PEDESTRIANISM.

Evening Star, Issue 3855, 2 July 1875, Page 2

PEDESTRIANISM.

It will be recollected that at the late English Champion Athletic Meeting the winner of the one mile race was Mr Slade, of the Loudon Athletic Club, and the victor in the four-mile si niggle was Mr Gibb, ef the South Loudon Harriers. Mr Slade was second in the longer race, but as he was fatigued with his exertions in the mile when he started, it was thought by many, and among others by himself, that if he ran Gibb, both fresh, he could beat him. Accordingly a match was made, the London Athletic Club voting a medal to the winner. On the day of the race upwards of 3,000 persons assembled at Lillie Bridge Grounds, and as much interest centred in the affair as if LIO,OOO instead of a silver cup and depended on the result. The following description of the race is taken from an English paper ; -“ The men got on to their marks at about half-past six o’clock, and the betting, which had opened at 5 to 2, and even 3 to 1, on fdade, may fairly be quoted- at 7 to 4 when the pistol was fired. Gibb, who had the outside place, at once dashed to the front, and made play at his best pace, with Slade lying about four yards behind him. The race admits of little description, for these positions were only once changed. Gibb spurted again and again, doing his best to cut Slade down ; but these tactics, which were so successful at the championship meeting, proved of no avail now, as Slade never let him hold a lead of more than half-a-dozen yards. Entering the last gap, Gibb, encouraged by the sdouts of bis friends, made the pace still hotter; but Slade doggedly hung to him, and putting on a magnificent spurt at the top of the straight, won very cleverly by fully twenty yards, in the unparalleled amateur time of 20min. thus eclipsing the previous best amateur time (J. Scott’s) by no less than sixteen seconds. ” The winner is 5 feet 11 in. in height, and weighs nearly 12 stone. Mr Gibb is 5 feet 7 in. tall, and only scales a trifle over 8 st. But what is running four miles in 20 min., or walking 100 miles in 24 hours, to whut our A merican Cousins talk of doing ? They always do things on a gigantic scale, and here is a specimen taken from the ‘Philadelp ia Ledger Mary Grayson, who has undertaken to walk round the world, was to start from the City Hall, New York, on Saturday, April 13, 1875, and return to the same place on Thursday, November 23, 1876. 'lhe distance included in the entire route is 19,520 miles, which will require from him a daily .walk of a little over thirty-two miles. A large part of the trip, of course, will be on ocean steamers, during which he will make up his daily average by walking on shipboard. Should he fall short of making his daily average on shipboard, for any reason, he will make it up on laud. The route of his walk is as follows From New York to Liverpool by water; thence to Havre, passing through Munches'cr, Sheffield, and I ondon; from Havre he will walk through Franco to Lyons; thence, passing through Genoa, Florence, Rome, and Naples, he will go to Constantinople; from there, crossing the Bosphorus, ho will walk through the intervening countries to India; then to Canton and Hong Kong, China ; at Hong Kong he will take ship to the Bhiilipine Islands; th§nce to New Guinea, Australia, the Sandwich Islands, and San Francisco. The walk across the Continent will finish the undertaking. The total number of miles he is to walk by land is computed at 15,712 miles ; and by water, 12,935 miles. Grayson is twenty-eight years of age, sft 7in high, and weighs 1391b5. He has been in active training since February 15, at Wilmington, Delaware.”