The Washington herald., 1909-01-02

Little J. p. Fleming, q younger brother
10 Bobby Fleming. the former crack
George Washington athlete. easily won
the big ten-mne cross-country run Of the
Y n c. a yesterday morning, beating
out q field Of the best known long dis
tance men in the South. Fleming ran
under the oolors Of George washington
University. where he attends. He IS II
the freshman class.
When Fleming dashed through the
crowd OF one thousand or more Of spec
1ators. he was fully half a mile il the
lead OF II Griffith. the Johns Hopkins
star. who copped second place Fleming
had handicap Of four minutes and
fortv-fve seconds. and his time, taking
out the handicap, was ffty-six minutes
and forty-nve seconds This IS within
for,y-ave seconds OF the time predicted
by The Washington Herald
What makes Jennings victory more
wonderful was his easy style OF running.
IN starting of he circIed the Monument
grounds N slow time. but on the second
IT'D around he set out to catch the
leaders. which he managed 10 90 after
passing the Highway Bridge He not
only took the lead. but kept on 'ncreas-
ing il until near the finish. when be
slowed down. After leaving the gray
stucco Methodist Church on the return
tr.o Fleming was leading q small squad
Who could not keep up the pace, finally
dropping back Once away from this
group the little George Washington run
uer set out 70 see how fast he could go,
and as Re passed the country folk along
the roads they stood IN amazement, Won
derine how he could travel so fast, arleT
already negotiating over SIX miles.
Fleming Is Cheered.
From the time Fleming came into view
Il the finish. and until he ran into the
arms OF his brother, the crowd cheered-
IN the crowd were many Of the little
fellows brother students. Is vel as
many friends, who were greatly surprised
a the notable victory he had achieved.
considering that It was the first Iong-dis-
1ance race he had ever run.
Griffith, the Johns Hopkins runner
who ven second place after starting
from scratch, ran a beautiful race He
went around the Monument grounds IN q
little more than FIVE minutes, gaining
considerably on the leaders. BY the tine
he reached the long Highway Bridge he
had not passed many Of the runners. but
after this he began TO gain on the bunch,
and by the time the turning point was
situated. he had left al least ten behind
him. He continued 70 Iope along with
the crowd Until about mile and q half
from. the finish, when by a wonderful
spurt he landed second place, beating out
the next runner by nearly q quarter CT
q mile
FraiIe. & Y " c. A. runner. who start
ed fifteen second later than Fleming, IN
ished q good third. He. ike the two
other. place men. timed himself perfectly
and for a while was close upon the heels
OF young Fleming Fraile's best running
was done after passing the gray stUcco
church. From this point until the High
way Bridge was reached, he ran at a
wonderful clip.
Louis Connor. representing the Wash
ington Grove Athletic Association, 6e-
serves a lot OF credit for the good race
he ran, despite the fact that he crossed
the finish line sixth Conncrs received
but thirty seconds handicap. and after
Griffith. the scratch man. caught I'D %
him the pair ran neck and neck for
over three miles, the Johns Hopkins man
finally leaving the Washington Grove
athlete about 110 yards IN the rear Up
10 the time COnnOr began 10 lose ground
he had been running a perfect race. and
Il was only after his ankles gave away
on him that he dropped a short distance
behind the Johns Hopkins athlete.
Banner to Johns Hopkins.
The banner which was offered by the
Y n c a 20 the organization scoring
the least number OF points for FIVE men
finishing wae won by the Johns Hopkins
University. 0f Baltimore. II was frs;
announced that the association had won
its own banner. but after a recount @.
the points L was found that Johns Hop
kins had So 10 the Y II c. As =
points. Western and Business high
schools. which were counted as possible
winners of the banner. did not finish
with the required number OF men.
Tse course was IN much better shape
than 4 would have been had net cold
weather set in. freezing up the ground
The bridal path around the Monument
grounds, which was considered to be
the best portion OF the course. was worse
than some Of the roads along the W
ginia end Of the route. The ground was
frozen and was rough, making good run
ming q difficult task Another section OF
the course which the athletes found hard
going was over the Highway Bridge
The hard surface was the cause Of ugly
bliSte-s on The feet Of more than one OF
the runners The roads from the bridge
70 the brick yards were IN better con
ditioh than was anticipated. the only