LORD ELGIN'S HALF-MILE 169 



Now so little did I really think of the Athletics, being 

 then the merest novice, that I never troubled to get shorts 

 or running shoes, and went to run in baggy flannels, 

 tucked into my socks, and boating shoes. I had been 

 given a start with which I could reach the winning post 

 in about i minute 55 seconds, so that really there should 

 have been no such thing as being beaten, and here came 

 the lesson which taught me for ever afterwards what 

 wind pressure means in racing, and why it was that 

 Tod Sloan's method of getting down " under the lee " of 

 his horse was bound to beat jockeys who persisted in 

 sitting upright. 



I take the account of the Balliol Half-mile Handicap 

 from The Field of that date, for it gives a good description 

 of the conditions and what happened : 



Dec. i, 1871. 



A more wretched afternoon than that of to-day could not be 

 imagined, a bitter north wind and driving rain prevailing from 

 the time that the competitors turned out for the half-mile hep. 



Half-mile Hep. Earl of Elgin, i ; J. A. Bryce, 2 ; W. Allison, 3 ; 

 E. W. Estcourt, 4. [Fourteen ran, including R. H. Benson, 

 scratch.] 



As the competitors turned out rain came down in torrents, 

 and were we to attempt a detailed account of the race \X*e should 

 only be practising on the credulity of our readers. Suffice it 

 to say that 250 yards from home Allison had a long lead, but was 

 caught in the next fifty yards by the Earl of Elgin, who, however, 

 only held his advantage for a short distance, when Allison again 

 went to the front. Fifty yards from home the Earl came again 

 with rare pluck, repassed the leader and won by three-quarters 

 of a yard ; Bryce just shooting Allison on the tape by six inches 

 for second ; half a yard only dividing third and fourth. Time, 

 2 min. 3^ sees. 



(The Field, Dec. 1871.) 



The above account shows clearly what was the condition 

 of the wind and weather, but people who do not know 

 the track should understand that the run in for 250 yards 

 was dead in the teeth of that north wind and rain. I 

 forget what start I had but it was sufficient to make my 



