Supermen of Sport

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 163, 30 September 1927, Page 10

Supermen of Sport

Craze for Record-Breaking

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

THERE is a subtle fascination about athletic records, from the doings of the flying Banner with his Sheffield sprint in 7.1 yards under "evens’’ to the generously proportioned Mrs. Montagna, of Algiers, who tore 110 playing cards in halves.

THE arrival of the edition of that ably compiled little publication, “Miller’s Sporting Annual,” with its pages of carefully tabulated records in sport, sets the mind revolving on that age-old phase of human endeavour, the desire to do something that nobody else has done before. Mostly it finds its outlet along the standard lines of athletic effort, but occasionally queer variations are met with, as, for example, the' extraordinary mentality of the gentleman who spent 144 hours at Cobar (New South Wales) in twirling clubs round his supple lingers; the superhuman strength of Air. A. Paris, who “lifted a yacht with 12 men seated in it”; or the amazing endurance of one Noah Young, who r*»n a mile in Smin 30sec, carrying a man weighing I’Ost 101 b on his back. It is the intention here, however, to confine attention, for a while at least, to less fantastic methods of compelling the awe-stricken admiration of those who are interested in athletic records. FEW CHANGES In running, there have been very few changes since last year, although the bulk of the records are of comparatively recent origin. Half a dozen

new records are on the book for the first time as a result of several brilliant performances at the last New Zealand amateur athletic championships at the Auckland Domain, but none of them are world marks. Malcolm Leadbetter, of Christchurch, joins a select band with 9 4-ssec for the 100, but as against that Charlie Paddock, the “flying wizard of Pasadena,” is officially credited with 9£sec. Some travelling, than! But it fails by a fraction to touch Jack Donaldson’s sensational 100 yards burst at Johannesburg in 1912, in 9 3-Bsec. Ranking as first among an illustrious bancl of pre-war sprinters like Arthur Postle, Reggie Walker, Charlie Hoi way, and others, Donaldson challenges comparison as one of :lie greatest sprinters of all time. That wonderful Englishman, Harry Hutchens, may have been better, and what is one to think of that great race of Botany Handicap runners of the eighties and nineties? Take Charlie Samuels alone, with his 134 yards in 12£sec —nearly 10 yards better than even time. Tim Banner, brilliant

present-day athlete, has raced 127 i yards in 12sec dead, and mav do better yet. There is no need for comparison in the quarter-mile. For 27 years the world’s record has stood unassailable, It is credited to Maxey Long, famous American runner, who streaked through a straightaway 440 yards in 1900 in 47sec dead. GERMAN SUPER.ATHLETE The na me of a German figures or the book for the first time—Dr. Otto Peltze_r. who clipped three-fifths of a second "'mdcTs half-mile record at Stamford Bridge last year, his lime being lmin 51 3-ssec. Last year, too. this German schoolmaster showed a clean pair of heels to Nurmi in a .1,500-metres dash in Berthne e m^ llS ! ,::ng new world mark for the di.tance. Nurmi, however, still holds on to the mile record, his figures 10 , 2 ,- 5 ®ec having stood sinle Don f - P nf olph Rose’s best New Zea--1 \ m< L is only 3 3-Rsec worse. . , • Rc - se ” does hold a world’? recoro however—but he is not our Hose, von-,.' , r Was (since he is dead;, a iciv. giant, who put tlie Iblb snoi. the tremendous distance of i Boa t- tn T A’ at r ? cord has stood since l»uy In throwing, as distinct Trorn record of -V- n c r ’ estab >ished a world’s gill 1 5Ut 111 l® o7 at InvercarSTYLE IN HURDLES America h. revolutionlsea hurdling a generation ago vith his “straight front leg’’ style of clearEa K rl h Thowtf JuSt after “he 'wL found tW another American, xound that by swinging the back leg,

over the hurdles parallel to the hi.-e, instead o£ trailing it. he could tf™ 3, all the old records into a coekedT'* As yet. nobody hajs looked like a mohsinng his If .lyds record of if » . see. The Australasian record 1 -ssec is held by two Xew Zealand ' S Harrj; Wilson and Roger Lmdn latter s figures were registered at years New Zealand championship, the Auckland Domain. it Talking of Wilson brings back mer. lies of a famous quartette ofS athletes, who represented the v T • Zealand Expeditionary- Force ip lt athletic meetings in ' England other three were Dan M eson' Lindsay, and Jack Wilton T)„ All Blacks” established a world,*** cord for a mile medley relay x r ’ ford Bridge a few months &£““ war ended. Their figures. 330 3 si* were. however, beaten two or three years ago by an American team, headed by our old friend Jackson Scholz, and Alan Helffriok, Lloyd Hahn's greatest American rival in the half. Leaving records for a moment, it may be added that Mason won the BSO ?ards championship at the inter-Allled Games in Paris. Mascoi dropped out of the game '’hen he returned to New Zealand, and tht last the writer heard of him was tr*t he was up North Auckland way somewhere. Scholz was given a record of 21 l-| sec at the* Auckland Domain last year. The writer saw the race, and, like many others, failed to understand U»e why and wherefore, as the dapper little American was aided by a diagonal breeze. A NOVEL JUMP The jumping records possess sots interesting features. It is found that, with the aid of weights and a special take-off board, a gentleman named Howard away back in 1854 cleared 29ft 7in in England. The best leap recorded by a horse is the 37 feet crecited to Chandler (11.7), a record which is still more hoary with age, having been recorded so long ago as 1847. The record long jump under ordinary championship conditions is the 25ft 10 7-Bin credited to a negro university student in America, name! 14 Hart Hubbard. It was done t*o years ago. at Chicago. f The year previous to Hubbard’s astonishing performance. arbiter American had tossed himself over a crossbar set at 6ft Siin.. Uncle Sam’s athletes have made a specialty of nick events as these, and they are as a rule far and away ahead of the rest of the world. At the risk of mixing a metaphor, it may be observed that walkers occasionally get off the beaten track. One, Larner, once ambled over 81 miles ia an hour. Try that for yourself the next time you are out for a spin. The average man couldn’t run it in that time. But what about a sturdy old chap named O’Leary, who, at the age of 64, walked 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours. If you don’t beliove it, look it up for chapter and verse! ONE FOR AUCKLAND Most people think of George Davidson as a sprinter. Ti,,t *‘ Mr mrnrn know that the Aucklander could throw the javelin or the cricket ball with tile best of them? Once upon a time E. G. Sutherland, then champion of Maoriland, nearly took a fit when George casually heaved the Greek spear without any practice further than anyone else Sutherland had evm -—-- once threw a cricket ball 130 yari*. and somebody was energetic enough w have it registered as an Austraias** record. It’s siill there : The worlal best is R. Percival’s 3 40vds 2ft, in England in 1884. Ten years before thia. an Australian abo., “King Billy.” 140 yards. It might hav.? been but the sports committee reckoned * was near enough. Occasionally one hears some tail stories about mighty kicking « Rugby. Well, the best that evt[ got on the record book was t!»e place-kick of an Irishman Doyle, who landed .a goal 74yds 11 in out from *:he posts, than 20 yards on the othar of halfway. D. McNamara, the famous lian rules player, once landed a r in Melbourne from S 3 yards out- - Namara was a prodigious Kic«t--. the ball used in the Victorian S ■ slightly longer and thinner tb. Rugby ball, hence a compm«« y useless. It was a !=>>dney s player, however, who goal from nearly 72 yards on . back in 1892. _ cf Boxers in training do thousands turns with the skipping ! Melbourne, the 3'ear 1Q - turns ended. Bert Paget skipped 1 > iy9 in Ihr 33min. VcUX***? Two years ago. at tne • - gjs Show. G. R. Schwert tossel oat sheaf 48ft high. onott** Melbourne, too, can CiallO »» extraordinary record-holder, Race, a lost residert of the (l |,. capital, who carried six me tance of 29 feet before he down. The six of them weiid" jfdl WOMEN’S RECORDS Women have tecomc j r. prominent in sport Vi" mapy swimming, tennis and £°* esuzaJiß* them such as Gertrude Ld®r -. Lenglen and Cecil Leitch 11 n -gifi lenged comparison with . if j atbthey are not so far advan letics. , . fto va r4B The fastest recorded by a woman stands to w** Canadian girl, Miss Rofia i-W scampered over the distlDC T!*® seconds at Toronto t "is best long jump by a ter9 e*. M. Gunn’s 18ft 3 3-Sin at England, last venrs I** 1 ** Down at Invercargill an ex-New Zealand girl h ° c a 7* ct *d** sentative, a Miss H islop dr€ 4 \ with 11 seconds for * e ting-^ secondary schools’ sports sJ* it was never claimed a? f. - fjjjje *•* though it was stated that Vie tig correctly taken. It n f sec&K stir at the time. but. outbid arv schools, there were no . *jii women's sports in th<>se nobody bothered to sen<letic headquarters as a reco* jJH