The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-05-20

New York May 16.-The fifteen
mile race held recently a { Celtic Park
added to the fame of Willie Kpleh-
mainen a long distance runner. AL
lance man in this country, the won
derful Finn made 1t clear that he has
no serious rival in America.
Seven of the best runners in the
world toed the mark for the start
They were Kolehrlainen, Queal. Long
boat. Harvey Conn, the former anna
teur star: Ted Crooks the well-known
runner of Fall River, Mass; Jimmy
Lee. the veteran of Boston, and Paul
Westerlund, of San Francisco. At
the finish Kolehneinen was far ahead
of the mall. His time was 2 hour %
minutes and 81 seconds.
William Kolehmainen comes of an
athletic family His brother Tatu is n
champion distance runner and has
won many races in Europe Hannes,
another brother, went to the Olympic
games at Stockholm last summer and
won every distance race on the pro-
gram in record time. Carl still an
other brother. but in middle distance
events has won fame in several E,u-
ropean cities
Hannes is twenty three years old.
Willie is twenty-six, Tatu twenty
seven and Carl nineteen.
From the time they were seven
reers, not on the track or field, not
in com petitions for prizes or glory.
For the fun of it they took up ski
ing, the national pastime of their ma
tive Finland
1t was while training for the win
ter sports that they learned they
could run fast and far They had read
Of great runners in other countries
and studied the times made by the
different champions. Then they ran
nv
their trials that they decided to try
their hands at the running game
But there were not athletic meets
in their town. Skiing, skating and
sleighing were the only sports in their
city.
But they knew their bality and
were bent upon displaying 1t. With
this object in view they began saw
ing their money to carry them to other
parts of Europe. BY 1907 Hannes,
Tatu and William had saved enough
money to carry them to an athletic
meet two hundred miles away The
feature event was a marathon race.
Without any special preparation and
with only enough to pay their rail-
road fare one way they set out for the
games.
For the marathon race 1o2 promi-
nent European distance runners had
entered. They entered, too. They
knew nothing about the intricate
points of the game They had no
special style. But they knew they
could run twenty miles and they
started with the pack.
They just ran and ran and when
the distance had been covered there
was only one man in front of them
Willie took second prize, Hannes third
and Tatu fourth. With their little
silver prizes, worth about so cents
pinned to their breasts they started to
walk the 200 miles back to their
homes. Before they had reached the
outskirts of the town they We're halt
ed Some one, had learned of their
plight and a public subscription was
taken up. People who saw their
plucky races contributed and enough
was raised to pay their fare back to
Kuopio.
Three years later Willie came to
this country. When he arrived here
he was considered a fourth rate run
ner. He had plenty of endurance,
but that was all.
He competed in several professional
races, but earned little fame or gold.
Then Lawson Robertson, the famous
coach of the Irish-American Athletic
club, took hold of him. Robertson
changed the Firms style completely, !
and in less than year developed him
into one of the best professional dis |
lance runners in the world