Cooke performed two hundred yards in twenty seconds, on the 19th September 1808. He entered into a match with a gentleman of the name of Williams, to run that distance in Lord’s cricket-ground, for a wager of fifty guineas. They both started at the same instant, and kept together for the first hundred yards, when Cooke took the lead until they did fifty more. Mr. Williams then came up with him, and they ran elbow to elbow for another forty yards. Cooke again took the lead, and kept it to the winning-post, beating his adversary by a yard and a half.
Lieutenant Hawkey, and Mr. Snowden of Nottingham Street, ran a well contested match on the 14th of November 1808, for a bet of fifty guineas, which was gained by the latter gentleman.—And Skewball, the famous Lancashire shepherd, performed one hundred and forty yards in twelve seconds, near Hackney, in February 1808.
Captain Aiken has acquired considerable celebrity as a swift runner, and for any distance under five miles, his performances have been seldom exceeded. He undertook three matches for fifty guineas each: 1st, To run one hundred yards within twelve seconds; 2d, To go two hundred yards in twenty-eight seconds; and, 3d, To do a quarter of a mile in one minute and twenty seconds. He started on the Uxbridge road, on the 23d of June 1809; and the first match he lost by a second; the next he won with difficulty; and the third, he gained by two seconds. He performed a quarter of a mile on the Twickenham road, in one minute and fifteen seconds; and on the 26th of July 1809, he started for two bets of twenty guineas each; first, to go a mile in five minutes, and after an interval of one minute, to run a mile against Mr. Sullivan. The first he accomplished in two seconds under the time; and the second he performed in five minutes and twenty-five seconds, beating his antagonist by about one hundred yards. In the month of November the same year, he ran four miles on a spot of ground near Maidenhead, in twenty-three minutes and fifty seconds, for a wager of one hundred guineas. On the 5th January 1810, Captain Aiken beat Mr. Athol by one hundred yards on a mile, which he performed in five minutes and twelve seconds; and on the 19th of November, he did five miles in twenty-nine minutes and fifty-four seconds, for a wager of fifty guineas. He also performed one mile and a half within eight minutes, on the 4th of March 1812, at Ashford, for a bet of one hundred guineas.
Lieutenant Fairman is a noted pedestrian, but his performances are not so astonishing as those of many others, who of late years have distinguished themselves either by their great strength, or uncommon agility. He is remarkable, however, for undergoing a great deal of fatigue without any refreshment.
He took a bet of one hundred guineas with Colonel Lockhart, that he would go sixty miles in fourteen hours, on Friday the 9th November 1804. A single mile of the race-course at Ipswich was measured off, and he started at two o’clock in the morning. He went the first seventeen miles at the rate of nearly six miles an hour, when he refreshed. He then went off in good style, and did thirty-two miles, including the stoppage, in six hours. He halted here for some time, having been rubbed down with hot towels, his feet soaked in warm water, and his body bathed all over with spirits. He shifted his clothes and breakfasted. He again started about twenty minutes before nine, to perform the remaining twenty-eight miles. He went twelve miles farther, when he halted for a few seconds, and ate a piece of bread steeped in Madeira. This stage was finished in about three hours, which left him four hours and a half to the last sixteen miles. He stopt once more at the end of ten miles, and took a small piece of bread as before. He had now only six miles to go, which he did in one hour and forty-eight minutes, accomplishing the whole distance in thirteen hours and thirty-three minutes.
During the performance of this match, Lieutenant Fairman, contrary to the practice of other pedestrians, refused to take animal food. His breakfast was tea and toast, and when he stopt to refresh, he ate only a small piece of bread steeped in Madeira.
On the 12th January 1808, he performed upwards of twenty miles in four minutes less than three hours. He started from Cumberland Gate precisely at eleven minutes past ten o’clock, to go to Harrow, and back, which he accomplished by seven minutes past one.
This gentleman’s style of walking is peculiar, and therefore deserves to be mentioned. “His arms are compressed, and pinioned close to his sides, and their weight is supported by a loop pendent from each shoulder, into which he places his thumbs.”
Lieutenant Fairman carried his pedestrian spirit into the regions of the torrid zone, and in defiance of a tropical climate and a vertical sun, he entered the list’s with a Mr. Grant, of the colony of Curacao, (August 1808) whom he completely ran down in two hours and twenty-five minutes, having gone upwards of eleven miles without halting or refreshing. His adversary, who is a native of the Indies, presumed on being able to bear the violence of the heat better than Mr. Fairman, and consequently appointed twelve o’clock mid-day, for the commencement of the contest. But he was mistaken, and obliged to acknowledge the superiority of the European pedestrian, who candidly confessed that although he had been successful, yet he experienced more distress from this performance than he had ever done in Europe, in accomplishing feats of infinitely greater speed and continuance.
Captain Agar may be considered one of the most celebrated pedestrians of the present day, either for a short or a long distance; and he lately accomplished a very arduous undertaking. On the 13th of June 1809, he matched himself for one hundred guineas, to go five miles within half an hour, and to walk, heel and toe, the first five minutes; which he performed on the Staines road with considerable ease. But his greatest feat was the accomplishment of fifty-nine miles in eight hours and a half, which took place on Tuesday the 7th of April 1812. He started from his residence in Kensington, to go to Blackwater in Hampshire, and return, for a stake of two hundred guineas. He arrived at Ashford Common in two hours and ten minutes (seventeen miles,) and refreshed at Englefield Green, in five minutes less than three hours from starting, (twenty-one miles.) He continued steadily going on until he did half the journey in four hours and four minutes. After being well rubbed, he resumed his undertaking, and went seven miles an hour tolerably true, but was much distressed during the last two hours. He completed the distance, however, winning his match by three minutes within time, so that the fifty-nine miles were accomplished in exactly eight hours and twenty-seven minutes.