Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
The more important part of the Amateur Athletic Union programme was
scheduled for the summer months, when the track and field championships
are held. Facilities for staging these games are ideal. The cinder path,
situated at the far end of the Exposition grounds, with unexcelled
scenic advantages, is reputed to be the equal of any athletic stadium in
the country. The oval measures one-third of a mile to the lap, with a
220-yard straightaway flanking the grandstand. The earlier games
convinced Eastern athletes that there could be no complaint against
facilities.
The senior and junior track and field championships of the Amateur
Athletic Union loom up as the banner track events of the programme.
National stars have signified their intention of participating in these
games, and it will be surprising if many national records are not
broken. In addition to these games, the International Olympic Committee,
which controls all the modern Olympic meets, conferred upon the
Exposition the right to hold the Modern Pentathlon, this being the first
time it has been contested outside of the Olympic Games. In addition,
America is to have for the first time the Decathlon, and the famous
Marathon race originated in Greece centuries ago, and impressively
revived during recent years by the more important athletic bodies of the
world.
Besides the Amateur Athletic Union track and field games, an abundance
of competitions, ranging from grammar school contests to collegiate
struggles, was arranged. Among the first of these, the Pacific Coast
Intercollegiate Conference, was won by the University of California from
a field of collegiate teams representing the entire Pacific Coast.
Several high and grammar school contests have attracted spectators to
the stadium. One thousand grammar school athletes entered the lists upon
the Exposition cinder path, and staged a carnival that stands as a
record in California, and approaches any American event of its kind both
in the number of entrants and the class of competition offered.
Automobile racing, of the kind that thrills, was furnished by the
Exposition during its early weeks. Two events of international
importance were run upon the Exposition grounds, and in each instance
attracted one hundred thousand spectators to the course. The first of
these was the International Grand Prix, run in the rain and under other
conditions far from ideal, over a four-mile course for the distance of
four hundred miles. Sensation followed sensation in this feature, a
final winner being supplied in the swarthy Darius Resta, who drove a
Peugeot car for an average speed of fifty-six miles, 7:07:57 being his
actual time. Other drivers of international reputation appeared in this
struggle, among them De Palma, Hughes and Wilcox. Handsome prizes were
distributed to the winners in these events.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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