SL/M/66 10. 6. 1955 BIG ENTRY TOR WINDSOR - CHISWICK MARATHON A big entry of 198 competitors has been received for the Polytechnic Harriers MaratHbn Race from Windsor to Chiswick on Saturday, June 18. Only tvalce before in the 47 years' history of this annual classic for The Aborting Life trophy has there been a bigger entry. \ The race, to be started by\ Princess Margaret in the grounds of./indsor Castle at 3.30 p.m., Xlso incorporates the open team championship for the S. Ferris CuA and the Southern A.A.A. individual and team championships. \ There is a record entry of 18 clubs for the open team event in which the first four in each team score. The finish is at Chiswick Stadium (approx 5.50 p.m.) where the Kinnaird Trophy meeting takes place that afternoon. During the past four years the race has been won by Jim Peters, whose time of 2 hrs# 17 mins. 39 sees, last year is the world's fastest over the traditional Marathon distance of 26 miles 385 yards. Outstanding Competitors \ I This year's outstanding competitors, whose recent Marathon performances suggest they will be fighting for the lead over the last few miles, are:-
- 2 - STAN COX (Southgate Harriers), 36-year-old sports goods representative from Wood Green, N.22, who was runner-up to Jim Peters in this race in 1951, 1953 and 1954; He ran for Britain in the 1948 Olympic 10,000 metres and in the 1952 Olympic Marathon, and is the only present-day British athlete who took part in international events before the war. This year ho has won the Middlesex 20-miles championship. (Best Marathon time: 2hrs. 21 mins, 42 sees), ERIC SMITH (Leeds Harehills Harriers), 33-year-old engineer, who came 3rd in this race last vear and represented Britain in the European Games. Last season ho broke four course records - in the Peterborough and Hull Marathons, the Liverpool 20 miles and the Radcliffo 21 miles. Ho set up a now record for the Peterborough Marathon on '.'/hit Monday this year. (Best Marathon time: 2hrs.27 mins. 4 sees. Windsor to Chiswick, 1954), GEOFFREY IDEN (Victoria Park Harriers), 40-year-old tailor's fixer from Upton Park, E.13, who has boon in the first five in each of the past six Polytechnic Harriers Marathons. Ho finished 3rd in 1951, 1952 and 1953 and was 4th last year. He came 9th in the 1952 Olympic Marathon and 6th in the 1954 European Games Marathon. This year ho was runner-up to Cox in the Middlesex 20 miles championship. (Best Marathon time: 2hrs. 26 mins.39 sees. Windsor to Chiswick, 1953. TOM RICHARDS (South London Harriers), who won The Sporting Life trophy in 1944 and 1945 and did an even faster time last year to finish 6th. A 44-year-old male nurse from Balham, he was 2nd in the 1948 Olympic Marathon and has represented Wales in ton international cross-country events. (Best Marathon time: 2 hrs, 24 mins. in Holland, 1949), JACK MEKLER (Blackheath Harriers), the 1954 South African Marathon champion, who was second in the Empire Games event last year. He holds the unofficial world track records for 30, 40 and 50 miles, and the South Transvaal Marathon record. Ho was 2nd in the Bath to London (100 miles) race in 1953. A 23-year-old printer, he is now living at Ruislip, Middlesex. (Best Marathon time: 2hrs. 28 mins. 57 sees). ADOLF GRUBER (Post-Sport-Verein, Vienna) is the reigning Austrian champion, who ran for his country in the 1952 Olympic and 1954 European Games Marathons. He holds the Austrian Marathon championship records (2hrs. 28 mins) and has held the Austrian track records for nearly every distance upwards of 10,000 metres. Ago 32, ho is a sportsnaster at a Vienna School.
3 ALLAN LAV/TON (Leeds Harchills Harriers), 31-year-old joiner, who was runner"up to Jack Holdcn in the 1950 Polytechnic Harriers' Marathon, his first race over the distance. In 1953 he finished 4th, and was 7th last year. He was 2nd in the 1953 A.A.A. Marathon* Last year he won the Perth to Dundee road race, falling by only 5 sees, to beat the course record. (Best Marathon time: 2hrs. 27 mins. 3 sees; Windsor to Chiswick, 1953). H.W. DENNIS (Thames Valley Harriers), who was 9th in this race last year with a time of 2 hrs. 33 mins. 57 sees. 77.H. (Bill) KELLY (Reading A.C. and Manx A.A.A.), 43-ycar-old joiner, who won the Northern Counties Marathon in 1948 and the London to Brighton (52 miles) race last year. He holds the British records for the London to Brighton race and for the 40 miles distance. In the Polytechnic Marathon he finished 7th in 1953, and 10th last year. (Best Marathon time: 2hrs, 31 mins. 54 sees). R.W. (Bill) McMINNIS (R.A.P. and Sutton Harriers), a 40-yearold Sergt. P.T.I, whose home is at St. Helens, Lanes. In 1953 he was the Northern Counties Marathon champion and finished 10th in the Windsor to Chiswick race. He was handicapped by a strained foot last season but was well placed in the Windsor to Chiswick race and other important events, (Best Marathon time: 2hrs. 27 mins). DAI REES (Coventry Godiva Harriers), the 1954 Welsh Marathon champion and captain of the Welsh cross-country team in international events, is a 31-year-old machinist, (Best Marathon time: 2hrs. 33 mins). A past champion who is running is LEN GRIFFITHS (Reading A.C.). He won the event over improvised war-time courses in 1940, 1942 and 1943 and was the Surrey 20-mile champion from 1938 to 1940. Now 50-years-old, he is an accountant living at Streatham, S.W.16, P.iUL COLLINS (Blackheath Harriers) was the Canadian Marathon champion in 1949, 1950 and 1952 and ran in the Empire Games (1950) and Olympic (1952) Marathons. Aged 28, he is now in London to study the violin.
There are 38 competitors tackling the Marathon distance for the first time# These are eligible for the Lalande Trophy awarded to the first "newcomer" to finish. Last year's winner of this trophy was KEN HONNEY (Now with Walton A.C.), who finished 11th in a time of 2 hrs. 35 mins.22 sees A 25-year-old laboratory assistant, he won the Surrey 20-miles championship this year. Team Championship The 18 clubs concerned in the team championship, with the number of runners wearing their colours, ares- Leeds Harehills Harriers (5), Victoria Park Harriers (4), Reading A.C. (7), Blackheath Harriers (15), Belgrave Harriers (9), Cambridge Harriers (7), Heme Hill Harriers (5), Hull Harriers (4), Metropolitan Police A.C. (4), Polytechnic Harriers (4), Queen's Park Harriers (7), St. Albans City A.C. (4), South London Harrier (6), Southend-on-Sea A.C. (4), Thames Valley Harriers (6), Wadham Harriers (4), Walton A.C. (8) and Watford Harriers (4). Leeds Harehills Harriers, with Smith and Lawton, are the holders of the S. Ferris Cup and have won every road team race for which they have entered in the past two years. ^u V1 o t0 rj; a Park Harriers, for whom Iden is running, are holders oi the Southern A.A.A. championship and were runners up for the S. Ferris Cup last year, Marathon History The Polytechnic Harriers' Marathon was first run in 1909 following the offer, by The Sporting Life, of the largest and most valuable athletics trophy in the world to encourage British Interest in long-distance running. Z
** 5 - It has been won six times by overseas competitors, the last being H. Palme (Sweden) in 1938 and 1939. Sam Ferris, referee of this year's race, won The Sporting Life trophy eight times - every year from 1925 to 1933 except 1930. Jim Peters won it four times (1950-54) and the only other men to win it three times in succession have been A.R. Mills of Leicester Harriers (1920-22), A.J. Morris of Polytechnic Harriers (1935-37) and Jack Holden of Tipton Harriers (1948-50). The first Marathon Race was run in the first modern Olympic Games in 1892. The course was from Marathon to Athens - over the route supposed to have been taken by the herald, Phiedippides, bringing Athens news of the victory ever the Persians in 490 B.C. The first race over the present internationally recognised distance was at the 1908 Olympic Games. Windsor to Shepherd's Bush, The course was from It was 26 miles to the entrance of what is now the White City Stadium and a further 385 yards round the track to the finish in front of the Royal Box. Polytechnic Harriers adopted this distance for their annual race and it became accepted internationally in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris. Previously the Olympic Marathon course had varied between 24 miles, 1,500 yards (Athens 1896) and 26 miles, 992 yards (Brussels 1920). Prom* F.S. Tatham, Hon. Press Officer, Polytechnic Harriers Marathon, 121, Banstock Road, Telephone enquiries:- Edgware,Middx. Cunningham 6727.