Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-06-15
Pacific Sports

II is strange fact that long dis
lance runners u.uaiy retain their d
bilty longer than an athlete in any
other form OF track and field work
with the single exception of the big
fellows who juggle the shots, ham
mers etc. There are exceptions, OF
course. but in the majority of cases
one finds long distance men as active
time and at an older age than in
other lines.
A striking example of this is the
come back" OF two men who made
fame for this country eight years
ago at Stockholm. Hannes Kohle-
mainen, then representing FINLAND,
won three long distance events and
John Gallagher formerly of Yale was
the third American to finish the
marathon and he took seventh place.
| Both these men are still running in
! be selected to represent this country
at Antwerp. Kohlemainen last week
won the full distance marathon in
New York and a few days previous
Gallagher won a modified marathon
at Pittsburg in remarkable time.
Both men were competing long be-
fore the last Olympics and are still
good enough to enter another Olym-
piad. There are very few men in
other lines of track work who can
show the same ability today that
these two men do.
Another remarkable instance of
longevity of competitive life of dis
lance running men is Sidney Hatch
of the Kansas City A. c. He has
been competing in full distance amra-
thons for more than twenty years
and is now nearly forty years of age.
his prime long after the usual ath-
lete has quit is Oliver Willard who
ran Kohlemainen and Hopgood of
Portland, Oregon, such a phenomenal
race at the Exposition in 1915 in San
Francisco. At that time Willard was
we'll over 80 years of age and ac-
tually did not start competing until
he was q years of age and only re-
tired from the sport last year. -J..
1t is seldom if ever a sprinter COM
petes for more than few years
after he quits college. In old Pete
Gerhard of the Olympic club there
was the exception to the rule. Ger
hardt few years ago was known in
every section of the west and in 1912,
then 80 years of age, he was one of
the best sprinters in the country and
represented this country in competi-
ton for nearly twenty years and now
his son is preparing to take up his
fathers spikes. ~
In Moose Payne, the Multnomah
, club of Portland has a good distance
runner who has a long list of years Of
ccmpetition behind him, but in COM
parison to the Gerhard's the Hatch's
, and the Kohlemainen's Moose is still
, a youngster in competitive age. Jack
, Nelson a Splinter some years back
with the Seattle A. c. was another
, instance of man remaining in ac-
tive competition longer than the
: usual sprinter, but his track COM
petition only ran over about twelve
years or more. Forest Smithson the
! world famous hurdler is another man
, with long range Of years competi-
ton over the hurdles and Fred Kel-
ley is still competing after about
\ eleven years activity, but none of
these men will ever achieve the long
v run of years of competition that Ger
r hardt did, nor will they at the age
o of nearly forty be still competing as
in the case of Sidney Hatch of Kansts.
That the players of the Oakland
= club of the Pacific Coast baseball
league are laying down on their jobs
: and utterly Indifferent as to whether
: or not they win or lose games is the
z charge brought by a San Francisco
3 baseball writer against that organi-
Q cation. If this is the case the RENE
/. dial measures lie in the hands of the
public. They have only to keep away
from the ball park when the Oaks
play. When there is no money to