William Cummings (athlete)

William J. Cummings (10 June 1858 – 13 July 1919) was a Scottish professional runner who held the record for the mile in the 19th century and is perhaps best remembered for a series of races against Walter George, a top amateur runner who turned professional in part to challenge Cummings.

Cummings decided, by the time he turned 18 in 1876, to take up the uncertain life of a professional "bagtagger," as runners were known at the time. His first professional race came soon afterwards.

He ran the mile in 4:28½ on 9 June 1877 and ran 4:25 the next year, as well as a two-mile race in 9:20½. His times were impressive enough to race for the Champion's Belt at Lillie Bridge on 1 July 1878. A long-shot, he won the race in 4:28 to become that year's Champion of England.

He won a mile race in 4:18¼ later that year in Glasgow and again in 4:19½ two weeks later, and was considered to be at the top of pedestrianism.

The next few years were ones of mixed fortunes as he raced often and did not always win. He ran four miles in 19:57¼ in 1879, but lost his mile title to E. Dickenson who ran 4:20 ⁴⁄₅. He regained the Champion's Belt in 1880 with a 4:22 ²⁄₅ and won the 10 mile Belt with a 51:47 ²⁄₅ performance. Then he set a world record for 1½ miles with 6:43½, but lost late that year in the mile to William Duddle who ran 4:19½.

Chastened by his defeats, Cummings was determined to regain his dominance in 1881. He beat Duddle over 1,000 yards on 30 April with a world record 2:17, then he regained the Championship Belt on 14 May, setting a mile record of 4:16 ¹⁄₅ in the process. The previous record had stood for 16 years. He beat Duddle two more times over the mile that year, and dipped under 4:20 twice in December. As a result of his dominance, professional running started to die.

That soon changed with the emergence of Walter George, an amateur runner who set records in distances from 3/4 mile to 10 miles in 1882. After George had run 4:19 ²⁄₅ on 3 June of that year, thus setting a new amateur record for the mile with only three professionals faster at the distance - including, of course, Cummings - he challenged him to race, but was denied permission by the amateur authorities.

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