SPORT AT THE FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1916, Page 5

SPORT AT THE FRONT.

HOW SOLDIERS AMUSE THEM. ' SELVES. ' London, February' *, Never beyond the roar of the Wg" guns, the grimness of war is seldom hidden from the soidier at the front. •". But he lias a wonderful capacity for " throwing off the melancholy of. tho trenches. See him behind the lines on ~ rest days, and he is a cheery, happy- '< go-lucky fellow ready for all the fun -y that can be conjured up amidst the unV >." friendly mud of war-stricken fields. His J-' thoughts lightly turn to sport, to hejs ■*• i a rough-and-tumble with the gloves on, • * to kick a football with his nail-Btudd*d '..,'•' boots, to take part in a race across ,v ; country. These sporting events are ejttV,' ccuraged by Headquarters, they are good • for the morale of the troops. The 7th Infantry Division has just held a cross* ■?' country championship, and it will go "■ down in the annals of sport as a unique •', event. Each battalion entered a team -J of five or more men to compete over a five-mile course. The enemy would have .''. been amazed to see a whole division keen- ' ly interested in such a frivolous event. . The whole division marched, battalion '; by battalion, to witness the contest,,'; There were the 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 24th " Manchester, 2nd South Staffords, Queen's .' Scottish Borderers, Gordon Highlanders, . 2nd Devons, 2nd Warwicks, and the. ■; R.A.M.C., whilst brigade and divisional ~■ staff officers were conspicuous on hor*e- ■; back. The Gordons swung along headed ... by a piper, whose pipes informed eavth. >. / and sky that Scotland was "no'missing"." •■;■< There were more than 800 runners, and A . &4 they lined up for thestart of the race. „■, j anyone acquainted with championships or ,'•; the sort at Home might have been sitt- ,7j prised. It was a strange sight, for, Ifc- i stead of being clad in light costumes and spiked pumps, the men wore their ordinary clothes and regulation army boot*. ■'•. The mixture of trousers, breeches and' >~ 5 kilts looked more picturesque than help* ...1 ful. At the crack of the pistol they ■'!■•! started in a body at a pace much too .:jj hot to last in such clothing. The course 'y, was almost straight for the first three-' J quarters of a mile, and the going eady. >;{* Then it turned round a small wood into ".,j ploughed fields .wide heavy by much. *j rain. When the runners came into sight again they formed a long procession, Once more the course curved ana ity? ■ '•': men were lost to view. Then a solitary ">' figure glided over a ridge in thedistanee, i where the last stretch for home began. 'J For a few minutes there was silence,' "•! and every eye was strained to identity ■ v; the leader. Then a murmur from th» . j RA.M.C. rose into a prolonged and tn« i;, umphant cheer, as they recognised D*vje» '' of that corps, and the cross-counter 'J champion of the Army. He won ealfty, \ % but the excitement increased as mt '' competitors came down the straign;'' | straining desperately to gain a point !«'= ', their team. Not until the last m»n hid <• finished -were the team placings settttdj ■,,} Then it was announced that the Border* r? erg were first, the Warwicks eeoond, tin jg Devona third, and the 20th lilaneheiUM \ fourth in what is perhaps the firet OX Hj. fi series of khali cvoaa-coufltry ohnBltHHJ r \ ■hips behind the .HaMJlunamßtAjm 1