Evening star., 1925-01-13


Running" Connolly said, 'is purely
an amateur game and Nurmi is so
far beyond the others that he soon
would make professional racing un-
profitable. He holds a watch in his
hand i'm order that he will not run
too fast. He can go much faster"
Rickard, who rented the Garden
for $2,500 for the track meet, saw
it filled to capacity.
Nurmi must leave early to board
a train for Chicago Thursday night,
so the entire program of the Municipal
A. c. track and field meet has been
advanced 15 minutes. Nurmi has
suggested that his race start at $50
o'clock and this will be done. He
has set the distance he desired At
IL. miles.
Perhaps never before in athletic
history have competitions been built
around one man as has been the
| custom since the Olympic conqueror's
arrival.
The starters in the Municipal special
| 5000 meters against Nurrni will be:
| Willie Ritola, Finnish American A.
| g, Olympic 10000 meter and steeple
chase champion; Verne Booth, Mill
rose y. A. intercollegiate 2-unile
| champion; Fred WachsmitI~ unat-
! tached national cross country cham
pion; Gunnar Nilsson, Finnish-Ameri-
can A. c. Metropolitan cross-country
| champion; Patrick Flynn, Millrose
y. A, former national 2-mile cham
| pion: Ilmar Prim, Finnish Am erican
A. c., national 5-mile champion;
August Eager, Finnish American A.
| G, the third American to finsh in
the Olympic cross-country champion
| ship in France last Summer.
VIII Do Some Travelling.
No task seems too hard for Nurmi-
He has imposed a heavy burden on
| himself this week by undertaking
| to run three distance races in three
days. with intervening nights in
| sleeping berth between here and
! Chicago.
Announcement has been made that
he has filed an entry for the 1000
meter run at the Fordham games in
the 22d Regiment Armory Saturday
evening.
This means that he will undertake
what most track and field athletes
would consider impossible.
He will face Willie Ritola and
others at 5000 meters Thursday, and
then take the train at once for Chi
cago to meet Joie Ray and others
at one mile and three-quarters in
that city on Friday evening.
Another wild rush for a train will
about time, barring accidents and de
| lays. to start in the S.0O0-meter run
at the Fordham games on Saturday.
The previous record for quick
| jumps was established by Joie Ray
in 1923. when he ran race in this
city one evening. at Washington, d.
| c., the following afternoon, and at
| Boston the following night.
Last year Ray also undertook the
task of running two races in differ
ent cities on the same evening, here
and in Philadelphia, winning both.
Here is Nurmfs proposed train
schedule: Leave New York Thursday
evening, 1910 o'clock; arrive Chica-
go, $3.50 o'clock Friday evening; quick
dash to Coliseum for race with Ray;
leave Chicago IL o'clock; arrive New
York, at 125th street. $3.50 o'clock
Saturday evening. and taxi to 22d
Regiment Armory-
Chicago Fans EnthuSed.
CHICAGO, January 13.-The great
demand for tickets for the Illinois
A C. indoor meet Friday night, in
which Paavo Nurmi, Willie Ritola
and Joie Ray will meet in a feature
mile and three-q quarters race, may
| cause the track to be shortened from
ten laps to twelve laps to the mile.
Dashes and hurdles have been re-
duced from so to so yards.
The 10-lap track was expected to
produce a faster trip than the 11-lap
track on which Nurmi recently made
record-breaking performances in New
York.
Ray is training steadily at the
University of Chicago and is con-
fldent he can keep the Finnish
wonder from lifting the three Ray
records involved in the Chicago race.
Nineteen schools have entered 261
athletes in the meet.