Beach Sprinting
Johnny Bliss wasn't just a rugby league player though. He was also a highly successful beach sprint champion. He won an amazing 12 Australian championships in a row from 1939 to 1952. A record that may never be equaled or broken and he even attempted a comeback at the age of 38 to win the 1960 NSW title.
Bliss was an exceptionally fast runner. During the 1947 season, decked out in full football gear including heavy leather football boots and carrying a football, Bliss clocked an amazing 11.1 seconds over 110 yards and also recorded 9.9 seconds over 100 yards. Compare this time with that run by American Harrison Dillard who won the 100 m gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics in 10.3 seconds and it shows just how fast Bliss really was.
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Famous quotes containing the word beach:
“A young person is a person with nothing to learn
One who already knows that ice does not chill and fire does not burn . . .
It knows it can spend six hours in the sun on its first
day at the beach without ending up a skinless beet,
And it knows it can walk barefoot through the barn
without running a nail in its feet. . . .
Meanwhile psychologists grow rich
Writing that the young are ones’ should not
undermine the self-confidence of which.”
—Ogden Nash (1902–1971)