The Wilmington morning star., 1940-02-04
FINNISH RUNNERS
REACH new YORK
Maxi And Nurmi, On Benefit
Tour, Tell Of Front.
Line Fighting
BY BILL BONI

LII DILL DoA>A
NEW YORK, Feb. 3-C- They
have came here as athlete and
coach to raise funds for the relief
of Finland, but it was as Manner.
helm line infantryman and He.
sinki air raid warden that Taisto
Maxi and Paavo Nurni were well
coined to New York today.
AS they came up the bay shortly
after sunrise in the Norwegian
American liner B~ergensfjord, the
questions had very little to do with
track. They dealt almost exclusively
with Finland's great stand against
Russia's numerically superior forces.
'"The Phantom Finn"
Maxi, who looks like Bob Meusel
and has taken over Murmi's title of
PHANTOM Finn" as we'll as most of
his records, said the Russian SOL
diers were very bad" but their arms
and equipment "excellent.' The blue
eyed, curly-ruddy-faced ~29-year-old
runner denied he had been wounded
in his six weeks at the front, but
said he had suffered a slight touch
of rheumatism in his right knee.
Russian prisoners? He had seen
many, some young and healthy,
others old and in poor condition. He
had not spoken to any of them.
He does not speak Russian" said
the Firms interpreter, Consul Cen
eral T. o. Vahervuori.
Nurmi, who is 43 and balder and
considerably stouter than on his last
visit in 1892, said both their homes
so far had escaped bombing; that no
bombs had fallen on the portion of
Helsinki to which he was assigned,
but that in the first days of the
war he had taken some 100 persons
out of the danger zone in his own
car.
They agreed that Finland's chief
need is more planes for p%rotection
of the civilians" and Murmi added:
Except for that, we can carry on
very we'll"
Spring Won't Matter
Neither felt that the coming of
spring or ever summer would be
much help to the Russians.
"In the winter" said Paavo, I'VE
oro oidod hooouca of o,,r ov+ro~oJ,,
mobile ski troops. And in the spring,
the thaws will keep the Russians
from moving their tanks through the
lake and marsh areas. Besides the
Russian soldier far prefers to travel
along the roads. He does not like to
60 into the forest alone, as the
Films do"
But after all they had come here
for track meets, not as military ex-
perts. Investigation disclosed that
Maxi, though he has been out of
training since last summer, is only
about five pounds overweight. How
long it takes him to get into condi-
ton will depend on the weather in
Los Angeles.
To Take Plane
They will fly there on Tuesday,
after visiting Washington Monday.
1t is in the Los Angeles coliseum, in
a three and a half mile race, that
Maxi will start his tour, March 3.
He will break his California stay at
least n to appear at a Finnish re-
lief fund track meet in Jersey City
Feb. -.
By the time he reaches New York
around the first of April, he should
be ready to take on our hest two
milers or even milers. Since the In
ternational Amateur Athletic Fedora
ton has granted an extension on his
visiting permit, there is a chance he
will be here through the summer.
II, tour as now arranged, with
races in II cities, should bring in
$500, 900 or $500. 900, according to Joe
Williams, sports chairman of the re-
lief fund committee headed by form
er President Hoover. .