YOUR SAY
LARNER THE LEGEND
MIKE DAGG-JENDEN raised an interesting question in his item about top British athletes of all time (AW, Nov 17).
However, he omits to mention, under the heading “multiple Olympic titles – same Games”, George Larner, who won the 3500m and 10 miles walks in 1908, during the second of which he set world records at 9 and 10 miles.
Probably the only reason that his other intermediate times were not records as well is that he had, in 1905, set the marks for 5, 6, 7 and 8 miles and 1 hour – at 13,275m still not to be sniffed at – en route to a 10-mile victory at Stamford Bridge.
Also, of course, in winning the Olympic race in difficult conditions by somewhat over a minute and a half, he was not very much pushed. For good measure, he had set the figures for 3 and 4 miles in a 4-mile event in Brighton, also in 1905, and for 2 miles in 1904 in Manchester.