short races of from 50 to 75 yds. during the numerous indoor meetings held in winter-time offers excellent training in starting and getting rapidly into full stride.
The best time for the eighth mile (220 yds.), a distance often run in America, is 211⁄5 secs., made in 1896 on a straightaway track by B. J. Wefers.
The quarter-mile (440 yds.) is almost always run on a curved track, and hence a quick start is important, for should the runner who has the advantage of the inside position allow himself to be outrun in the distance to the first turn, one of his opponents is likely to cut in and deprive him of it, while on the other hand a runner on the outside must actually outrun the inside man in order to be on even terms after the turn. The element of strategy, unknown in straight sprints, thus enters into the quarter. Speed is, of course, the chief requisite for a quarter-miler, but a certain amount of staying power is also necessary. The standard time for the quarter is 50 secs., which means an average speed of 11.3 secs, for each 100 yds. round the course. That of M. W. Long of Columbia University, who made the record, 47 secs., in 1900, was on that occasion 10.68 secs, for each hundred yards.
The system of “relay races,” usually run by four men each going a quarter of the distance, is a popular variety. The favourite distance is a mile, each man running a quarter at top speed. This method of racing was introduced in the United States about the year 1890 on the model of the Massachusetts firemen's “bean-pot” races, and has since become very popular there. The old method was for the men running the second quarter of the course to wait on the mark for the first relay men to arrive, and then, snatching small flags from their hands, to continue the race, handing over the flags to the third relay upon completing their quarter. The flags, being cumbersome, were afterwards abandoned, and the new runners are now required only to touch the persons of the preceding contestants. The 1 m. record, 3 min. 212⁄5 secs., was made in 1898 by B. J. Wefers, M. W. Long, T. E. Burke and H. S. Lyons of the New York Athletic Club.
Middle-Distance Running. — The chief middle distances are 600 yds., 660 yds., 880 yds. (half-mile) and 1000 yds., but of these the half-mile is the only one commonly recognized in championship sports. Endurance is more important at these distances, though speed is essential, and the element of strategy increases. An element unknown to sprinting enters into middle- and long-distance runs, namely that of pace-making; even when the real race is between two individuals at least one other runner on each side takes part in the contest, in order to “make the pace” for his principal. Emilio Lunghi (U.S.A.) holds the half-mile world's record of 1 min. 524⁄5 secs., made in 1909. J. F. K. Cross of Oxford University ran the half-mile at Oxford in 1888 in 1 min. 543⁄5 secs. The record for 1000 yds., 2 min. 13 secs., was made by L. E. Myers (U.S.A.). The distance of three-quarters of a mile is seldom run now at large meetings.
Long-Distance Running. — This includes all flat races of 1 m. or more, as well as Steeplechasing, hare-and-hounds, and other forms of cross-country running. Great Britain has always been the home of long-distance running, different forms of cross-country racing having been popular all over the kingdom for centuries. In England at the championship meeting the distance events on the flat are the 1 m., 4 m. and 10 m. races, and in the inter-university sports the 1 m. and 3 m.; in America the distances are 1 m., 2 m. and 5 m.; but any and all of these distances are often included in important British and American programmes. Hard daily training is necessary for a distance runner. Good pace-making and strategy in general are of great importance. The runner must learn to “run to the watch,” i.e. to cover the different portions of the distance in a certain time, in order to be placed most advantageously for the finish. The mile race requires speed as well as stamina. Most champion milers are capable of doing the half under 2 min. The record for the mile, made in 1886 at Lillie Bridge by W. G. George, as a professional, is 4 min., 123⁄4 secs.; the amateur record is 4 min. 153⁄5 secs., made by T. P. Conneff in America, J. Binks, holding the British amateur record with 4 min. 164⁄5 secs., made at Stamford Bridge in 1902. The longer-distance races require more stamina than speed, and a careful husbanding of strength.
The following table gives the records (up to 1908) for the distance runs on the flat, longer than 1 m.: —
| Distance. | Name. | Time. | Date. | Place. | ||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
In addition to the records for the above-mentioned distances, Shrubb held in 1908 the records for 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11 m., and also for the greatest distance covered in 1 h., namely, 11 m. 1316 yds. He won the 4 m. and the 10 m. British championship 1901-4 inclusive, and the 1 m. championship 1903 and 1904; also the French 1 m. and 3 m. championship 1902-4 inclusive. Shrubb was moreover a first-rate cross-country runner also; he won the British 10 m. cross-country championship 1901-4 inclusive, and the international 8 m. cross-country championship 1902-4. In 1863 a full-blooded Seneca Indian, L. Bennet, known as “Deerfoot,” ran 12 m. in 1 h. 2 m. 21⁄2 secs.
Real cross-country running is a fast jog over hill and dale. It may take the form of a race from the gymnasium or clubhouse across the fields to a given spot and back again, passing certain objects or buildings; of a practice run behind the coach preparatory to a long-distance race on the track; or of a paper-chase, or hare-and-hounds, the “hares,” two or three in number, starting a few minutes before the “hounds,” and leaving a trail of scraps of paper dropped from bags, which must be followed by the “hounds.” In Great Britain the standard distance is 10 m., but in America it is somewhat less, the distance for the intercollegiate championship race being 61⁄4 m.
Steeplechasing was originally only a cross-country run over a course plentifully provided with natural obstacles, such as brooks, ditches, fences and hedges; but at the present day the steeplechase takes place in the inner enclosure of an athletic field and the obstacles are artificial. They are placed about 70 or 80 yds. apart, and consist of hurdles, a stone wall about 3 ft. high and 2 or 3 ft. broad, and a water-jump, a ditch about 6 ft. broad filled with water and guarded by a wall or fence covered with thick furze or other thick shrubbery. Steeplechase courses differ widely, but the usual distance both in Great Britain and America is 2 m. The time necessary to cover this distance varies according to the difficulties of the course, but a few seconds under 11 min. is considered very fast time.
Team-racing is a favourite form of distance running, each team consisting of 10 men and the distance usually 4 m., the standard of the modern Olympic Games. Different systems of scoring are in vogue, but the usual one allows the winner ten points, the second to arrive nine, and so on, the tenth arrival scoring one. The team aggregating the highest number of points wins.
Among modern distance events the Marathon Run of about 40 kilometres (24 m. 1500 yds.) is the most important. It was introduced in the first revived Olympic Games at Athens in 1896 (see Athletic Sports) in memory of the famous Greek runner who was said to have brought the news of the battle of Marathon in Athens, dropping dead when his task was finished.
RUODLIEB, a romance in Latin verse by an unknown German poet who flourished about 1030; he was almost certainly a monk of the Bavarian abbey of Tegernsee. The poem is one of the earliest German romances of knightly adventure, and its vivid picture of feudal manners gives it a certain value as an historical document. The poet was probably an eye-witness of the episode (ll. 4231-5221) which represents the meeting of the emperor Henry II. with Robert of France on the banks
