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Grand National Medals

and, at subsequent meetings of the G.N.A.S., not wearing one (at least), shall pay a fine of Ios. each day that he appears without wearing and showing one such Medal, and the same with respect to the Brooches. 10. Every Archer's arrows must be clearly and distinctly marked with his or her name or initials, so that the owner may have no difficulty in claiming them or the Captain in distinguishing them. Archers must not draw their arrows from the target till the Captain has called on them to declare their hits, and has scored them. If an arrow be drawn by its owner before it is scored, it shall not be allowed to count or to be measured as a gold.

II. If from any cause an Archer is not prepared to shoot before all have shot, such Archer shall lose the benefit of that end. 12. Gentlemen will not be allowed to smoke at the Ladies' Targets, and it is particularly requested that no person will divert the attention of the Archers shooting by talking; and, while the Archers are in the act of shooting, no one (except the Archers) will be allowed to stand in ATHLETICS] front of the white line behind the Targets. As soon as the Archers have all shot and advanced to the opposite Targets, all spectators must follow them and remain in front of the Targets to which they are going, until the arrows are picked up, when they must immediately take up their position again at the white line behind the Targets. 13. No persons, except competitors whilst shooting, will be allowed in front of the Targets. 14. The value of the rings on the Target shall be:-Gold, 9; red, 7; blue, 5; black, 3; white, I.

If an arrow touch two colours it shall be scored as in that of the higher value. Should any dispute arise as to whether an arrow touch the higher colour, the matter shall be decided by the Captain of the Target, subject to an appeal to the judge. 15. No Archer shall take more than one prize (the Challenge Prizes excepted). In the case of ties for any of the prizes, if two or more have an equal score, the prize for score shall be adjudged to the one who has the greatest number of hits. If two or more have an equal number of hits, the prize for hits shall be adjudged to the one who has the greatest score. In the event of the occurrence of ties which cannot be decided as above, the names of those interested shall be retained for further consideration. If any have an individual claim upon a subsequent prize, the name shall be struck out, the money pooled with that of the previous tie or ties, and divided amongst all those having an individual or collective claim to the prizes under consideration, a decoration being given to each person. The decoration for any individual prize shall be allotted to each person interested. 16. The Champion Prizes shall be awarded to the Archers gaining the greatest number of points, provided that those for gross hits or gross score be included; any points won by other Archers shall be re-distributed amongst those gaining the points for gross hits and gross scores.

The points are:- LADIES.

Gross hits Gross score 2 2 Hits at 60 yards Score at 60 yards I I Hits at 50 yards I Score at 50 yards I Total 8 GENTLEMEN.

Gross hits Gross score Hits at 100 yards Score at 100 yards Hits at 80 yards Score at 80 yards Hits at bo yards Score at 60 yards Total 2 2 I I I I I I IO Should there be a tie between two or more Archers, the prize shall be awarded to the Archer having the greatest gross score. 17. If, owing to the state of the weather, the full number of arrows are not shot on the first two days, the deficient number shall, if possible, be shot on the third day. No prizes will be awarded unless one complete round is shot. And if the double round be incomplete, the Gross Score and Challenge Prizes shall be awarded on the one round only that has been completed. 18. No shooting will be allowed in the field during the three days, except when competing for the prizes. 19. It shall be the duty of the Committee to take cognisance of all matters whatsoever concerning the good order and fellowship of the Meeting, and also, if they think proper, to impose a fine of 2s. 6d. for any infringement of these rules, or for any offensive or improper conduct; and if the Committee shall be of opinion that the case is deserving of more serious notice, or if any fine imposed by them be not paid, the person so offending shall be disqualified from winning a prize, and from shooting again at the National Meetings. 20. Any Archer moving forward before all have shot their arrows, and the signal is given to advance, shall be liable to be fined 2s. 6d. 21. If any doubt or dispute shall arise on any point connected with the shooting, the matter shall be referred to the judges, whose decision shall be final.

Bibliography. The Art of Archery, published from MS. of 15th Century, by H. Gallice, translated by H. Walrond (H. Cox), 1903; The Theory and Practise of Archery, Horace Ford, new edition by W. Butt (Longmans), 1887; Archery, Badminton Library, with bibliography (Longmans), 1894; Archery for Beginners, Colonel H. Walrond (H. Cox), 1904; The Book of the Cross- Bow, Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey (Longmans), 1907; Bibliothèque du Sport, Le Tir à l'Arc, Le Conte A. de Bertier (Hachette et Cie., Paris),´ 1900; The Archer's Register, Col. H. Walrond (Annual).

ATHLETICS, OR ATHLETIC SPORTS -The wide term Athletics bears at the present day in the sportsman's vocabulary the special or restricted meaning of competition at running, jumping, and putting, or hurling, of weights, as practised on specially prepared tracks or grass fields in the open air. After being practised without much system for many hundreds of years in England for amusement, and for something like a century by paid or professional exponents, athletic sports have gradually, during the last thirty years, been developed upon systematic lines into an organised form of sport for amateurs. Every public school and most of the private schools of any size have an annual athletic meeting: each college at the universities has its meeting; there is at each university a meeting open to the whole university; and these are followed by the annual contest between Oxford and Cambridge in London, usually on the day preceding the Boat Race; the hospitals and military colleges follow the example of the universities; and hundreds of clubs throughout the kingdom hold meetings with competitions for their members and with open" races-that is, open to every approved amateur. In each summer there is an Open Championship meeting held in rotation in London, the Midlands, and the North, under the management of the Amateur Athletic Association, which is the recognised governing body of athletic sports; and this never fails to attract entries from every part of the United Kingdom and occasionally from the United States and the Colonies. A similar system of athletic sports has taken firm root in the United States, where the sports are termed Games; and the system is already spreading in France and to some small extent in Germany. In 1895, there were a number of athletic events included in the so-called revival of the Olympic Games at Athens, several Americans, Englishmen, Frenchmen being amongst the competitors, and the competitions held at London in 1908 during the Franco-British exhibition attracted a record number from all parts of the world. and The wide-spread popularity of athletics in this country fairly entitles them to be ranked among our national sports. The fine runner or jumper ranks in popular esteem with the fine cricketer, footballer, or oarsman. At the universities those who compete as "first strings "-i.e., "first choices " in each event at the Inter-University meeting are entitled, like the members of the Eight, the Cricket Eleven, or the Football teams, to wear the blue coat and cap which are reserved for those who represent one university against the other, and are known as "blues"; and in schools, colleges, and clubs, the best athletics are similarly held in high honour.

At the universities, the two winter terms are those devoted to athletics, the summer term being mainly devoted to cricket and boating; and the University athletic season concludes before Easter with the University and Inter-University sports. Most of the public schools follow the example of the universities in bringing off their athletic meeting before Easter. Throughout the rest of the country, however, the athletic season begins in May, and continues throughout the warm weather until the end of September, when the athletes betake themselves to paperchasing, football, or other winter sports. The Amateur Championship meeting is now always held on the first Saturday in July. As the Scottish and Irish Championships usually precede the English Championship meeting by a week or two, the athletes of the three kingdoms are best brought together at this date; but the fact of the meeting being held in the summer operates to the prejudice of the university athletes, as they find it difficult to get into condition at this time of year. [ATHLETICS It is perhaps superfluous to say that excellence in athletics demands not only natural ability, but long and arduous training and preparation. Training, so far as diet and conditions of health are concerned, is treated of elsewhere [see TRAINING], and does not vary much in essentials from the training required for rowing or other hard bodily exercise. It is with the peculiar features of preparation and the requisites of success in the special events which are commonly included in the programme of an athletic meeting that the following articles will mainly deal. The programme selected for the earlier meetings of the two univer- A COUNTRY MEETING. sities has done much to determine the line on which athletic competitions have developed.

At the Inter-University meeting there are ten events-viz., 100 Yards, Quarter Mile,