A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



W. E. Lutyens, i,oooyds. in 



2 min. 14! sec on 5 July 1898 



J. Binks, i mile in 4 min. 



i6|sec 5 July 1902 



(At A. A. A. Championships, Lieut. H. C. Hawtrey 



only being beaten by a yard in this race.) 

 A. Shrubb, 3 miles in 1 4 min. 



1 7* sec on 2 1 May 1 900 



F. Appleby, 15 miles in I hr. 



20 min. 4 sec ,,21 July 1902 



W. G. George ran II miles 



932jyds. in i hr 28 July 1884 



G. Crossland ran 20 miles 



440 yds. in 2 hrs . . . . 22 Sept. 1894 



After W. G. George became a professional 

 runner he ran a mile in a match with W. 

 Cummings on 23 August 1886, at Lillie 

 Bridge, in 4 min. I2f sec., which stands as a 

 world's record to this day. As an amateur he 

 had twice beaten the mile record, once at 

 Stamford Bridge and again at Lillie Bridge. 



The Universities of Oxford and Cam- 

 bridge have held their sports in London since 

 1867 ; but, when the Lillie Bridge grounds 

 were closed, they founded the Queen's Club at 

 West Kensington in 1877. Here is a splendid 

 cinder track of rather over three laps to the 

 mile, and this ground has since been the 

 venue of the University Sports, which are 

 always looked upon as one of the chief athletic 

 attractions of the year. 



The following are the inter-University 

 records at the present date : 



looyds. by J. P. Tennant, J. G. Wilson, and 

 G. H. Urmson, all of Oxford, losec. 



J 20 yds. (hurdles), K. Powell, Cambridge i;-|sec. 



440 yds. W. Fitzherbert, Cambridge, 49 }- sec. 



880 yds. K. Cornwallis, Oxford, I min. 54* sec. 



I mile, C. C. Henderson-Hamilton, Oxford, 4 min. 

 I7|sec. 



3 miles, F. S. Horan, Cambridge, 14 min. 44! sec. 



High jump, M. J. Brooks, Oxford, 6 ft. zj in. 



Long jump, C. B. Fry, Oxford, 23 ft. 5 in. 



Putting the weight (l61b.), W. W. Coe, Oxford, 

 43 ft. 10 in. 



Throwing the hammer (16 lb.), R. H. Lindsay- 

 Watson, Oxford, 1 48 ft. 10 in. 



An athletic meeting between Oxford and 

 Yale Universities was held at Queen's Club 

 on 1 6 July 1894, Oxford winning by five 

 and a half events to three and a half. Oxford 

 and Cambridge met the combined Universities 

 of Yale and Harvard on the same ground on 

 22 July 1899, when the Englishmen won by 

 five events to four. Yale and Harvard wiped 



out this defeat at Berkeley Oval, New York, 

 on 25 September 1901, by six events to three, 

 and repeated their victory at Queen's Club on 

 23 July 1904, again winning by six events 

 to three. At the latter meeting W. A. 

 Schick, of Harvard, won the 100 yds. race in 

 95 sec., which is a record for an English 

 track. 



The Amateur Championships prior to 1879 

 were controlled by the Amateur Athletic 

 Club, which was formed in 1866. It held 

 its first championship meeting in London in 

 that year and continued to do so until the 

 management was taken over by the Amateur 

 Athletic Association in 1880. The Amateur 

 Athletic Club held its championships at Lillie 

 Bridge immediately after the Oxford and 

 Cambridge Sports, and they were chiefly 

 patronized by the runners from those Uni- 

 versities. Owing to the growth of the 

 L.A.C. and provincial clubs it was felt that 

 the general body of athletes would be able 

 to compete on more equal terms if the 

 championships were held in the summer. 

 With this end in view, the L.A.C. held 

 an extra championship meeting in the sum- 

 mer of 1879 at Stamford Bridge. On 

 4 April 1880, a meeting of representatives 

 of the chief athletic clubs in the country was 

 held at Oxford, and the Amateur Athletic 

 Association was then formed, with its head 

 quarters in London. The A.A.A. is now 

 the governing body for all amateur athletic 

 clubs in England. All athletic clubs of 

 any standing are affiliated to the Association 

 and hold their meetings under its laws. It 

 has branches in the North and Midlands, 

 and controls the championships which are 

 held alternately in Lo:idon, the North and 

 Midlands. 



Middlesex also contains some important 

 cross-country clubs. The Highgate Harriers, 

 founded in 1879, held the National Champion- 

 ship in 1899, 1902, 1904 and 1905, and 

 won the Southern Counties Championship in 

 1899, 1900, and from 1903 to 1907 with- 

 out a break. The Finchley Harriers, also 

 founded in 1879, won the National Champion- 

 ship in 1900, and were Southern Counties 

 Champions in 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, and 

 from 1895 to 1897. The Hampstead 

 Harriers, founded in 1890, the Polytechnic 

 Harriers, whose head quarters are in Regent 

 Street, and the St. Bride's Institute Athletic 

 Club also run across country. 



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