within reach to get back into good standing with the authorities in order that he may run in the Greek Olympic Marathon in 1910. If he fails, then he may run Longboat. Why not make it four-cornered affair,