Fifty years of athletics

22 FIFTY YEARS OF ATHLETICS
strength, speed, and remarkable powers of endurance.
Of the latter, his great feat of walking i 000 miles in
1
000
consecutive hours—that is, one mile for every hour, was a
record to his stamina. Others who tried this feat broke
down at an early stage, but he continued for a period of
42
days, and though he lost much weight, was at the finish
wonderfully fit. He was a great runner, walker, wrestler,
and weight-thrower, and thus resembled Dinnie, who was
born in Aberdeenshire in 1837. Strange to say, Dinnie's
best performances were done when he was approaching
forty years of age, and when fifty-eight years old was the
recognised all-round champion of New Zealand. Dinnie
was undoubtedly the best athlete of his time, and in addition
to being heavy-weight champion, excelled in wrestling,
leaping, vaulting, running, and dancing.
Over a century ago the Borders had a remarkable man,
Will O' Phaup, so called from his farm in the Ettrick
valley. Like Dinnie in the North his name was a house-
hold word. His tombstone at Ettrick Kirk records that for
feats of strength and agility, he was not excelled in the
kingdom.
In pre-amateur days Scotland was famous for
its
distance runners, and many great feats of endurance are
recorded in books dealing with the origins and history of
Scottish Highland Gatherings.
4
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