El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-02-01

HHE last Of the outdoor cham
pionships of the International
Skating union have just closed at
Boston. These championships began at
Chicago on January It, and since then
events have been held at Cleveland, o.;
Newburg, n. Y; New York city; Sara
nae Lake, N. Y, and Montreal Other
notable happenings in the skating
world on this side Of the Atlantic are
those of the Eastern Skating associ-
alton of America, the Western Skating
association of America. the New Eng
land association and the meetings or
the Eastern and Western Canadian
associations.
In looking over skating history a no
ticeable popularity is that the period
whe nthe sport seems to have flour
ished most and produced the greatest
number of record holders in the Unit
ed States and Canada, was from 1888
to 1897. Since then there hive been rec
ords, but the marks have not fallen as
rapidly as during that period. pos
sfble explanation is that there was
time when indoor Kinks were rather
plentiful in many cities where the ath-
letes were capable but the opportuni-
ties for practice on natural ice were
limited. Recently there have been signs
of recrudescence of the indoor ice
skating boom, but it is thought 1t will
not come to fruition until the roller
skating craze of the past few years
has entirely run It's course.
American and Canadian Skaters.
Contrary to what might have been
expected, the Norwegians, Swedes, HoI-
Ianders and other north Of Europe
skaters. with whom the sport has been
traditional for centuries, do not excel
the skaters on this side to any very
, great extent, the Americans and Cana
dians having held their own in inter-
national competitions in the matter Of
records One foreigner who cast a
gloom over Americans was Peter Sin
nerud, who came here from Europe IN
1904 and carried off the championship.
The reply from the other side might
be that the names prove the Scandi-
naVianS OF the second generation in
this country. who have done notable
deeds on the ice. are evidence enough
OF the ability instilled into the skaters
OF northern Europe. Johnny Nelson
was champion of the United States for
10 years. but the Donohues McCulloh
and Morris Wood are famous experts
who represent lands not on the direct
route to the midnight sun. Norva1
Baptie, from North Dakota, and obvi-
ousIy of French Canadian birth, is one
or the best skaters now living.
Canadians Are Speedy.
1t is said by close students of the
game that the Canadians are remark
ably proficient in backward skating
and make speciality of speed more than
figure work. The Europeans have so
much natural ice that they do not
excel on the artificial ice A criticism
or the Canadians advanced by one emf
nent American champion is that they
have poor forward stroke. This does
not seem to to prevent them from be-
coming excessively speedy. any more
than some famous runners have been
marked by what the wiseacres deplor-
ed as sad lack of technical form"
They won a number of events last year
against Americans, although it must
be admitted that the team from the
United States in which Ed Lamy, Phil
kearney, Y. Burkholder. c. Aihroth
and Joe Miller made a habit Of sweep
ing the ice. Lamy IS q renarka bly,
good man. At the International Out
door championships at Saranac lake
on February 2, 1910, he won the 22O-
yard, the half mile, the one-mile and
the three-mile events
Fancy skating competitions have died
cut TO a large extent in the United
States. The last was held at Cleveland
two years ago. The Canadians still
practice the more difficult feats w
G. Finlayson of Montreal was first;
Fred Robson. of Toronto. second and
w. H Jackson of Montreal third, in
the 220-yard hurdles a. Saranac lake
last year. The time was % seconds,
faster than that made by runners The