One runner may of course be at his best at one mile, another at four, and another at ten miles, but all the three are runners of the same class, bring into exercise the same muscles, and require in varying degree the same essentials to success. The exercise they need is such as will get the limbs hard and the wind abnormally good. All will do well to walk as much as they can without making themselves stiff; when they start their running on the path in earnest they must get over a daily spin of half or two-thirds of the distance, and when they run the full distance should aim not at spurting from time to time, but at discovering what is the best even pace they can maintain over their full journey. It is hardly necessary, therefore, to point out what essential assistance is given by a 'watch-holder,' who can tell the runner at what pace he is doing his laps, so that he can know whether he is keeping up the speed he wishes. In these longer distances it is hard to give advice as to the actual daily work which should be undertaken.

The following table is supplied to us by two successful distance runners who used it:

One Mile

First day. - Two-thirds of a mile at steady pace.

Second day. - Half-mile.

Third day. - Slow mile.

Fourth day. - Fast half-mile.

Fifth day. - Six hundred yards at steady fast pace.

Sixth day. - A fast three-quarter mile.

Four Miles

First day. - Two miles slowly.

Second day. - A mile.

Third day. - Three miles.

Fourth day. - A mile, faster.

Fifth day. - Two-thirds of a mile steady fast pace.

Sixth day. - Two miles steady fast pace.

On the seventh day, wind and weather permitting, each runner would take a brisk Sunday walk, of from six to ten miles, taking care not to catch a chill, and to be well rubbed down after the walk as well as after the runs.

To the statement that the miler and ten-miler are all of the same class, there is one important qualification. The longdistance runner is rarely over middle height or middle weight, and frequently is undersized. Whatever his weight is, the runner has to lift it all at every stride, and consequently all the weight of the body, except that of the muscles which are actually used for travelling over the ground, is simple dead weight which has to be carried. As the distances are lengthened, the heavier man gets more and more handicapped, and at ten miles, or in long cross-country races, the smaller and lighter men come more and more to the fore. The crack long-distance runner rarely weighs more than ten stone, and a man of the calibre of Walter Slade, six feet high, and weighing over 11 stone, is rare on the path. There are occasional exceptions; thus Deerfoot was, we believe, a very heavy man for his height, which was medium. Some of the best professionals, however, were very light men; Jack White, who at the time of writing still holds the five-mile record (24 min. 40 sec), weighed 7 stone 10 lbs.; Howett, of Norwich, 7 stone 8 lbs.; while Lang and Cummings were both under 10 stone.

Indeed, on comparing crack amateurs at shorter and longer distances, the difference is striking; Colbeck, who was a six-foot quarter-miler, weighed over 12 stone; Slade the miler, who was of the same height, was more than a stone less.

And at this juncture, we feel inclined to offer a respectful suggestion to our brothers, the 'coaches' on the river. It is a constant occurrence for the newspapers to record how the coach, after taking the crew for a long course, afterwards took out Nos. 5 and 6, the heavy weights, for some tubbing practice. Apparently then the coach believes that Nos. 5 and 6, being the biggest and most muscular of the crew, can stand the greatest amount of work. This may be so: there are no invariable rules as to physique and stamina; but it is abundantly proved from military, as well as athletic, experience, that the biggest men are not those who can stand the most work. In average cases, then, the coach had much better give some extra work to bow and No. 2 than to Nos. 5 and 6. We should not offer the advice if we had not seen so many big men trained stale, and then abused for laziness, in every branch of sport.

The supremacy of a sprinter is sometimes short-lived, as a man's best pace often leaves him when he is still young and perhaps only a year or two over his majority. The long-distance runner, however, rarely rises to the top of his profession until he has been a season or two upon the path, and then remains the acknowledged champion for years. The first Inter-'Varsity Mile Race was won by C. B. Lawes, then at Cambridge, a magnificent all-round athlete who stroked the Cambridge boat, besides winning the Inter-'Varsity and Championship Miles in different years. In the following year, 1865, another Cambridge man, R. E. Webster (a gentleman who has since risen to the top of the legal profession, and has been Sir Richard Webster, Attorney-General), was without doubt the best distance runner of that year. Webster's opponent in the Inter-'Varsity Mile of 1865 was the Earl of Jersey, then at Christ Church, Oxford. Both Sir Richard Webster and Lord Jersey are still popular figures in the athletic world, the former being always received with rapture by the 'Varsity athletes of the year when he presides at the annual dinner which follows the sports, while Lord Jersey has been President and Trustee of the Amateur Athletic Association and an active worker for its benefit since the foundation of that society in 1880. We never saw either of these athletes run, but are told that Webster was a great man at a spurt, and was very active and bustling, and indeed, we believe that Sir Richard lays claim to having possessed sprinting abilities - a claim, however, which at this lapse of time we have been unable to verify.

We have recently seen a very interesting cut, which appeared in the 'Illustrated Sporting News' of April 18, 1865, representing the Inter-'Varsity sports of that year. The explanatory letter-press at the foot of the picture is 'The Mile Race - Mr. Webster putting on a spurt opposite the Grand Stand.' Mr. Webster is represented as spurting gaily away from Lord Jersey, who appears to be in difficulties. The portraits of both seem to be fairly good ones, and the cut certainly does justice to Mr. Webster's freshness and vigour. The Oxford men of that day, however, aver that Webster was not as good a runner as J. W. Laing, of Oxford, who won the Mile and ran a dead-heat with C. H. Long, a Cantab, in the Two Miles Race at the Inter-'Varsity sports in 1866. Laing did not start in the Championship in 1866, and that race fell to C. B. Lawes, who had been unplaced in the Inter-'Varsity Mile. The third man in the championship of 1866 was destined to eclipse the fame of all his predecessors. This was W. M. Chinnery, of the L.A.C., still well known as an active patron of all sorts and conditions of sport.

Chinnery won his first championship in 1868, and his last in 1871, and in '68 and '69 won both the One and Four Miles Races at the championship meeting Although in the latter years of his career he was run very close by J. Scott, of the same club, he managed to beat that athlete in a mile at one of the L.A.C. meetings in 1870, this being, we believe, the only occasion upon which they met at that distance. During his career, Chinnery was the leading figure at all long races: he was tall, weighed, we should say, over 10 stone, and ran with a long easy stride, but with very little dash. Probably he was so seldom pressed that he got into a monotonous way of running, relying on his stride and stay, and not on any other tactics. His opponent, Scott, was thought to be better at four miles than a mile, although we think that both he and Chinnery were capable of beating 4 min. 30 sec. at the latter distance when put to it; and at that time 4 min. 30 sec. was considered an almost superhuman performance, as the runners usually went off slowly, and waited upon one another until half-way. Scott was a shorter and slighter man than Chinnery, and ran with a much lighter tread, holding himself more erect than his great rival, and shooting his legs out in front of him.