SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



It was only to be expected that, being so near 

 to Sheffield, the home of professional athletics, 

 Nottinghamshire-born men should be tempted to 

 compete for the j6o and 100 prizes given at 

 Hyde Park, Queen's, and other running grounds 

 in the cutlery town. On 3 July 1866 H. Swann 

 of Nottingham, starting off the 65 yds. mark, 

 won the 35 first prize in a 2OO yds. handicap 

 decided on the Hyde Park inclosure. In the 

 succeeding season, on 9 September 1867, J. Ross 

 of Nottingham, off 6r|yds., won the j6o 

 200 yds. handicap at the Queen's Grounds. A 

 year passed without a victory for Nottingham- 

 shire, although there were eight handicaps at 

 Sheffield in 1868, but on 27 July 1869 J. Ross 

 scored again at Hyde Park. This time he won off 

 68^ yds. in the 225 yds. 70 handicap, an ex- 

 perimental distance which just suited Ross, who 

 had become quite a seasoned runner and could 

 stand the severity of a professional preparation. 

 On 19 April 1870 Jem Hall of Nottingham 

 won the 204 yds. handicap at the Queen's 

 Grounds, Sheffield, off the 67 yds. mark, the 

 prize being jioo. On 27 December 1871 

 T. Smith from the same place won the ^200 

 first prize given in the 200 yds. Christmas handi- 

 cap, starting off 71^ yds. This was the first 

 j^2OO race offered in the Sheffield handicaps, and 

 in the next season J. Smith of Mansfield, off 

 74yds., secured the ^200 prize in the 200 yds. 

 race at the Newhall Grounds at Sheffield. After 

 this the sum offered came down to ^100, and 

 it was not until 22 May 1877 that the next 

 victory of a Nottingham man was recorded 

 at Sheffield. On that date T. Bakewell, a 

 Radford runner, with 79^ yds. start, won the 

 204yds. race and jioo. Eight yards further 

 was the distance of the race held at Queen's 

 Grounds on I 5 April 1879, when J. Armstrong 

 of Nottingham, off 79^ yds., beat a big field. 



The Nottinghamshire township of Hucknall 

 Torkard was the home of W. Wright, who 

 won the Queen's and Newhall Handicaps, each 

 worth jioo, in 1880 and 1881. How good a 

 man he was is proved by the fact that in one 

 season his mark over 205 yds. dropped from 81^ 

 to 77 yds., and professionals are not fond of ex- 

 posing their form in public too frequently. Then 

 in 1883 (6 February), at Queen's Grounds, 

 J. Briggs of Basford won the jiOO race over 

 205 yds., receiving 85 yds. start. After this 

 came a decline, most probably caused by the 

 growth of amateur athletics, and it was not until 

 the Christmas Handicap of 1890, at Sheaf 

 House, Sheffield, that the county of Nottingham 

 again provided a winner of the popular sprint. 

 This was that fine runner, Charles Harper of 

 Bulwell, who took the 202 yds. race off the 

 86^ yds. mark. When he won the correspond- 

 ing handicap three seasons later his mark was down 

 to 82^ yds., and it became less and less as he 

 advanced in prominence at the pastime of which 



he was for so long a devotee. Harper became 

 champion of England and resisted the attacks of 

 many sprinters in search of that title until one 

 day he challenged the youthful Scot, A. R. 

 Downer. The latter was right at the top of his 

 form, and had to concede Harper li yds. start in 

 130 yds. for 100. The match was decided at 

 Higginshaw, Oldham, on 22 April 1899, and 

 Downer was soon at Harper's shoulder, but 

 from 60 to about 90 yds. the Nottinghamshire 

 man kept his advantage. Here Downer made a 

 desperate effort, and drew level 2O yds. from 

 home. He beat Harper by half a yard, and the 

 official time was returned at 1\ yds. inside even 

 time. Other watches, however, made it much 

 faster, their times averaging about 3^ yds. inside 

 ' evens,' which goes to show what a grand pair 

 of runners they were. Thus Downer won the 

 championship of England, and so ends the story of 

 the predominance of Nottinghamshire in the world 

 of professional athletics. Money matches for 

 small sums are still decided in the sporting villages 

 of the county, but amateur athletics have a huge 

 following to-day, and some of the finest galas of 

 the whole athletic year are held in and near to 

 the county town. 



In the middle of the igth century great efforts 

 were made to popularize amateur athletics, and 

 an impetus was given to this branch of sport 

 in the county in 1868, when the Nottingham 

 Forest Football Club, three years after its forma- 

 tion, commenced its series of successful meetings. 

 The first was held on 7 May at Trent Bridge, 

 and the entries, which numbered 210, included 

 such crack amateurs as Barnes and W. M. 

 Chinnery of the London Athletic Club ; 

 Thompson of Leicester ; Lambert of Cam- 

 bridge University ; Duckworth of Manchester ; 

 and Needham and Johnson of Sheffield. The 

 walking race in the following year was invested 

 with additional interest by reason of the appear- 

 ance of the amateur champion, Tom Griffiths of 

 the South Essex Athletic Club, who in 1870, in 

 a match against time, walked 20 miles in 

 2 hrs. 47 mins. 52 sees. Sheffield competitors 

 in Clegg, Whelan, and Barber, carried off most 

 of the prizes. The bicycle race was regarded as 

 a novelty and, we are told, created great amuse- 

 ment. After the sports there was a dinner at 

 the Lion Hotel presided over by Mr. F. C. 

 Smith, M.P. This dinner is held to this day at 

 the Maypole Hotel, following each year's meet- 

 ing. For many years the programme was framed 

 on almost identical lines, but as time went on 

 such events as throwing the cricket ball, putting 

 the weight, the pole jump, and the long jump 

 were eliminated, and additional bicycle and other 

 races substituted. 



For a considerable period at this meeting the 

 events on the flat have usually comprised an invi- 

 tation sprint race, handicaps of 120 yds., 220 yds., 

 440 yds., half a mile, and a mile, together with two 



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