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Show IPS MANY years ago Ellsworth Vines, the star tennis player, and not a bad golfer, made this remark re-mark "It's surprising how long it takes a fellow to get into hard competitive condition and what a short time it takes to get out again." And Vines was a hard trainer. This happens to be completely true. It is one answer to Gunder TTaoacr'c ehnwinf in m- i i JiLm n e ' i the recent IC 4A games, at Madison Square Garden where he practically practical-ly collapsed in the mile run. Ha egg, the great Swedish flash, oudoors and in shape, has run the mile in 4.02. He aiit.ana wgg , timed arOUnO Gunder Haegg 4.31 over an indoor track with no chance to train, soon after he landed. This means a lost or missing margin mar-gin close to 29 seconds or something some-thing more than 150 yards. In the best mile that Haegg ever ran he would have beaten Rafferty's 4:16.4 mile by over 90 yards. For a 4.16 mile is barely more than a gallop. Looking as far back as Joie Ray, a 4.16 mile would have been a common com-mon canter for the old-timer. Rafferty has always been a fighting fight-ing miler. Then we had Nurmi's 4:10.4. And Nurmi was one of the great runners of all time. From the mile to 10,000 meters. From that point on down to Arne Anaersson s record mile in 4:1.6 we have seen the records fall via Glen Cunningham, Cunning-ham, Lovelock, Haegg and others who hammered the figures down, split second by split second. But in all this natural ability has needed the hardest sort of work, plus abl trainers and able coaches who have yet to receive the credit they deserved. The Greatest Race To me the mile has always been the greatest of all races. It combines com-bines more in the way of speed and stamina than any other distance. The 100 yards the 220 even the quarter are largely speed tests. Although Al-though it must be admitted that the 440 yard dash, or the quarter, is also a killing distance, calling for extended speed. But the mile is something in between the sprints and the longer distance races, leading up to the marathon. The average, normal human being be-ing from city and farm, usually talks and thinks in terms of the mile. It is a mile to some place or 5 miles or 10 miles. You know just about what that means. The mile today is the ideal combination com-bination of speed and stamina a race that draws and keeps the crowds interest. The 100 and the 220 are over in too much of a hurry while the 2 and 3 mile races are too long to watch. In this country most of our best running has been turned in from the 100 yard dash to the mile. We have had few runners with the patience pati-ence to train for longer distances. We have been better at the shorter distances with Paddock, Wykoff, To-lan, To-lan, Jesse Owens, and many others. Here it was largely a matter of a flash or half a stride. But the main or major goal In track racing has been to reach the mile in four minutes flat. Here is something that demands both speed and stamina to the ultimate limit. The time may come when some one will beat four minutes. But that Is the big target now. Arne Andersson has brought the mile to Just a trifle more than a second from the four minute mark. Four minutes will be reached and beaten, but hardly through the war period. For with all the ability one may have, there is still the matter of condition and hard training through a long period. For example, Gunder Haegg is still the greatest distance runner in the world, over the one, two ana three-mile tests. His record is one of the most amazing in all sport. Yet, out of condition, his last showing show-ing at the mile and his best showing at the mile, are close to 29 seconds apart We have always believed there are no supermen in sport. Records are only made to be broken. What they all want is the target. Sooner or later they bowl this target over. It has been said "There is no substitute for work." Also "There is no substitute for experience." Certainly Cer-tainly in a mile run there is no substitute sub-stitute for a long, hard training period pe-riod that brings the legs and the wind working together as a team. And that goes for a Mercury. Tops in Training While we're speaking of condition, condi-tion, if anyone cares to know about the all-time top in physical training, it wouldn't be a bad idea to visit i the four navy pre-fiight schools at j North Carolina, Georgia, St. Mary's ! and Iowa. These four major pre-! pre-! flight headquarters were first set up by Comdr. Tom Hamilton, carried , on by Comdr. Frank Wickhorst and : are now under Comdr. "Killer" Kane. In addition to the academic and military side they have done an j incredible job of conditioning. |