A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



races for schoolboys and one for volunteers and foot- 

 ball teams. The hurdle races, which at one time 

 were exceedingly attractive, have dropped out of 

 late years, but steeplechases of 500 yds. and 

 1000 yds. continue in favour, and the introduc- 

 tion of a relay race has proved a great success. 

 The cycling section includes two half-mile 

 handicaps one for novices a scratch race for 

 the same distance, and a mile handicap. For 

 the most part there has been no departure from 

 the ordinary events, but a mile walking handicap 

 has recently been revived. Owing to the ground 

 being required for cricket the meeting, with only 

 two or three exceptions in the last twenty years, 

 has been held on the last Saturday in April, 

 and, though the date is too early for athletes 

 to be in thorough training, the names of the 

 best of the competitors for the amateur athletic 

 championship usually appear among the entrants. 

 Prizes to the value of over 200 are offered for 

 competition, and the entries, which for a number 

 of years fluctuated between three hundred and 

 four hundred, now frequently exceed five hun- 

 dred in number. 



Looking back over the names of the men 

 who have figured conspicuously on the Trent 

 Bridge ground at this annual athletic festival, 

 one recalls such champions as C. F. Daft, 

 W. G. Geonje, E. W. Parry, C. A. Bradley, 

 A. R. Downer, R. VV. Wadsley, G. W. White, 

 A. E. Tysoe, G. Butterfield, S. J. Robinson, 

 F. W. Cooper, T. M. Donovan, Denis Murray, 

 A. E. Underwood, A. Trafford, A. E. Hind, 

 (). Groenins;s, Denis Carey, J. W. Morton, 

 J. P. George. A. Astley, I. F. F. Crawford, 

 and such first-class Nottingham men as Spencer, 

 Widdowson, Bestow, Cleaver, Gowthorpe, A. 

 V. Edwards, F. Rivers, and A. Foster. 



In the Diamond Jubilee year magnificent 

 Liuld medals, worth 10 each, were awarded as 

 first prize in the open events in commemoration 

 of Queen Victoria's long reign, and the attend- 

 ance on that occasion constituted a record. 

 Since then the festival has grown in importance 

 and attractiveness, and has an average turnover 

 of about j6oo. It would be impossible to give 

 a complete list of the officials who have worked 

 so enthusiastically to make this event one of the 

 best organized in the kingdom, but mention ought 

 to be made of Messrs. W. T. Hancock, T. G. 

 Howitt, C. J. Caborn, C. F. Daft, C. J. Spen- 

 cer, T. Danks, C. W. Gowthorpe, S. Widdow- 

 son, J. H. Scothern, H. P. Day, W. Luntley, 

 S. Bestow, R. Hallam, H. W. Davis, W. B. 

 Bowyer, J. F. Bishop, B. Kirk, A. G. Drewry, 

 H. S. Radford, S. Weston, F. Earp, W. J. 

 Bowyer, and H. Hallam, besides many others, 

 some of whom have passed away. 



There is not the slightest doubt that the 

 Nottingham Forest meeting is the chief festival 

 of the whole athletic year, despite the fact that 

 its early date entails a big risk in regard to spring 



weather. But the huge ground at Trent Bridge 

 never looks better than when it is laid out 

 for the foot, cycle, hurdle, and steeplechase 

 events to be decided over its surface. The best of 

 runners have first essayed their paces at Notting- 

 ham. W. G. George, the great miler, whose 

 record still stands and is likely to do so for years 

 to come, first made his appearance in the walk- 

 ing race at the Nottingham Forest meeting. After 

 the race, in which he made comparatively slow 

 progress, he decided to abandon walking and go 

 in for running. It was at the same gala that 

 G. W. White, the Northampton quarter-miler, 

 was given a goodly mark by the handicapper and 

 won easily in a 440 yds. race, to carry off the 

 national honour the same year from R. W. Wads- 

 ley. It was on the Trent Bridge ground also 

 that George Butterfield, who lost the A. A. A. 

 mile championship on 4 July 1908, after holding 

 it for three seasons, won a mile handicap in such 

 hollow style that he was quickly marked down 

 as a coming man. J. Groenings, another English 

 champion, a hurdler from the London Poly- 

 technic, also showed some excellent work over 

 the classic flights taken by such adepts as 'the 

 Nottingham School,' as the old-time hurdler 

 champions were called. 



Second only in importance to the Forest 

 sports was the meeting held for twenty-three 

 years in connexion with the Beeston Cricket 

 Club. A splendid grass track was provided on 

 the cricket ground near Beeston railway station, 

 and upwards of j i oo was given in prizes, the 

 entries, numbering between three hundred and 

 four hundred, invariably including the names of 

 many of the best-known athletes in the United 

 Kingdom. Unfortunately this event lapsed in 

 1905, but the gap thus created has been well 

 filled by the sports meeting organized by the 

 Nottinghamshire Rugby Club. At the inaugural 

 fixture in 1907, held on the Victoria Ground at 

 Beeston, prizes to the value of ^120 were offered, 

 three hundred individual entries being received, 

 amongst those competing being J. W. Morton, 

 the IOO yds. champion for four seasons; G. 

 Butterfield, one mile champion for three seasons ; 

 I. Fairburn Crawford, English and Irish half- 

 mile champion in 1907 ; and A. Astley, half-mile 

 ex-champion. 



For thirteen years a very successful meeting 

 has taken place under the auspices of that flourish- 

 ing organization, Boots' Athletic Club, on the 

 ground of the club at Lady Bay, West Bridgford. 

 Thirty-five years ago the Mansfield Cricket Club 

 founded a sports meeting which has been attended 

 with conspicuous success, the entries frequently 

 exceeding three hundred and the attendance 

 numbering over five thousand. One of the 

 features of this meeting is the competition for 

 the challenge cups presented by the Duke of 

 Portland. Another meeting which has a history 

 extending over thirty-five years is that annually 



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