i
‘”
MI DSUMME R NUM BE RP=TONDO N GAMES.
Vow!
Vou. VIL No. 40.
Copyright
‘ by Yale Alumni Weekly,
10 CENTS.
PricE
NEW HAVEN, CONN., AUGUST, 1899.
z
THE LONDON GAMES.
With a detailed Account of each
_ Eventin an uncertain and exciting
Struggle, in which Yale could do
no Point Winning—Trip across the
Water and Incidents of the Stay
in England, including Verbatim
Report of Speeches at the Ban-
quet, by Ambassador Choate, Lord
Jersey, Mr. Wendell, Mr. Camp
and others,
(By Preston Kumler, the Staff Correspondent o
the ALUMNI WEEKLY.) ;
é
’
Lonnpon, July 24.
The grounds of the Queen’s Club,
West Kensington, London, presented a
beautiful and picturesque appearance on
the afternoon of, July 22. Flaring post-
ers on the busses, in the railway sta-
tions and on the boards borne by cock-.
ney isandwich-men had combined with
the press and conversation of the pre-
vious weeks to tell the British public.
and the visiting colony from “the States”
of the Oxford-Cambridge—Harvard-Yale
sports, arranged for the day, and when
the royal carriage conveying the Prince
of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of
York, entered the grounds at four
o'clock, and the first competitors went
onto the field, about nine thousand
people were present.
The sky had cleared after the showers
of the night before, which had only
served to make more fit the finest cinder
track in all England and brighten the
firm green turf of the irregular oval
which it enclosed. The’ Britishers said
the day was too warm, but the Ameri-—
cans, who were willing to undergo the
slight ‘discomfort of the heat for the
favoring conditions which it brought
their athletic representatives, were well
pleased at the eighty degrees registered
by the London thermometers.
ATTENDING ROYALTY.
The privileged people occupied the
West side of the grounds, for there
were located the Royal Box, draped in
scarlet and gold with the Royal Stand-
ard floating above, and closely adjoin-
ing, the pavilion and special enclosures,
crowded with club members and “Old
Blues,” as former Oxford and Cam-
bridge athletés are known. Along the
South side of the three-lap track, which
is of peculiar shape, best described as
an irregular quadrangle with the corners
rounded off, stood the gaily-decorated
stands assigned to the Yale and Har-
vard contingents, bright with the Stars
and Stripes and the crimson and blue.
At the opposite end of the enclosure were
the other ten-shilling seats, filled with
dignified representatives of the middle
class, while along the remaining side,
facing the pavilion, were packed the.
thousands of sport-lovers who had paid
half a crown for admission and a place
to stand. Bees
The crowd was rather quiet during
the earlier part of the afternoon and the
Royal Victoria Band, stationed in front
of the Royal Box, had things much its
Own way so far as noise was concerned,
But as the well-managed events followed
quickly one after another and the rais-
¢
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OX FORD-CAMBRIDGE TEAM.
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[Photo. by Byron, New York.]
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ing of the national flags in the middle
of the oval denoted a win now for
America and now for England, the en-
thusiasm became intense and the start-
ling cheers of the American university
men and the exclamations of “bravo”
and “well-run” by the Englishmen be-
came mingled in one terrific uproar.
ENGLAND'S GREATEST ATHLETIC MEET.
The English papers united in declar-
ing this the grandest athletic meet ever
held in the country: surely none of the
Americans present had ever seen any-
thing to equal it. The result is too well
known, a victory for Oxford and Cam-
bridge by a score of five points to four.
By a fortunate arrangement of the pro-
gram, the final outcome of the games
depended on the three-mile run, the last
event of the day. For fifteen minutes
the Yale man and the Cambridge man
fought each other around the track,
amidst the shouts of the excited specta-
tors. This was the glorious climax of
_ an afternoon of the keenest sport, and
when Workman, the little Cambridge
runner, crossed the line winner over the
exhausted but plucky Palmer, the Brit-
ishers surged about him by hundreds,
followed him to the Pavilion and
cheered long and frantically when he
appeared on the veranda above them.
CALCULATIONS WERE WRONG.
All the performances of the afternoon
were well above the average, most of
them remarkably good. The results of
“many of the events were the source of
great surprise to those who had at-
tempted to calculate the chances of vic-
tory. It was generally conceded that the
hammer-throw, high jump nad_half-
mile run would go to the Americans
and that the Englishmen would win the
broad jump, the mile and the three-mile
runs. Boardman of Yale was thought
to be almost a sure man in the quarter
mile run, so the average American felt
that a victory in either the hundred
yards dash or the hurdle race was all
*t
that was required to win the meet, while:
those who foresaw a triumph for Oxford
and Gambridge counted on winning both
of these events. » But Burke and Adams,
the American half-milers, were both
easily beaten in a race much slower than
their recent performances, and Davison
of Cambridge surprised both English-
men and Americans by running the
quarter seconds faster than his best pre-
vious record and beating Boardman,
who covered the distance in time which
it was thought would assure him first
place. Thus, with the two most doubt-
ful events to their credit, defeat came to
the Americans by one point, through
the loss of two places on which they had
counted as sure. It was thought when
the Americans entered the games that all
were in prime condition with the-excep-
tion of Burke. The comparatively poor
showing of their renresentatives in
the four long races, however, justifies
the opinion that some of the distance
men at least, suffered from the climatic
change.
GREAT ENDURANCE OF ENGLISH RUNNERS.
The magnificent judgment of the Eng-
lishmen in the four long runs was a
prominent factor in gaining them their
well-earned victory. A critical review
of the sports indicates that, in each of
the distance events, a carefully laid plan
to run the Americans off their feet dur-
ing the early part of the race was
carried out with marked success. But
the Britishers must be credited with
something beside head-work, for they
ran gloriously. Whether it be due to
heredity or to the vigorous outdoor life
during their early years, certain it is
that these Englishmen are natural run-
ners. In general the Americans ran
more gracefully, in better form, but the
Oxford and Cambridge men pounded
about the track in a sturdy, uncultivated
way which gave evidence of the won-
derful strength which won their races
for them. |
At just four o’clock the competitors in
the hammer-throw and: broad-jump ap-
peared on the field and were greeted by
— z
hearty cheers. These two events took
place simultaneously, the jump in front
of the pavilion and the hammer-throw-
ing contest in ‘the northest corner of
the enclosure. While they were watched
with interest and the good performances .
were applauded, there was little excite-
ment, as the result of each was a fore-
gone conclusion.
BROAD JUMP.
C.D. Daly and Captain J. Te Roche-
of Harvard were the American repre-
sentatives in the broad jump, with G. C.
Vassall of Oxford and L. R. O. Bevan
of Cambridge as opponents. As a con-
cession to the Americans, a six-inch
take-off had been substituted for the
narrower block prescribed by the Eng-
lish rules, and each man was allowed
five trials, a compromise between the
six allowed in America and the four
to which the Oxford and Cambridge
men were accustomed. The distances
were reckoned according to the English
system, the first imprint counting, in-
stead of the first break, as in America.
Vassall cleared 22 feet 5 inches on_his
first leap and on the fourth trial in-
creased his mark to 23 feet, at which he
won the event. Daly did not appear to
be up to his American form, but
improved on each successive attempt,
finally jumping 22 feet 3 inches. Roche’s
best distance was 21 feet 9 inches, and
Bevan, who took a long, laboring run,
did nothing better than 20 feet 4%
inches.
The raising of the Union Jack, which
announced the completion of the first
event, brought forth considerable ap-
plause from the British element.
HAMMER THROW.
The hammer throw was easily won by
W. A. Boal of Harvard, with 136 feet
8% inches to his credit, his college mate,
H. J. Brown, securing second place with
122 feet 9 inches. The Englishmen were
completely outclassed, for J. D. Green-
shields of Oxford did but 108 feet 9
inches and none of the throws of L. O.
T. Baines of Cambridge were considered
good enough to measure.
