1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

THE RACE.On Sunday, July 7, at 2 a. m. precisely, the race was begun by Rillon,(France), who had the competing number, 1, being sent on his journey,the other competitors following at intervals of 2 minutes. There were28 absentees out of the 151 entered, so that 123 cyclists took partin the competition. The appended general protocol and tables showto which nations they belonged.There was an enormous crowd gathered at the starting place, andit with the greatest difficulty that the local police and the soldierswho had been sent to their assistance, could manage to keep justenough of the road clear for the passage of the competitors. Duringthe whole of the race the weather was as fine as could be, althoughthe heat was pretty great, especially towards noon, and greatly troubledour continental visitors. A westerly wind blew now and then duringthe forenoon, but proved to be of no hindrance to the riders. Thechoking dust, on the other hand, was what the competitors sufferedfrom most.All those taking part in the race declared that the control stationswere managed in the very best possible way. Lewis, especially, statedthat he experienced the greatest help and kindness everywhere, andthat, thanks to the instructions he received, he had had no difficultyin finding the way, especially as the control committees, acting onthe instructions of the Cycling Committee, had marked out the routeby means of large red arrows on a white ground, at all the crossroadsand at other places where it was possible for the competitorsto take a wrong turning.Besides one or two tumbles of the ordinary kind, and which werenot at all dangerous, there were not more than a couple of accidentsduring the whole of this great competition, both of them, however,being, fortunately enough, of such a character that no lasting injurywas caused to the sufferers. Stokes (England) broke his collar-boneat Södertälje and he was at once taken in hand by the doctor actingon behalf of the control committee there. The injured man wastaken to the hospital where he received every attention, and was soonable to be removed to Stockholm by his fellow-countrymen. Theother accident was a more serious one, and happened to one of theSwedish representatives, Mr. Landsberg, of Örebro, only a few hundredmetres from the start. He was trying to get out of the way of amotor-waggon, but he was run into, his cycle smashed and he himselfdragged along some distance before the waggon stopped. Hewas carried back to the starting place, whence he was conveyed toSt. Mary’s Hospital, where he had to remain for some days.At the finish and the Office in the Stadium, the officials on dutywere kept busy from 3 a. m., receiving all the reports sent in bytelephone from the various control stations, from which, as we havealready mentioned, reports were made every half hour, giving thenames of those competitors that had passed, and other information ofany importance. The six telephones were ringing incessantly the438