He afterwards turned professional runner, an example which has been followed by several of his more famous successors.

Another fine performer, who had a very long career on the path, was C. H. Mason, a good light weight who won the Mile Championship in 1872, before Slade's appearance on the path, and the Ten Mile Championship in 1879 and 1880, long after Slade's retirement. Mason always ran with consummate judgment, and had a fine turn of speed in the middle or at the end of a race, as well as a great deal of dogged pluck. In one ten-mile handicap, where he started at scratch with W. E. Fuller, he was compelled to stop over and over again from stitch, but with undaunted perseverance he refreshed himself with nips of brandy, and eventually getting rid of his enemy, went off again at a great pace, overhauled Fuller, and passed him with ease.

In the Four Mile Championship of 1876, however, Mason met another runner of similar staunchness, Albert Goodwin, of Oxford. Goodwin had made a great reputation in early life as a sprinter, hurdler, and jumper, and went to Oxford late in life as a married man with a family. His age and matrimonial condition, however, did not prevent his becoming the best three-miler Oxford ever sent to Lillie Bridge up to 1876. In the Four Mile Championship there was a fine race between Goodwin and Mason, and each, knowing that he could sprint at the finish, waited upon the other; but the Oxonian was a bit too fast for Mason at the end, and won in slow time.

In 1879 the Spring Championship was won by B. R. Wise, of Oxford, and the Summer Championship by W. G. George. As George was for many years before the public as amateur and professional, he hardly needs a description. He is a tall, thin man with a prodigious stride, which arises from his bringing his hips into play more than any distance-runner we have ever seen, and years of training and practice have cultivated his staying powers to an extraordinary degree. During his career as an amateur, which lasted from 1879 to the end of 1884, he had only two serious rivals on the path at a mile or upwards. In 1882 he started very unfit for the Mile Championship, having only just recovered from illness, and was beaten by Wise. The latter, not a strong man, was a tall light weight with a springy stride, a successful runner from the fact of his knowing exactly what amount of training would suit his constitution. He took no hard practice at all, going only short spins, and sometimes knocked off work altogether.

As a result he came to the post in all his races fresh and confident; and on the occasion when he beat George ran with wonderful judgment, steadily increasing his pace all round the last lap at Aston, until he had his man settled at the top of the straight, when he came away and won in 4 min. 24 2/5 sec. Wise, who was a man of great enthusiasm for athletics, was the first Vice-President of the Athletic Association, and that body lost much by his return to his native country, New South Wales, in 1883. He has since held the post of Attorney-General of that colony.

George's other great rival was W. Snook, of Shrewsbury, a runner of very remarkable physique. A short, thick-set man with tremendous legs, shoulders, and chest, he certainly looked most unlike a runner of long distances; but he, too, like George, trained his strength and staying powers to an extraordinary pitch of excellence, and although most unlike George in build, resembled him in striding straight from the hips, and thus covering more ground in each stride than would have been thought possible from his height and make. When at his best Snook was very little inferior to George at any of his distances, and George's amateur record for a mile of 4 min.18 2/5 sec. was made after a hot race with Snook in the championship of 1884. In one year (1883), when George was again a bit off colour, Snook was too good for him in the Mile and Four Mile Championships, but on all the other occasions when matches were made between the pair, and both were fit and well, George proved himself the better man. Still Snook, when he won the Civil Service Mile from scratch in 18S3 in 4 min. 20 sec, was certainly not pressed at the finish, and a hard race on that day would, we think, have made him do an astonishing performance.

Since George has turned professional he has in a match with Cummings completed a mile in 4 min. 12 3/5 sec, and this seems to set at rest for ever the question which, in spite of George's victories, was always being debated - who was the better man upon his best day.

Since the days of George and Snook there have been so many fine long-distance runners upon the path that to give a history of them would be difficult. The performances of F. J. K. Cross have already been mentioned. His best performance at a mile was 4 min. 23 3/5 sec, made in 1889. He was a big man who required a lot of training, and was fittest in 1888, when he could have done something wonderful at a mile had he ever been pressed. In the following year W. Pollock Hill covered his mile at the Queen's Club in 4 min. 21 3/5 sec, the best ever done at an Inter-'Varsity gathering.1 Pollock Hill was wonderfully fit when he made this record; he was certainly not such a good miler as Cross. In 1893 W. E. Lutyens, of Cambridge, a light elegant runner, still quite a youngster, covered the mile at Queen's Club in 4 min. 22 sec, winning quite easily. In the Championship of 1893 Lutyens was beaten by F. E. Bacon, a Northerner, in 4 min. 22 1/5 sec; but Lutyens is still so young and slightly built that he is sure to improve as he gets older.1

The year 1892 was made memorable by the fine performances of Harold Wade of the L.A.C. Wade had for many years shown good average form, but in 1892 came out wonderfully, and won the Championship Mile in 4 min. 19 1/5 sec, the second best mile time ever done by an amateur. Wade's style is not taking, as he runs with one shoulder higher than the other, but his stride and stamina are wonderful, and he runs with great pluck even when appearing dead-beat.