nine and a half minutes per mile. The pace slackened a little but with Charlie leading, Wells kept at his shoulder. After an hour however, the pistol shot, signifying the end of the race. Dartmouth’s hero was a mere three yards ahead and had covered six miles 350 yards. The victory won him £30 in stakes and almost as much in side-bets. Williams, the marine, was shaken
by this latest triumph and went into collusion with Bill Barrett, a shipmate onboard Britannia. In an attempt to draw Charlie out he was challenged by Barrett to a go-as-you-please race – walk or run – for two hours. All that was at stake was 50 shillings, but Barrett demanded a five minute start. The Britannia partners knew about Charlie’s vanity and he could not refuse this public challenge. Barrett lost no time in trying to set up a long lead over the New Ground course. After he had been running by himself for five minutes he had covered more than a mile. On the crack of the handicap gun Charlie tore after him. In 30 minutes he gained a lap, having estimated that if he could maintain this progress he would catch Barrett just before the end of the two hours.
After 60 minutes he was on schedule,
having covered seven and a half miles of the track against Barrett’s eight. Ten minutes later, however, with his face screwed in agony his stride began to falter; he put his hand to his side and almost fell. His friends tried to get his weary legs going by rubbing them with towels and they also forced stimulants between his lips, but he was forced to give up. Barrett had done his job well and now his marine friend was confident of cracking Charlie himself later in the year and from secret trials he was sure he could eclipse the fading local legend. Charlie wanted his revenge over
Barrett first however, on his own terms, which were confined to walking over seven miles. Barrett was no match for him and although given a two minute start, he was lapped by Charlie after four miles, a mile later Barrett limped out of the race. For the next seven months there
followed challenge and counter challenge between the two Williams. First the marine sought a race from Torquay to Dartmouth, in turn his rival replied: ‘Race me to Slapton and back.’ Meanwhile in the summer of 1889 Charlie took on the only other walker who could stay with him, Dick Wise of Teignmouth. The distance was five miles and after three laps Charlie was half a circuit
Williams trained on hills and when he came down to flat track walking it all seemed surprisingly easy to him.
ahead and eventually breasted the tape nearly a mile in front in a time of 41.5 minutes. Marine Williams had been an interested watcher: meticulously he had clocked the laps and was more convinced than ever he could outsmart Charlie. His needling campaign began with a public exhibition on the New Ground, which was considered his namesake’s home patch. Before a large crowd he dashed off five miles in 37.5 minutes, a few seconds outside the British amateur record. However, there were many who considered that he was jog-trotting, although in fact his style resembled that of his arch-rival. Charlie’s public image was in danger
of being tarnished and rather like the great boxing champion John L. Sullivan, who was rip-roaring around the world at about the same time, he threw out another series of challenges. All of them had the proviso that there would be no referee. His marine did not rise to the bait immediately. Not until the October were the terms of the race finalised – with most of them putting Charlie at a disadvantage. Rarely did he race against more than one opponent, but Dick Wise, who was still smarting from defeat, had joined forces with Billy Williams and wanted his revenge too, in the same race.
Most of Charlie’s contests had been in summer, but this one was to be in November when it was generally known that colder weather affected older athletes’ muscles. The
third condition against him was that instead of being staged in his native Dartmouth it was to be at Paignton. Both the Williams men trained religiously for the match, which would undoubtedly be the turning point of their athletic careers. Betting was rife, in addition to side-stakes of £30 that were deposited with the Sporting Life, which, contrary to Charlie’s original stipulation, was to provide a referee. Pace-making then was not the highly devised tactic that it became after Roger Bannister broke the 4 min. mile barrier in 1954, yet it was obvious from the start of the race that Billy Williams and Wise had planned a system. With his first stride Wise dashed into the lead; some spectators swore that he was running. Charlie tacked on to him, sometimes forsaking the heel–and-toe rhythm essential in track walking. He kept at the Teignmouth athlete’s elbow for lap after lap, while Billy Williams was content to lurk behind. After two miles Wise’s gait became noticeably slower and it was then that Charlie realised it was not the man in front he had to fear, but the man in the rear. Having performed his pacemaker’s task to perfection, Wise dropped out after two miles. At this point Billy Williams made his effort; he swept into the lead and his long, stringy legs powered him along like piston rods. Gradually Charlie’s strength sapped as he saw the marine building up a lead yard by yard. After five miles his moment of truth came. It was obvious that unless the younger Williams collapsed he had the race in his mercy. Charlie was now in a position to look across the track to see his fresh opponent half a lap ahead; he had never been lapped in his life and the threat was there at this stage. Before the end of the 6th mile he gave up and tottered into the arms of his supporters. His reign as Devon champion – unofficial though it might have been – was over. Billy Williams, the new champion, could have stopped there and then; instead he chose to go on and demonstrate his superiority completing the 7 mile course by himself in the creditable time of 1 hr 5 mins. u
91
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136