Walter George (athlete)

Walter Goodall George (9 September 1858 – 4 June 1943) was a nineteenth-century British runner from Calne who after setting numerous world records as an amateur, went professional in part to challenge the mile record-holder William Cummings, defeating him in several highly publicized races. In one of those races on 23 August 1886, he set a mile record which was not surpassed for almost 30 years.

At 16, George was apprentice to a chemist (pharmacist) and working long hours. Accordingly, he entered cycling and then walking races on weekends for exercise. Before turning 20 in 1878, he trained for three months and boasted, to his friends' amusement, that he would one day run a mile in 4:12. This was at a time when the amateur mile record was 4:24½ and the professional mile record was 4:17¼. He wrote in a notebook then the quarter-mile splits required to achieve such a time: 59s; 2:02; 3:08.

In his first race, he was given a 45-yard handicap and promptly won in 4:29, which caused the officials to withhold the prize money until they could determine whether he was a ringer. He never again was given a handicap.

His unorthodox training technique, necessitated by his apprenticeship, was to do what he called "100-up" which involved running in place with high knee lifts and springing, and to take baths in brine. He found quick success, winning the 1879 Amateur Championships of England in the mile (4:29) and in the four miles.

The next year, the first Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) championship was held and George won the mile in 4:28 ³⁄₅ and the four miles. Then, on 16 August at Stamford Bridge, London, George held his "ideal" pace for one lap – 59s – then slowed to 2:04½ and 3:14. Though he was disappointed to finish in 4:23 ¹⁄₅, the time established a new amateur world record.

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