More Nurmi

Joie Ray, U.S. runner, shot from the starting line like a sprinter running a dash, circled five laps of Madison Square Garden without slackening. Behind him came three runners. Behind them came Nurmi. The crowd roared. Ray was the favorite. Was it not a 3/4 mile race--his best distance? Had not his world's record (3 min. 5 sec.) stood unmenaced for eight years? On, on went Ray; he was two laps from the end, one lap. Then suddenly, soundlessly, a great wind passed him. Woefully he looked upon a pair of heels, the heels of Paavo Nurmi. Eight yards ahead, Nurmi broke the tape, took 1 1/5 seconds from Ray's record.

Next night again at Madison Square Garden, Nurmi, running in the Rodman Wanamaker 1 1/2 mile Special, covered that distance in 6 min. 39 2/5 sec. --2 2/5 seconds under the record made by Ray two years ago. Ray started in the race. At the end of the third lap, pressing his hand to his side in the fashion of one stricken with a cramp, he dropped out. "Boo," went the gallery. But the gallant Ray, having many times given proof of his courage, trotted heedless to the locker rooms.

That same evening, William Plant, U.S. walker, defeated Ugo Frigerio, Italy's Olympic champion, established a new world's indoor record of 22 min. 6 3/5 sec. for the 5,000 metre walk.

In the Morningside Games, held at a Manhattan armory two days later, Nurmi was scheduled to run in the 1 1/8 mile Special. The evening wore on; time came for the race; Nurmi did not appear. A messenger was sent to him, where he lurked in some hiding place unknown to all but his manager, Hugo Quist. Back came the messenger with the news that Nurmi would not run. At this, Manager Quist put on his coat, proceeded to a Turkish bath where Nurmi had been spending the evening, fetched him back. The flying Finn gave evidence of morose spirits. He had contracted a chest cold and had hurt his leg while swimming; hence his visit to the bath. He was tired. He jogged around the track, 21 2/5 seconds slower than his own record time of 4 min. 58 sec., content to defeat the other contenders by a mere 30 yards or more. He did not know, he said, that he had to run that night. Hence, for the first time in his U.S. visit, he failed to break a world's record.

He failed for the second time in Boston a day later. There he won the Boston A. A.'s Two-Mile Special with a time of 9:16 1-5, failing to break any records, despite the fact that in a fit of pique, last week, he announced that he would run the distance in 9 minutes fiat. William Plant, U.S. walker, again defeated Ugo Frigerio, Italian Olympic champion, breaking by 1 1-5 seconds, his own world's record. (12 min. 54 sec.) for the 3,000 metre walk. In the polevault, Laddie (E. E.) Meyers jumped 12 feet 10 5-8 inches, bettering his world's record of 12 ft. 81-4 in. made in 1922.