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
Mr. Hopper of Canterbury, walked sixty-three miles in eleven hours and
thirty-nine minutes. He started from the turnpike on St. Martin’s Hill,
and at the end of the first hour he had gone seven and a half miles:
second hour, eleven miles, including stoppage for breakfast: third hour,
and five minutes, twenty miles: fourth hour, twenty-six miles: fifth
hour, thirty-four miles: sixth hour, including dinner, thirty-five
miles: seventh hour, forty-one miles: eighth hour, forty-five miles:
ninth hour, fifty-one miles: tenth hour, fifty-five miles: eleventh
hour, sixty miles: and at thirty-eight and three-fourth minutes past the
eleventh hour, he finished sixty-three miles, apparently much fatigued.
A distance of fifty miles was performed in nine hours, on the 28th of
March 1811, by Clough, a groom, on the Bath road, for a wager of fifty
guineas. He regularly walked six miles an hour for the first five hours;
and his average rate of travelling was five miles, one half, and one
ninth part of a mile, per hour.--Eighty miles, at two starts, were
performed by Shoreham, a publican, on the 22d of April the same year.
He started from Paddington to go to Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, and to
return. He went forty miles in six hours and a half, and after resting
three hours, he accomplished the other forty miles in six hours and
forty minutes, having completed the distance in thirteen hours and ten
minutes, which was at the rate of more than six miles per hour.
On the 15th of April 1812, Lieut. Groats undertook for a wager of two
hundred guineas to go seventy-two miles in twelve hours. He went from
Blackfriars road to Canterbury, and thence back to Stroud. He performed
the first fourteen miles in two hours. When he had gone sixty miles he
was much fatigued, but by the aid of refreshment and rubbing, he was
enabled to proceed, and accomplished the distance within six minutes of
the time allowed.
Six miles per hour, for any distance from twenty-four to forty miles,
must be considered as very superior walking, although several of the most
celebrated pedestrians have exceeded that rate.--Mr. Pearson performed
thirty-seven miles in five hours and twenty-seven minutes, for a wager
of one hundred guineas. He started from Pimlico to go to Datchet-bridge
near Windsor, and return, at three o’clock in the morning of the 11th
July 1807. He went off on a shuffling walk, and stopt at Honslow at a
quarter past four, where he refreshed. He halted again at Colnbrook, at
twenty-five minutes past five, and reached Datchet-bridge in fifteen
minutes; half the distance having been performed in two hours and forty
minutes. As he had only gained a few minutes on time, bets were three
and two to one against him; but in returning, he quickened his pace, and
arrived at Honslow, at twenty-seven minutes past seven o’clock, much
fatigued.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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