Capt. Barclay was attended in this walk by his servant, William Cross, who also performed the distance in the same time. In the month of December 1808, Cross walked one hundred miles in nineteen hours and seventeen minutes on the Aberdeen road, near Stonehaven. He stands five feet and eight inches, is well made, and active, and may be considered a first-rate pedestrian.
In May next year, (1807,) Capt. Barclay walked seventy-eight miles in fourteen hours, over the hilly roads of Aberdeenshire. He left Ury at two o’clock morning, to attend a sale of cattle at a place four miles beyond the Boat of Forbes on the Don, a river in Aberdeenshire, where he remained five hours, but walked in the fields several miles, and returned home by nine at night.—In this year, his famous match, for two hundred guineas, with Abraham Wood, the celebrated Lancashire pedestrian, took place.
It was settled in the month of July, that the parties were to go as great a distance as they could in twenty-four hours—and Capt. Barclay was to be allowed twenty miles at starting—to be decided at Newmarket on the following 12th of October—play or pay.
On the day appointed, this match attracted the greatest concourse of people ever assembled at Newmarket, in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. Carriages of every description were innumerable, from the barouche and four, to the dicky cart, and the horsemen and pedestrians exceeded all accurate calculation of numbers. The place chosen for the performance of this extraordinary match, was a single measured mile on the left-hand side of the turnpike-road leading from Newmarket to London, towards the ditch; which mile was roped in, and both competitors ran on the same ground.
They started precisely at eight o’clock on Monday morning, but after going forty miles, Wood resigned the contest, which created considerable surprize among the amateurs.—The following is an accurate account of the race.
| Mr. Wood. | Capt. Barclay. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hours. | Miles. | Hours. | Miles. | ||
| 1 | 8 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 2 | 7 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 7 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 6½ | 4 | 6 | ||
| 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | ||
| 6 | 5½ | 6 | 6 | ||
| 40 | miles. | 36 | do. | ||
When the pedestrians had performed the above number of hours, Wood resigned the contest; but Capt. Barclay walked four miles farther to decide some bets. Wood made play at starting, and went eight miles within the first hour, as appears from the foregoing statement. For three hours he continued at a lounging run, when the odds, which were about three to one at starting, were reduced to about seven to four. He got off one mile in the first half hour, having performed four miles in one minute less than that time. He accomplished twenty miles in two hours and forty-one minutes; and by coming in the twenty-two miles within three hours, he had got off four miles of the twenty he had given to Capt. Barclay, and both pedestrians came in together. After having gone twenty-four miles in three hours and sixteen minutes, Wood took refreshment for five minutes in a marquee at the starting post, opposite to that of his competitor. After having gone thirty-two miles, he laid himself down and rested for ten minutes, appearing to be somewhat fatigued. His ancles and body were rubbed, and on leaving his marquee, he appeared without his shoes. The next four miles he slackened his pace, and was above twenty minutes in going two miles. Wood’s feet were cut by travelling without his shoes, and he put them on; but after having gone forty miles in six hours and twenty minutes, he retired to his marquee: and shortly after, it was communicated to the spectators that he had resigned the match.
Capt. Barclay pursued a steady course of six miles an hour, without varying a minute. After having gone eighteen miles he stopped, and refreshed by taking some warm fowl; and when he had accomplished other eighteen miles, he again stopped; but while taking another refreshment, Wood’s failure was announced to him, and he walked the other four miles merely to determine some depending bets.
The unexpected termination of this race excited considerable surprise in the sporting world, as it was known to most people present, that Wood, only a few months before, had gone forty miles in less than five hours. Several of those who had betted on Wood declined paying, from the suspicion of something unfair having taken place. But it was manifest to all, that there was no collusion between Capt. Barclay and the other party, and he had not the slightest suspicion of any thing unfair existing.
When the match was first proposed, Capt. Barclay refused to make it, without a gentleman was concerned for Wood, and after such was sought for, a publican in the vicinity of Spitalfields was brought forward to back him. He accordingly stood one hundred and fifty pounds of the stake-money; but it was well known that he never before risked twenty pounds on the issue of any uncertain event. Wood had gone fifty miles in seven hours, in a wet day, while training, and was desirous of continuing his journey, being very fresh; but was stopped, lest he should be injured by the unfavourable state of the weather: of course, a great deal was expected from him.