Evening star., 1932-05-06

~ lily AGEE, national mara
K thon champion and for
IL three years owner of the
15-mile title, is coming
over from Baltimore Sunday bent
upon setting a world record in
the Knights of Columbus run, but
bounding Billy may have trouble
winning the race.
Washington has an entry in
Bill Greiner, a rather remarkable
athlete, who warrants Agee'S seri-
Gus consideration. Greiner in a
recent workout stepped Is miles
in time that would have won most
of the modified marathonS" held
in this section.
The course Sunday, extending from
a mile this side of Mount Vernon to
the knights of Columbus Hall at 918
Tenth street northwest, will be a short
jaunt for Greiner, comparatively
speaking. He once ran 103 miles with
out stopping. On another occasion he
stepped off 80 miles.
TREINER galloped the 1O3 miles to
" win a wager He was a resident
of Richmond, Va, at the time
and the course covered no mean part
of the Old Dominion. Limited TO "a
hours, he completed the business in IA
hours and so minutes.
And was he tired!
Guess again. He did the thing under
wraps.
According to newspaper accounts OF
the feat, he started at am. and fin
ished at $50 pm. What the reporters
missed was the fact that Greiner went
to a social affair that night which
broke up at am.
Greiner was born in Germany 26
years ago and came to America 8 years
ago. He is an expert machiniSt. In
Germany he distinguished himself as
bicycle rider and distance swimmer.
He was the bike champion OF Bavaria.
EXCEPT for sturdy legs, he is in
- clined to stringiness. He weighs
about 158 pounds and is feet
1917 inches tall. With more surplus
weight he would have gone in for the
long-distance SWims of recent years.
He did enter the last Toronto test, but
Withdrew when training took off what
little insulating fat he possessed. The
Lake Ontario water was about 80 de-
grees.
What you needed" suggested Char
lev REYNOLDS. athletic director OF the
knights of Columbus and generallssimo
of Sundays doings, was some good OLD
German beer
NAH grinned Bill, Il never drank
r,orcb of il Barrels of it / won in
bicycle races in Germany, and my
friends drank it all"
THE running game is quite new to
Il Greiner. He ran his first race
about three years ago, and distance
runners. YOU know, think nothing OF
IO-vear period of development. Billy
Agee. also in the middle 20s, doesn't
expect to reach his peak for or
years.
Like Agee, Greiner has been improv-
ing with every test in the last year
Baltimore Billy is a strong choice to
of a couple of Navy Olympic hopetuls,
Moylan and Naghondbe, besides
Greiner. Several formidable runners
are entered from New York and Phla-
delphia, but Agee is not even annoyed
He might have been, though, had ne
seen Greiner stepping lively over the
Mount Vernon Boulevard last Sunday.
He made no serious effort for speed but
finished the course in an hour and 81
minutes, and was strong at the end.
LIS stamina is unusual. For in
Il l. stance, in the Boston marathon
last year he was 160th at the halt
way mark. then proceeded to pass l2o
tiring runners to gain fortieth place.
In Germany, Greiner was well ac-
uuainted with Paul de Bruyn. German
marathon champion, who won the re-
cent Boston classic and who IS now
resident of New York. Greiner expects
to visit de Br1yn this Summer and sign
him for the National A. A. U. cham |
pionship marathon, to be run here
August 20, sponsored by The Star. All
the leading marathoners OF the world, |
in America for the Olympics, are ex-
pected to take part in the washington
race. which will be feature OF the BIZ |
centennial program.
Agee will be the defending champion
in this. Next Sundays race is regarded
bv the Baltimore star as made-to- |
ordar t117a-lln for the OlVmplc mara |