SPORTING NOTES FROM ENGLAND

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1365, 13 December 1872, Page 2

SPORTING NOTES FROM ENGLAND

(From the Leader Correspondent.)^ > One of the best athletic .performances ever recorded was completed a few days back by Mr P. J. Burt, a well-known member of the London Athletic Club, who walked from the Middlesex side of Westminister Bridge to St. Peter's Church at Brighton in less than. eleven hours. St. Peter's Church is where the fiftysecond mile-stone stands, so as the fair turnpike road was taken, and umpires attended in a couple of conveyances, there is no deception whatever about the feat. Mr Burt has made as good time £W " any of the self-styled long-distaiioe oham* pions, and has really covered the ground, without aid. Two well-known amateur athletes, the brothers Chinnery, did, a few years back, walk three-quarters of a mile further on the same road in eleven and a-hal£ hours, a very fin© performance, but not so good an one as that of Mr Burt. [ . . t The.present week (Oct. 14) has seen the | - overthrown at .a. Cumberland ansL-.-Weat-.- --! trioreland (or fair-hold) wrestling tournament, held at the Edinburgh Gymnasium, [ hitherto invincible Dick Wright, of Long- ; town, who with his friend, associate, and sometimes rival, W. Jameson, has during the past few years taken the all-; weight champion- prizes at the leading meetings both in the. north of England and at the . annual London gathering. So great: a few years back was the fear entertained among other wrestlers for Wright and Jameson, that to get numerous entries in the all- weight competitions at Carlisle, Newcastle, Dundee, and London, these two great border champions weredebarred from entering. In the final falls for the all-weight prize at Edinburgh, W. Blair, ; of Solportmains, threw R. . Wright, of; Longtown, in the first and third bouts, and was officially declared the' -winner. So passes away the glory of the wrestling world. » The fastest bicycle tim&ifor a mile wag made the other day at Wolverhampton by W. Keen, of Surbiton, who, in a race v for the championship, completed the distance round a ground about a quarter of a mile in circumference in 3min Cfsec, thereby eclipsing his own time of 3min ,9aec, which had hitherto been regarded y; as the best public performance known. -:' A leading American paper just to hand contains an elaborate criticism of our. M.C.C. tearn'B performance while out In"" Canada. The Englishmen's first match was eleven against twenty-two of Montreal, in which the visitors scored 225, in : ' one innings against 48 and 67.. Their:'"' second match was against twenty-two at ~ ' Ottawa, in which the M.C.C.'s scored 201 in one innings against 42 and 49. The third game was played in Toronto, eleven • against twenty-two, and again our team won in one innings, their, score being 319 to 97 and 117. The next performance was an exhibition match at Toronto, twelve a side, six Englishmen and six Canadians on each. Mr Grace's twelve, with ; in? , eluded Ottaway, Haddw/ E. Lubboclr, Pickering, and Harris, made'] 6B and 100, and Mr ApplebyV twelve, among whom were Hornby, Rose, Francis, A. Lubbock, and Fitzgerald, totalled 165 and 63. The -. . fourth match against twenty-two was played at London, Canada, and for the first time the M.C.C.'s had to go in for a second innings ; their score was .89 and 161, the Canadians making 55 and 65. The last match in Canada was played at Hamilton, when the Englishmen once more won in a single in&ings, scoring 1 81 against 86 and 79. In addition to ths Canadian matches, there were two played against members of the Philadelphia and Boston Clubs. The game with the repre- . : , ' sentatives of brotherly love, resulted thus :— Philadelphia twenty-two, 63 and 74; M.C.C. twelve, 105, and with five wickets to fall, 3,4. The match agaiuss the Bostonian twenty-two resulted in a draw, the Yankees making 51 and 43, : while the Englishmen made 51 in their : first innings', and when stumps were drawn had 43 runs to their creditior the . loss of six wickets. .*■•.#■ --• A short time ago a .champion quoit competition took place between this fore- ' most players of the United Kingdom, fos , a cup worth L 25 and a sweepstake* of L 6 each, it shots eaoh at 21 yards distance j

the winner of the cup to hold it for two yean against all comers. The venae was Glasgow, and the players George Graham, Alexander Letham, William M'Gregdr, John M'Gibbon, and John Adams, and after a fine straggle, in which some firstclass form was exhibited, M'Gregor won by nine shots, Letham being second. Th© best thing in boat racing that has taken place lately has. been a match on the Tyue, between two youngsters of great promise, James Lally and Charles Wilson, for LIOO, from the Highlevel Bridge to Scotswood. Both men have for a long time been regarded as rising scullers, and when the match was entered into it was stated confidently that the winner would be entitled to take rank with the great guns of the coaly river. Lally, who rowed in the most plucky manner, was nearly a length astern at the completion of the last qnarter-rnUe, and 2 to 1 was offered on Wilson without a response; but just after this he seemed to lose power, and Lally, spurting in a magnificent manner, once more assumed the lead, from which he was never afterwards dispossessed, and Wilson falling off more ana more, Lally eventually won with great ease.