Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 5704 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| WALKING RACE | c.1938 | 1935-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 9.5mm Colour: Black & White / Colour Sound: Silent Duration: 5 mins 35 secs Credits: Henry Foster Subject: Sport |
| Summary There is a big turnout of both participants and onlookers for this highly competitive walking race in York in the 1930s. Participants come in all shapes and sizes to pound the streets of York and compete in front of the crowds who line the city streets. |
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Description
There is a big turnout of both participants and onlookers for this highly competitive walking race in York in the 1930s. Participants come in all shapes and sizes to pound the streets of York and compete in front of the crowds who line the city streets.
The film begins with a brief section of Dufay colour footage from another film in the Foster Collection, Old Kate’s Revenge.
(B&W) The race begins opposite the CIU Club next to the Rialto Cinema on Fishergate. There is a large crowd of...
There is a big turnout of both participants and onlookers for this highly competitive walking race in York in the 1930s. Participants come in all shapes and sizes to pound the streets of York and compete in front of the crowds who line the city streets.
The film begins with a brief section of Dufay colour footage from another film in the Foster Collection, Old Kate’s Revenge.
(B&W) The race begins opposite the CIU Club next to the Rialto Cinema on Fishergate. There is a large crowd of onlookers watching as the participants set off either singly or in pairs, presumably in a time trial race, wearing an assortment of kit and adopting a variety of walking styles. A bus passes, as do several cyclists and cars.
Later on in the race one of the walkers has neck mopped of sweat. There is brief shot of one of the winners after the race before we return to the race, where the walkers turn around and head back on a country road. A man stands at the centre of the road and the walkers pass round him back to the city centre. (This is possibly Fulford.)
The competitors then arrive back at the CIU, again with a large cheering crowd watching. The winner and the runner up pose for the cameras with the organisers, or local dignitaries.
Context
Club and Institute Union
York has always been significant in the history of race walking; the finishing line for the first ever British amateur race was in the city. Pedestrianism, as the sport was first known, began in the 19th century and was a popular spectator sport, even crossing the Atlantic and gaining popularity in the United States. Race walking was particularly popular in York, with many working men’s clubs forming their own team. The popularity of this peculiar sport is evidence...
Club and Institute Union
York has always been significant in the history of race walking; the finishing line for the first ever British amateur race was in the city. Pedestrianism, as the sport was first known, began in the 19th century and was a popular spectator sport, even crossing the Atlantic and gaining popularity in the United States. Race walking was particularly popular in York, with many working men’s clubs forming their own team. The popularity of this peculiar sport is evidence in the video, with crowds of people showing up to watch. There are at least two other videos in the Foster Collection featuring a Walking Race. Sport has always been popular amongst the working class in Britain and it has done a lot to shape the British working culture. Organised sport started off as a rather elitist pastime, first developed in public schools such as Eton and Rugby and then was spread around the British Empire during its peak in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Unsurprisingly, the first popular team sport to really take off was football. Football teams at first were organised through the church, as a way of bringing the community together. Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur are just examples of contemporary premier league teams that were first formed through religious organisations. Football teams soon began appearing out of other urban institutions such as pubs and workplaces. Participation in organised sport increased with the introduction of the 8-hour day during the interwar years, as workers had more leisure time than before. The difficult, yet mind-numbing work that most men would find themselves doing after the advent of mechanised production during the industrial revolution severely reduced job satisfaction. Because of this, a lot of workers found themselves alienated and unsatisfied with their work. Organised sport did a lot to replace some of the self-respect and sense of accomplishment a lot of workers had lost at work. Working men’s clubs were first established by Henry Solly, when he set up the Working Men’s Club and Institute Union in 1862. The aim of this organisation was to encourage workers to create their own clubs ‘where they can meet for conversation, business, and mental improvement, with the means of recreation and refreshment’ (taken from Solly’s prospectus). He also encouraged self-help and improvement as well as education. The idea caught on and by 1884 the CIU had 557 clubs registered. The working men’s club continued to grow in popularity, with many different types of club being formed. Politically inclined clubs, clubs for certain industries like railway and mining, and post WWI many ex-servicemen clubs were formed. Clubs provided men with so much more than pubs could – a club could guarantee a friendly face to have a game of something with or a chat, and would have the choice to not drink alcohol if they didn’t want to. Clubs began to turn away from their educational roots, and began instead to focus on recreation. State education had become more developed by the 1930s, there were more local libraries and newspapers were more affordable, which meant that clubs where able to focus on providing a leisurely and recreational environment for its members. This is when we start to see the emergence of different sports teams within the clubs, and this film shows us a great example of one in action. One of the earliest examples of pedestrianism is that of Sir Robert Carey, who walked from London to Berwick in 1589 in order to win a bet. King Charles II used to enjoy walking from Whitehall to Hampton Court. One of the best known early race walkers was Charles Westhall who was reported to have walked seven miles in 54 minutes at Newmarket Heath. The first recorded competitive race walk was at the London Olympics in 1908, where George Larner of Great Britain won the 3500 metre race in 14 minutes and 55 seconds, and the 10 mile track in 1 hour, 15 minutes and 57.4 seconds. The sport continued to be a regular fixture in Olympic Games (with a few exceptions some years). There was both men’s and women’s 20 and 50km race walks at the London 2012 Olympics. The sport is also subject to controversy and there have been numerous rule changes in order to distinguish the difference between walking and running. In 1928, new rules were introduced and the standardisation of the sport had begun. It is possible that the new techniques and rules that were introduced in 1928 are being used by the athletes in this film. References: An interview with Peter Marlow Lee, James B., et al. "Detection of illegal race walking: a tool to assist coaching and judging", Sensors (Basel) 2013 Nov 26;13(12):16065-74. Epub 2013 Nov 26. Wheeler, Robert F. "Organized sport and organized labour: the workers' sports movement." Journal of Contemporary History 13.2 (1978): 191-210. Biography of Henry Solly Ruth Cherrington, Working Mens Clubs and Education: Into the 20th Century by Ruth Cherrington Further Reading: Football and the Church York hosts British Grand Prix of Race Walking |
