SPEED SKATING. 



A. M. ANDERSON. 



Of speed skaters in America, Charles 

 June, of Newburgh, N. Y., was one of the 

 first. His reputation as a skater began in 

 1838. Of more recent date was T. Don- 

 oghue, also of Newburgh, who from 1863 

 until within a few years of the formation 

 of the National Skating Association, was 

 an unbeaten champion. Donoghue was, 

 in 1878-79 training his sons, Tim, Jim, and 

 Joe, who have their father's love for speed 

 skating. 



In Canada speed races are held in the 

 principal towns. Canada has many good 

 skaters, among whom are C. H. McCor- 

 mick, H. Hulse, A. Scott, F. Dowd, F. 

 Bren, Black and McCullouch. McCor- 

 mick has been Canada's greatest skater, 

 but, owing to his age, he had to give way; 

 now it is McCullouch. McCormick's best 

 performances were one mile, at St. John's, 

 April, 1887, in 2 minutes and 58 seconds; 

 and 5 miles in 16 minutes, 58 seconds, at St. 

 Johns, March, 1888. Both races were in 

 a rink, 14 laps to the mile. 



Norway is another country with a list 

 of good skaters. Axel Paulsen, there, made 

 speed skating of national interest. His 

 father, like fathers of all great skaters, was 

 a good skater, and in 1865 was chief pro- 

 moter of races. 



A. Paulsen, A. Norseng, H. Hagen, P. 

 Ostlund, F. Luhr, Frederickson and J. 

 Nordelph, are all in the front rank. H. 

 Hagen has a record of 2:39 for one mile; 

 and in 3 races with McCormick, in Nor- 

 way, he defeated the Canadian 3 times. 

 Hagen's time, for the 5 miles, was 15 min- 

 utes and 56 seconds. 



In 1883, Axel Paulsen for the first time 

 crossed the Atlantic, where he again met 

 McCormick, and was defeated by him, on 

 account of the small rink, 14 laps to the 

 mile. The next year, however, Paulsen 

 again crossed the Atlantic with an im- 

 provement in racing skates. This time he 

 swept the country, first at New York, win- 

 ning a 25-mile race in 1 hour, S3 minutes 

 and 28 seconds. Then he went to Mil- 

 waukee and defeated Dowse. Returning 

 to the East, he won the International 10- 

 mile race, at Washington, D. C, in 36 min- 

 utes, 7 2-5 seconds. 



It seems strange that every country 

 should have 3 leading skaters. The United 

 States has its 3 Donoghues; England the 

 3 Smarts; Holland, 3 Kingmas; Canada 

 has McCormick, McCullouch, and Bren; 

 while Norway's 3 champions are Paulsen, 

 Hagen, and Norseng. 



C. G. Tebbutt, of England, has won 

 many a race on the track. He with his 



brothers, Louis, Sidney and Arnold, skat- 

 ed from Earith to Wisbeach and back, a dis- 

 tance of 7zV± miles, in g l / 2 hours. Tebbutt, 

 on the race-course of Amsterdam, March, 

 1, 1888, skated 40 miles in 3 hours and 7 sec- 

 onds, making new records for all distances 

 above 25 miles. In the same year Axel 

 Paulsen skated a mile backward in 3 min- 

 utes, 31 3-5 seconds. It is recorded that J. 

 F. Donoghue and 2 of his friends skated 

 on the Hudson river, from Newburgh to 

 Albany, 90 miles, in about 5 hours, after 

 having run, in the morning of the same day, 

 to Poughkeepsie and back, making in all 

 122 miles. 



Among the performances of T. Don- 

 oghue, Jr., was that of skating a straight 

 mile in a strong wind in 2 minutes, 12^4 

 seconds, on the Hudson river. On Janu- 

 ary 26, 1893, at Stamford, Conn., J. F. Don- 

 oghue skated 100 miles in a race in 7 hours, 

 11 minutes and 38 1-5 seconds, beating the 

 best previous record by 4 hours 26 minutes 

 and 6 4-5 seconds. The course on which 

 Donoghue made this record was in a rink, 

 2 laps to the mile. 



Of Western skaters, Minneapolis has a 

 few good ones. J. S. Johnson, the great 

 bicyclist and skater, holds the world's rec- 

 ord, 2:42, for one mile. J. N. Nelsson holds 

 the world's 3-mile record, 8:48 2-5; also 

 the half-mile record, 1:20 2-5. These rec- 

 ords were made at Montreal, in races, Feb- 

 ruary 2, 1895. O. Rudd is the world's 660- 

 yards champion. 



St. Paul is full of good skaters. The 

 leading rinks are the Aurora Park, where 

 the championship races were held during 

 Carnival week, 1896; Junior, Pioneer and 

 Edgerton street rinks. At Como Park rink 

 there is skating in summer as well as in 

 winter; there the course is 2 laps to the 

 mile. 



On holidays and race days, in the win- 

 ter, it is a picturesque scene to see thou- 

 sands of young and old; with flushed faces 

 and sparkling eyes, careening around this 

 immense rink, with the grace and poetry 

 of motion that makes skating so fascinat- 

 ing to the onlooker. At any hour of the 

 day, rosy-cheeked girls, with their escorts, 

 can be seen wending their way toward this 

 rendezvous of the St. Paul skaters. 



Among the best-known St. Paul skaters 

 are, A. D. Smith, holder of many records; 

 E. Pannell, H. Davison. T. Davison, L. 

 Johnson, B. B. Bird. A. Scheibe, H. Bird, 

 M. Martin. M. Anderson, A. Jones. C. 

 Hoff. P. Hoff, G. Sudheimer. J. Cox. F. 

 Scheie T. Thomoson, A. Lee. F. Craw- 

 ford, A. Wold, R. Greenleaf. L. Larson, 



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