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:
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)