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Show Contests .Are Gruelling and Heart-Breaking on Hud-son Hud-son River. S0MK OF AMERICA'S BEST H ATHIjETES are killed No Man lias Ever Left His Boat tm With the Same Con-siitntion. Con-siitntion. Tribune Special Sporting Service. fl NRW YOKK. June UO. Will the Poughkcepsio regatta of 1007 be the enl jH of the gruelling and heart-breaking W four-mile course) That is the bopa of such noted oarsmen as Coach Courtney, of Cornell; Constance S. Titus, natioual Wm amateur cliainpion; Fred L'laistcd, for- mer professional champion, and a score of other active and interested rowers. Til us says il stunts the growth of the undeveloped youths who row in il. For years the famous Hudson river jH course has been the scene of the most W, bitterly contested battles of eights in the witter. Vouug men. boasting tho courage and endurance of thu tabled giants, have gone laughingly, even dc- Jl liantly. into those annual races and omerged wrecked in spirit and often in- jtired physically. Experienced scullers, jl Veterans of the water, have gono on record with statenients that il is al-must al-must impossible to scud eight young men into one of these struggles with- MmM out leaving permanent injuries. Thoy mmu advance solid reasons that the condi- mm tions of the race arc such as to force tho tender limbed athlete to accomplish more than his nature will permit. Lin- ing tlio banks arc thousands of his friends, all expecting him to do his best. The old familiar yells, the shout of tip- pause, a reputation for courage which ho must sustain, and thnn the race il- self! Ho dare not show a yellow streak. It would mean ostracism for mmt life. The raco is over. His crew has mmt won. All the honor of the test belongs to his boat. But he reckons not with Iho future. Veterans of the game dc- , mmj clarc with no little emphasis that tho mmj contest has left its marks. For years Coach Courtnuy has led the crusade lo have the Poughkcepsio courso reduced to three miles. Good Men Killed. jH "Four, miles have killed, athleli-cally. athleli-cally. some of America's noblest young W lllen,,, said Coach Courtney recently. 'The distance is too long. That last mile is a heart -breaker. No man has mWM ever left his boat after such a race with the same constitution with which MMm he entered it. It is high time the American college rowing authorities re- 1 duced the distance. It mars tho sport. It takes. away much of the sportsman- ship of I he race, and leaves it a grne- some struggle between young fellows who are willing, but. unlit for it." VWi The distance of the Poughkcopsie course is the only objection ever offered tWj to tho sport wllich President Fdiot of I huva id said was 'clean and honor-able," honor-able," and far ahead of football, base-ball base-ball and other college pastimes. It is a fad that preHont-dny scandals of conimercialisin touch upon rowing JW least, of all. As to licalthfulnoss, vital statistics show that the man who rows ( as a medium of exercise is well to the f . lop of the longcvily list. ' No better sport is at the disposal of America' young athlelcs today. Constance ft 'rittts has made a study of tho raco conditions. He has Princeton 's embryo ! oarsmen under his wing now. and is hopeful of seeing TigeV rowing ma- chines leading the way in tho uear fu- Course Too Long. "Poughkecjisie's course is too long. Four milei will do up any athlete. Tho chanipionsliip courses of Iho world arc W fur shorter than this course. The Nn- honal Association of Amateur Oarsmen is contented with one mid a half miles for all their events; the locnl river re- gatta races are a fourth of a mile less. The Hoynl Henley is only 110 M yards more tluin the American dislanco one and a fourth miles. Not even profcsionals row that distance. The recent Duriiin-Towns match in A us- lialia faw these great scullers going only Ihroe miles. Three miles is tho proper distance. The professionals at ono time rowed '1en miles. Gradually tliov reduced it. No reduction in dis- tancc has been innde at Poughkeojio or at. New London, either. Under tho Ijiiglish system American a Hi let en miglil I'oiv four miles with impunity; but the way young men aro tnkeu from their classes and eent into ma- chines often ruflis them for a lifetime. Ten yearn' experience is exacted from tm tlio Fiiglinh scullers on tho Thames. Tlir.v ooino from Ffon and otlier'nre- paratory schools, wliero they have pulled j an our.'Tlicre thev jump in vhen school opens, get a littfc work out. go home.' come back and no al the machines after; Christmas nnd along in April begin the. W cainptiigu for a race. An onr?man can-! MWl not lv tho hiitdest kind of- training fitj. himself for a Poughkcopsie race in ono your. Lej (he colleges give us a three- j mile course and watch the stimulus IH which college rowing receives through- IH out the country. Not a seal of learning in (his broal laud .but will hnvo lis IH crew. .Men will go to collego lit. for) an advanced courso in aquatics. They, will be veterans at tho game such a: ... are iiicmbers of the Cambridge and Ox- ford sliolN. And then when tho Amer-' i IH ican and English colors clash in a boat : IH race, watch the result. |
