Officials of Trans-American Marathon Bombarded with Fusilade of Rotten Eggs

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 387, 22 June 1928, Page 10

Officials of Trans-American Marathon Bombarded with Fusilade of Rotten Eggs

A SHOWER of rotten eggs greeted officials of the Lo* Angeles to Xew York "bunion derby" a-- they entered the small town of Carthage in Montana la>t month. This huge running marathon tv as organised by C. C Pyl e the well-known American sports promoter, who piloted Suzanne Lenglen on a professional tennis tour of Europe and America. Pyle put up prize money running into 40 000 dollars for a race across America, and secured a bis entrv of long distance runners from all parts of the world.

The fly in the ointment with the irate Carthaginians was the fact that Pyle disagreed with the terms they asked for making Carthage a night stop on the long grind to New York. The squabble over this huge money-making : scheme as it affected the enterprising citizens of Carthage being unsettled. Pyle moved his camp beyond the town, thus cutting Carthage out. Like their namesakes of old. the outraged Carthaginians went out to meet the enemy at the gates of the city. As the line of Pyle cars hove in sight, they were bombarded with ancient eggs, tomatoes and other choice offerings, forcing the drivers to speed up and escape from the town. AMAZING SCENES Some remarkable sidelights on the “Mad Marathon,” as it has been termed, are furnished in the following description of the race: Feet that blew up like balloons; one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of life sacrificed for a 25,000-dollar prize; the revolt in the desert; armed men to shoot rattlesnakes; new towns in the desert christened; the desert that wasn’t hot; the runner that smoked while he ran: the man who ran backwards. These were the stories that an enterprising newspaperman, J. Ncwland. brought back to the West. There seemed to be no end to the amazing stories that Newland unravelled. There were sordidness and humour packed in the trek of the several hundred who are still plodding across almost trackless wastes for the gold and glory. There was one runner who took off his shoes after a 30-mile run. His feet swelled to twice their size before Newland’s watchful eyes. The next day* they had to give him shoes that were twice the size of the ones he had taken off. There is Dr. L. F. Baker, of the University of Pennsylvania, and connected with the Philadelphia Hospital. He is making a study as a guest in C. C. Pyle’s huge motor-bus of the conditions of the runners. Pie will make a scientific report.

“They are using up 100,000dollars’ worth of life to take a chance at a 25,000-dollar prize,” the doctor told Newland. “It means 10 years off the lives of the men who try to run the entire distance of 3,300 miles.” There was a man who ran half a i mile backwards every day at the start of the race. No one knew why, and the runner would not explain, but h> is still in the race. He ran up tin j Black Mountains of Arizona back- j wards one day*. NOT HOT, OH NO! There is the little city in the Mojave Desert whose Chamber of Comm ere- ' insisted that no reports be sent ou that the desert is hot. They insisted i it was cool. It was March, and the j temperature ran to 94 degrees on the j day they made their objection, and onrunner was so affected by the liea* that he was found wandering in the j desert, dancing and playing a itkelele with an automobile tyre tube. Two shoemakers on the trip were j kept so busy repairing shoes that sometimes the runners were caught ! without changes. One runner went j miles in l>is bare feet, when no shoes ; were handy for him. Others wrapped cloths around their feet. The runners ate three times what an average man takes for his dinner. Two

huge steaks, a loaf of bread, and „ v ii.il pounds of potatoes just sabot them after :i r in of between miles a day aw * •WARE RATTLERS As the Pyle runners entered tile ii ! J il '« desert they held a revolt fL | were afraid of rattlesnakes. A gation called on Pyle and asked <!' armed guards to be sent along , them to shoot the rattlesnakes. Th. ! did not know what a rattlesnake look*. ■ like, but they knew they were : ; in the desert. The runners lost from 10 to * j pounds on the lirst day. After tki they dropped their pounds a slower, although they were geuta thin on the terrific grind day after dp Peter Gavuzzi, of Southampton E- : 1 land, smoked a package of cigarette • during his running. others * mo v” cigars as they trotted along charte j Hart. 63 years old. had to have , 1 111 wine every in miles. This exui ■ ordinary English veteran athlete ro j 429 miles before ae dropped out 1 j exhaustion. 1 The runners made the race in matt different uniforms. Several ril through the deserts in rain hate tL ■ slickers. One man ran with pyjama covering him. C. C. (Cash and Carry) Pyl, vl „, • to make the race an annual affair. Tr. 1929 event will and several hnndret • starting from San Francisco and eev " oral hundred from Los Angeles. Tin 1 climax of the event will be the stagiru ’ of a six-day race in Madison Sqoa> ■ Garden, New York, with teams of tw ■ runners keeping the thing going like the present six-day bicycle racers. 1 Arthur Newton, the English chair.- ■ pion 100 - mile runner, of Rhode,:. South Africa, was the wonder of the ' race, winning a long succession d 1 days’ runs, and forged ahead by over nine hours, when he was compelled in ‘ give in owing to strained tendons ir one leg. He is 44 years old and sui • prised everyone by his remarkable 1 speed. •—*— ; Cv'r'rrw.vT-W.w.~ ~a O'' :