New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-12-07
Seventeen Teams Start in
ROund-the-CloCk Grind
at Midnight.
AUSTRALIAN RIDERS
ARE THE FAVORITES
Hardship of Contest Too Much
for Kramer This Year-Rutt
Also Out of Fixture.

The six-day bicycle race. which will
start tonight one minute after midnight
has become an annual institution for
New York, and although IL has It's pc
culiar angle, from sporting point OF
view, II also has It's magnetism and there
is no doubt but what this years affair
will draw as big crowds as previous con
tests.
There will be foreign riders TO vic with
the Americans in order to lend an inter
national favor 10 the grind and attract
the large element OF foreigners or those
OF foreign descent, and thereby swell the
Golfers OF the management.
II will be the fifteenth annual race and
there will be seventeen teams in II. which
is the largest number for several years
Representatives will be seen from five DIFF
ferent countries, and Americans will
strive for honors along with Australians,
who are now prominent factors in cycling
in the United States; Frenchmen, who arc
among the best riders IN the world
Italians, Germans and Danes.
There are only six full-hedged Yankee
teams competing: four others. which are
combination OF American and Aus
tralian, two wholly Australian and four
European
For the first time in the history OF the
race an American team does not rule the
favoritc. The pair IN the public eye for
chief honors is Jackie Clark and Paddy
Hehir. Australians This Is due largely 10
the fine riding done by Clark during the
asst summer season, in which he was the
chief prize winner in America.
The teams which rank next down to
fourth place are combinations OF Ameri-
cans and Australians, and include Eddie
Root. Of Boston. and Reggie Mcnamara
Of Australia; Joe Fogler, Of Brooklyn, and
Alfred Goullet, OF Australia, and James
Moran, OF Chelsea. Mass, and Alfred
Grenda, of Tasmania. The first distinct
iy Yankee pair. which are rated as being
possible winners, are Freddy Hill. of Bos-
ton, and Martin Ryan, OF Newark, and
rule only fifth.
All these calculations may be upset and
some team not recognized as having a
chance may come through to victory. The
race is one filed with hardships. for 1t Is
1i2 hours long, and a man seldom gets
more than four hours sleep at time.
Frank Kramer, the American national
champion, and considered one OF the
greatest sprinters that the sport has ever
produced. was failure as a sx-day rider
lie will not compete this year, as he
SAYS the six-day game Is not his and that
II consumes too much Of his vitality.
Another big favorite who will be absent
this year is Walter Rutt the German.
who won the race last year, and who had
also carried off the honors before that.
Rutt had intended TO ride in the grind,
but met with an accident falling from
his wheel In a race in Paris about
month AGO, which resulted in fractured
skull, and he Is now recuperating in his
home, near Berlin.
Everything is in readiness up at Madl-
son Square Garden for the grind. The
men moved over their effects from New
ark. where they have been training, and
established camps, with retinue of
handlers, trainers and cooks, To keep
them going for week. They had taste
OF the affair last night at the sprint meet