The best University hurdler of 1871 and 1872 was E. S. Gamier, who ran with great dash, but was a trifle too heavy to fly over the sticks. Gamier, who was a thick-set man, also represented his University at hammer-throwing - an unusual circumstance, hammer-throwing and hurdling being almost the opposite poles of athletic sport. Gamier won the championship in 1871, but in the following year he met Stirling at Lillie Bridge, and the Cambridge runner beat him. In the following year Upcher made his first appearance, and probably he was as good as Stirling. He was a strong muscular man, but not heavy in spite of his strength, and was a fine natural broad jumper, being able to leap over hurdles, hedges, and other obstacles with great agility when in boots and great-coat. He practised hurdling exclusively upon his own system, and was in his time regarded as the best exponent of the art ever known. He won the Inter-'Varsity and Championship Hurdles in 1873 and 1874, and so great was the belief in his powers that the astonishment was unbounded when, at the Inter-'Varsity meeting of 1875, a Cambridge man, A. B. Loder, was seen to be holding Upcher in the hurdle race.

Neck and neck the pair raced over the jumps and reached the tape apparently together, but the judge decided that Loder had won by a few inches, amidst the wild cheers of the Cambridge partisans. Three days afterwards the pair met over the same course in the championship, when another neck-and-neck race resulted in a six-inch victory for Upcher. This, we believe, was Upcher's last appearance on the path, and the next year Loder had matters all his own way at both meetings.

Loder was a trifle taller than Upcher, and was a trifle faster than his opponent over the flat, but the Oxonian was, we think, a bit cleverer over the hurdles. In 1877 the hurdle race at the Oxford and Cambridge Sports fell to the Oxonian S. F. Jackson, who was yet fresh at the game, and unable to make 2 show with J. H. A. Reay, the Londoner, who won the championship this year. Reay was a fine all-round athlete and excellent hurdler, who had for some years been unrivalled in London, but was unlucky in appearing during the days of Upcher and Loder. He ran more in the Stirling style than the other pair, trailing his leg well behind him, and so jumping slightly higher than was necessary. In the following year S. F. Jackson ran a greatly improved man, being only beaten a foot in 16 2/5 seconds by S. Palmer, of Cambridge. Palmer was a 'converted sprinter,' that is to say, a sprinter of first-class merit who took to hurdling after trying sprinting for a year or two first. His success at the latter sport may be gauged from the fact that he won four championships, and was credited with 16 seconds in his championship of 1878. Palmer left Cambridge in 1878, but was frequently seen on the path for the next five years.

Wonderful as his success was, he was probably more of a sprinter than a hurdler, being wonderfully fast between the sticks but rather clumsy as a jumper, giving his shoulders a twist as he cleared each obstacle. He was not, we think, quite so good as the Oxonian G. P. C. Lawrence, who was champion in 1880 and 1881. Lawrence was a tall slight man, a good all-round jumper and runner, who for some years, until he conquered his inclination to jump too high over his hurdles, had no great merit. As soon, however, as he had learnt to skim instead of leap over his jumps he became the best hurdler of modern times, having a peculiar nervous power (although not physically strong) of making a prolonged spurt. In the championship of 1881 he decisively defeated Palmer, having in the previous year scored an equally decisive victory over Lockton. The latter was undoubtedly the best hurdler the metropolis ever produced. Of his wonderful capacities as a sprinter we have already spoken, and when, as sometimes happened, he took part in hurdle races when the hurdles were a few inches below the regulation height, his speed over the obstacles was something extraordinary.

At a hurdle handicap at Catford Bridge, at the meeting of the Private Banks, we saw him start 24 yards behind the scratch man, and clear the 144 yards and ten hurdles (below the regulation height) in 18 seconds. In the championship of 1880, however, Lockton probably lost his head, and came to grief in the Hurdles, besides failing in the Hundred Yards. Lockton was never in his best form again after 1880, and when Lawrence retired Palmer again won the championship in 1882 and 1883. For the last few years the Universities have not produced a hurdler of the calibre of Lawrence or Palmer, and the centre of hurdling activity for some years shifted to Nottingham, which has produced in turn three fine performers - F. F. Cleaver, C. W. Gowthorpe, and C. F. Daft, twice champion. Cleaver for some years, in the absence of the 'Varsity cracks, used to sweep the board at the chief provincial meetings, being very fast, although a bit clumsy in his jumps. After his retirement and that of Palmer, Gowthorpe, like Cleaver a member of the Notts Forest Football Club, won the championship of 1884, and Daft, the champion of 1885 and 1886, also represented the same club. Here, as at the Universities, is seen the value of a 'tradition' in producing skilful performers.

There were good hurdlers in Nottingham long before Cleaver, one of them, S. W. Widdowson, having earned a great reputation in the provinces a dozen years ago.

Occasionally in the provinces there are hurdle races of 300 yards or a quarter of a mile where the runners have the opportunity of showing their natural and not artificially cultivated abilities in contests which combine sprinting and jumping. Such races, however, are unfortunately so few and far between that they can hardly be said to give scope to a special class of runner. Perhaps a new fashion may some day call into existence a class of short-distance steeplechasers.