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Show I TOO OLD FOR ATHLETICS? THESE MEN PERFORM WONDERS AT 75 YEARS r i mmmbmm m. aaa wmmm m mm wmm James B Rcllly (left) Fred Plats ted (right) and Hilton Belyea (Insert) By NEA Service PHILADELPHIA. Aug. i. -When James H, Rellly and Fred PlalS-i PlalS-i d arranKil to scull one another a mile and a quarter on the Schuylkill river, a good niuny of their friends said they were as young as they thought they weTe only about their eyebrowa At 7 8 and 7 years of age. respect-i respect-i el tl SBC two friends said they w-re two plucky old men to think pf such a thing its golnu In for athletics, but these same friends added that they didn't think so much of the quSilty oi the pair's judgment, such a contest con-test wou'd kill e'm. it was predicted. They raced, however, and lialsted covered the course In eight minutes, 36 seconds, which is consedlrably better bet-ter than a lot of men can do at the top of their youthful powers. KEPI IN CONDITION-AS CONDITION-AS the younger of the two, Pluis-ted Pluis-ted ought to have won, as he did, but Rellly set him a hot nace and he got as ma&y cheers as his successful rival did Fifty ears ago Keilly and Plaleted were champions. Through all decades they ve kept In condition by it little paddling each summer. It was Plaleted who Issued the challenge. He was ready to row any jrculler above 70 he said, and at first Jim Teneyck took him up, but later he changed his mind, saying be guess- ed be was a little past such strenuous exercise. Then along came the veteran Keilly from Saratoga Plalsted in a Philudcl-phian Philudcl-phian and said he dldn t propose to let the latter get away with the Idea, that he, Keilly. was afraid of him on account of his quarter of a dozen years' advantage. And for that mat-t- r he added that be wasn't so sure It was an advantage, either, becauue at 78 a man was more mature than ho was at 7 6 and probably possessed mute strength and endurance Oarsmen a couple, of generations more youthful report that they learn od quite a bit from seeing these two old-timers tearing along the wuter In competition with one another. They announce now that they Intend In-tend to row together each year as long as they feel fit enough. only ii;;inni:k. I As for Hilton Belyoa, Rcilly and Plalsted agree that he's a mere beginner. be-ginner. All Belyea Is. Is 36. and he himself admits he hasn't come Into his own yet. He aspires to the world title as a single shell pilot. People call him the "human steamboat." steam-boat." He rigs his eratt. so far as the matter mat-ter ot propulsion's concerned, as nearly near-ly as ho can on steamboat principles The wider his oar blades are, the more force he can put upon them and the faster he can go, he says. They measure more then 13 inches across. Which Is peculiar, but within the rules I of amateur oarsmanship. Belyea is the St. John's N. B.. fisherman who holdSJ the Canadian singles championship, and who. at i the recent regatta Oi the National ; Association of Amateur tarsmen of I American on the Sehuykll! at Pnlw.-Idelphia, Pnlw.-Idelphia, where Keilly and Plalstod 'staged their content, won the assucu tlon singles. The t'anadian's native course l the :St. John's river. Scattered along this 'stream are manv small Islands upon which the cattle graze. AQUATIC RANGE RIDING These animals ate sent to swim to the Inlands from the New Brunswlcn ; shore for their rations, and parv of Belyea's training Is to row behind herds of them, to see that they go whore It's deslrrd they should Herding Herd-ing 'fancy bred cattle from a boat Is u bit out of the ordinary but Belyea says It's good training. That,, and fishing, keep him in condition r, current Is too swift for him. A few years ago Belyea was hurled from a bicycle against a rock anj the repairs a surgeon was compelled to make on him Included the riveting I of a plate over a damaged place In his skull. His right eye was some- what affected by this accident but It doesn't Interfere wtth his rowing which he says he Intends to continue until he has accumulated a good 1 many more tltli a |
