1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

for the drawing of lots, there would not be the least risk of the representativesof any one nation pacing each other either.THE ARRANGEMENTS ALONG THE COURSE.The labours of the Cycling Committee were continued at highpressure during the whole of the winter, 1911—12. Lists of officialswere drawn up and a letter was addressed to each person chosen tofill such any post, asking him to forward to the Committee a writtenpledge that he was willing to undertake the duties of the post duringthe Cycling competition, and that he would keep the rules and regulationsof the Committee and the leader of the competition. For thepurpose of establishing control-stations in the country districts alongthe course, the President of the Committee was desired to personallyvisit the places in question, and form Control-Committees there. Thistrying work had the best possible result, however, thanks to the kindnessand good-will of everyone concerned. And it was by no meansa little troop of assistants that was required, but quite an army ofable, interested and experienced men had to be mobilized. CaptainGösta Drake, president of the Cycling Committee, was elected tobe the chief manager or leader of the competition, assisted, in thefirst place by the other members of the Committee, who had the directionof the various details of the work under the leader’s generalsuperintendence. Altogether, there were no less than 73 officials requiredin Stockholm alone for this competition, and 89 in the country districts,or a grand total of of 162 men.A series of regulations, drawn up by the leader and approved ofby the Committee, was issued for the officials acting at the starting-placeand at the finish, as well as for those functionaries on dutyat the various control-stations along the course.According to the instructions for the control committees in thecountry districts, each of the said sub-committees was to be responsiblefor its own section of the course, i. e., the said committee wasanswerable for that part of the course lying from and between thecontrol-station in question, to the next station in the direction ofthe finish. For example, the Södertälje station had to answer forthe section Södertälje—Mariefred; Mariefred for the section Mariefred—Strängnäs,and so on. A four-fold object was served by thisregulation, viz. :1) The arrangement and carrying-out of the steps necessary forkeeping each section of the course clear and fit for the race;2) The keeping open for road-traffic of all canal- and other bridges,railway-crossings, and the like, during the time when the competitionwas being held, and the seeing that such bridges and crossings wereclear for cyclists; there were also to be at each such place not lessthan two control officials for the purpose of calculating the time a competitorwould lose in the event of a bridge being closed to traffic onhis arrival at the spot, and in order to be able to give information,etc., to foreign competitors, etc.430