The first class of quarter-miler can rarely (if ever) attempt any distances over the quarter, even the 600 yards race being beyond his powers. On the other hand, the second class is often seen at the top of the tree at 600 yards or half a mile as well, as were Colbeck, Elborough, and Myers.1 With regard, then, to training for a quarter-mile, it is easy to understand that the two classes of runners should not prepare themselves for a quarter upon exactly the same system. To lay down a short and comprehensive rule for the first class, we should say that the sprinter who trains for a quarter-mile should train for it in the same way as he does for a sprint. His trial spins should be over longer distances up to 220 or 300 yards, and his stretches round the path or the grass - we mean- the slow stride round upon the toes which we have already described - should be longer; but, being a sprinter, he should recollect that it is upon his speed and freshness that he must rely to win, and he should on no account let his practice jade or exhaust him. Once and once only (if at all) should he run the full distance of the quarter at full speed, and after that should take a day of almost complete rest.

A hard quarter-mile run out is likely to exhaust and impair the energies for a long while, and if once a man in training gets a bit stale, it is a far harder task to bring him back to fitness than to make him fit in the first instance. A personal reminiscence may perhaps avail to point a moral while this subject is under discussion. The writer and his brother were both training for the Amateur Championship in 1878. Unfortunately they were ill-advised enough to run two matches before the event to find out for certain which was the better man, but in the second race they were so closely matched that they ran each other to a standstill. This was a week before the race, and the consequence was that on the day of the race both were utterly and hopelessly stale. From the result of the race it became evident that their only two opponents were in an equally 'weary, flat, stale, and unprofitable' condition, for the race was won in the slow time of 52 4/5 seconds. When such a fact occurs as the only four entrants for a championship race coming to the scratch overtrained, it may be gathered that a warning against doing too much work is not unnecessary.

1 H. C. L. Tindall and E. C. Bredin have since shown themselves runners of this class. At the championship meeting of 1889 Tiadall won the Quarter in 48 1/2 sec. and the Half in 1 min. 56 2/5 sec. on the same day. At the championship of 1893 Bredin won the Quarter in 49 1/5 and the Half-mile in 1 min. 55 1/5 sec. on the same day. What a race there would have been could the pair have met at 600 yards, both fit and well! Neither of the men was up to championship form at 100 yards.

The sprinter then who trains for a quarter-mile should take his starts and short sprints daily, and finish up two or three times a week with bursts of 200, 220, or occasionally 300 yards, and at the same time should from time to time take his practice strides upon his toes more frequently than if he were merely training for 100 yards; but he should never forget that he is a sprinter training for a sprint, and that his speed must be retained at all cost. The same reflection should be present in his mind when he is in the race. It will be the height of folly to try and make the race slow in the hopes of his sprinting powers bringing him in at the end. At the end he may be jaded and unable to utilise his speed, and if he be not near the front then his chance of winning is gone. His right course is to use his speed while he has it, and in the first 100 or 150 yards he may have made a gap of five yards between himself and his slower opponents, who are relying on their staying powers. Then let him slacken if he likes, but only to go off again when his opponents are again at his heels; and if he be not overtrained, his speed and reserve of energy will serve to bring him up to the finish first.

Most of the advice given by books and by trainers as to the practice for a quarter-mile race comes down from the times when it was thought that 300 yards was the limit of a sprinter's powers, and sprinters accordingly did not think of attempting so long a distance. The result is that an amateur training for a quarter of a mile is usually persuaded to overwork himself, and he not only runs himself stale, but may perhaps impair his health. All this evil arises because trainers, and those who rely upon books and precedents more than upon their own common sense, act as if the desideratum must always be the reduction of weight and the acquisition of staying powers.

The second class who are found competing for quarter-mile races are those who have moderate sprinting ability, and owing to a naturally long stride and good staying powers never flag over the distance and finish as strong as lions. These runners can, no doubt, stand a good deal more work than the mere sprinter. They can run their quarters without that amount of exhaustion which is felt by the runner the limit of whose tether is the quarter, and they may doubtless run their trials over the whole distance half-a-dozen times during their month of training without doing themselves anything but good by such a large amount of exercise. They must not, however, on any account neglect their speed, and frequent starts and short spins must be practised in addition to their longer trials; for some time or another during the race, if a quarter-miler of this class is to win, he must spurt past his speedier opponents. Even with these, however, our own experience has shown us that more men come to their rare overdrawn than unfit.

As it is with diet, so it is with exercise; each man must be treated in the preparation for a race with that amount and that quality which will suit his individual case, and the mistakes that are made come from following a system with unreasonable subservience without recollecting for what ends the system was originally adopted.