The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-12-31
A NOTABLE FooT-RAcER.
London Expert Believes McCrae Has Abil-
ity to Establish Worlds TO- Mile Mark.

1 George "McCrae" Tor to give him his
real surname SCRIBE" has fully iusti
! fed the confidence of those friends who
] have all along affirmed that, for speed
and staying power from two miles tc
ten, and even up to and including the
! full Marathon" distance OF 20 miles 3S5
yards, he has no equal. Hard work in a
shale pit for eight hours day leaves lit.
tie time for training; but such Is Me,
Crae's love Of the sport, apart from its
| pecuniary side, that he manages to keep
himself fit by practice runs in the even.
ing-principally on the road--and period.
zeal races on Saturdays and occasional
holidays, at enclosed tracks, OF which the
Powderhall ground, Edinburgh, is his IA
vorite venue. 1t was there that. in any
thing but ideal weather conditions, for
the atmosphere was far from genial, and
there was an awkward wind, McCrae ran
10 miles in so minutes and SIS seconds.
Although nearly quarter Of a minute
slower than the worlds record of 80 min
utes 40 80 seconds, which Alfred Shrubb
established when in the amateur ranks,
at Ibrox park, Glasgow on Nov, S, 1904.
McCrae's time gave beating TO the per-
Torrance which he set out to eclipse
viz, 10 miles in 81 minutes, & 3.5 seconds.
accomplished by William Cummings of
Paisley in his match with the ex.ama-
teur, Walter Goodall George, at Old Lii
lie Bridge grounds, London, on Sept. %,
1885 George and Cummings are both in
the land Of the living, and the latter was
a spectator of McCrae's feat. Also it
may be added that Cummings, despite
his 60 years Of age and more, turned out
with another Cougar odd champion and
recordholder, Peter Cameron, of Stirling,
in a half-mile race, only, however, to be
beaten So Cummings lost a match and
a long standing record on one and the
same day.
But to get back to McCrae and his I'm.
deniably grand footracing ability. The
tremendous pace at which he covered the
first few miles on Saturday was much
too fast for so long a journey. When
Shrubb made his record he took min
utes "a is seconds for his first mile
Cummings on the occasion Of his record
performance, occupied over minutes for
the same distance.
Yet, on Saturday, McCrae crowded his
initial mile into minutes 81 3-5 seconds,
and ratified off mile after mile at such
rate that, half way, his figures were fast
er than those of Shrubb Then the wind
became more irksome, and the hot pace
began to tell At six miles McCrae was
slightly outside Shrubb's figures, and he
gradually lost hold of worlds record
which it is obviously within his power TO
gain, and which he will assuredly some
day attach to his name. But that is by
the way.
McCrae set out to beat Cummings pro-
fessional record Of 81 minutes, 6 3-5 see.
onds, ind by getting home in 30 minutes
So seconds, succeeded in his desire More
over, he did it by straightforward, gen
uipe methods. He was the scratch man
in handicap, and finished fifth, the win
ner, H. James Of Edinburgh, getting
home with a start of laps $50 yards
in the fast time of 40 minutes IA 3-5
seconds. By his success against time
McCrae won 9225. The shoes in which
he ran were sold for ell, and that
amount together with the profits arising
out of the charges for admission to the
ground, enriched the Royal Scots prison
ers of war fund to the extent of some
thing like f500.London Sporting and
Dramatic