Stand Crashes; Paddock Sets Sprint Record

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 375, 8 June 1928, Page 10

Stand Crashes; Paddock Sets Sprint Record

Dodges Avalanche of Flying Debris CROWD SPILLED ON TO TRACK Amazing scenes were witnessed at a big athletic carnival at Philadelphia a few weeks ago, when Charles Paddock’s flying feet carried him out from under several tons of falling brick and mortar to set a new record for the 175yds dash. A section of the grandstand brick wall surrounding the track collapsed as hundreds of people rushed to the rail to see the ■world’s most famous sprinter and his competitors go past. Champion Leaps Clear Brick, stone and people were spilled on to the track, almost catching Paddock as he rushed by, far in the lead of his three rivals. Paddock swerved and jumped sidewise as the cataract of stone and people fell out at him. and avoided injury. He continued right on to the finish line and won in 17 2-5 seconds to lower by twofifths of a second the mark he set in Utah some time ago. Almost a hundred people and a sixty-foot section of the brick wall were spilled on to the running track, but no one was seriously hurt. The people fell perhaps six feet and while many were badly shaken up and scratched none was seriously injured. Paddock Tells of Accident Paddock, after the race, said when he saw the wall give way and the bricks and stone come tumbling down in his path his first reaction was to stop running and jump out of harm’s way. “My first idea,” he declared, “was to swerve off the track and save mvsef. Then I heard the steps of Scull pounding behind me and I changed my mind in a flash and kept on. Persons were falling all around me and one old man dropped right in my path. I hurdled him and sped on. Then some falling debris descended right in front of me and I had to swing to one side to escape it and avoid injury. After that I kept right on, fortunately avoiding any mishap. “My stride was slowed down in jumping over the man who fell in front of me and also in swerving to one side momentarily. I figure that this cost me a fraction of a second. ju;| exactlv how much it would be difficult to calculate.”