Pedestrianism; or, An Account of the Performances of Celebrated Pedestrians During the Last and Present Century.: With a full narrative of Captain Barclay's public and private matches; and an essay on training.Thom, Walter
History
Pedestrianism; or, An Account of the Performances of Celebrated Pedestrians During the Last and Present Century.: With a full narrative of Captain Barclay's public and private matches; and an essay on training.
Thom, Walter
Walking
Lieutenant Halifax, of the Lancashire militia, walked two miles an hour
for one hundred successive hours, near Tiverton in Devon, in March 1808.
This was a great performance, as he could not have more than fifty
minutes rest at one time, during four days and nights. He was much
distressed: his legs were swollen, and his whole frame was exhausted. His
courage, however, never failed him; and he completed the task amidst the
shouts of the multitude that this extraordinary experiment had attracted.
Thomas Savager, who died in 1809, in the seventy-fifth year of his age,
was a noted pedestrian, although only five feet and four inches in
stature, and lame from his youth. In 1789, he undertook to walk four
hundred and four miles, in six days. The scene of his performance was on
the turnpike road from Hereford through Leominster to Ludlow; and he won
his wager within five hours of the time allowed. When the superfluous
ground over which he walked to his lodgings at Hereford, Ludlow, &c. was
added, it was found that he had walked not less than four hundred and
twenty-nine miles in five days and nineteen hours.
On the 18th of September 1811, Mr. Mealing, a gentleman of fortune in
Somersetshire, started to go five hundred and forty miles, at the rate
of thirty miles a day, for eighteen successive days, and to perform the
distance in eighteen different counties, which he accomplished, and won
five hundred guineas. He was reduced from fourteen stone eight pounds, to
twelve stone four pounds.
To walk one hundred miles within twenty-four hours may be considered an
extraordinary exertion; but that distance has been performed in that time
by several people: and a great deal more has been accomplished by some of
our most celebrated pedestrians.
Mr. Oliver, in July 1811, walked one hundred miles in twenty-three
hours and fifty minutes. He was much fatigued, but that he was not
entirely exhausted, was apparent from his going the last ten miles in
two hours.--Mr. Edward Millen, in July the previous year, accomplished
the same distance in twenty-three hours and twenty-five minutes.--But
we shall have occasion afterwards to record more difficult performances
than these; and, in the meantime, shall take notice of the feats of such
pedestrians as have evinced uncommon strength and agility, and who have
been distinguished by walking a long distance in a short time.
In September this year (1812), Jonathan Waring, a Lancashire pedestrian,
performed one hundred and thirty-six miles in thirty-four hours,
for a wager of one hundred guineas. He started from London to go to
Northampton, and return. He went the first fifty-five miles in twelve
hours, and half the distance in fourteen hours and a half. After resting
an hour and a half, he started on his return, and accomplished the whole
distance in three minutes less than the time allowed. He was excessively
fatigued.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account