SPORTING COLUMN.

THE recent Bicycle Tournament in New York has brought to light a rider of great promise in the person of Mr. Walter S. Clark, whose performances are really of a most exceptional nature. His first appearance was made on January 17, in the two-mile handicap, in which he was given 350 yards' start; and he won this with such ease that in the second heat of the same race he was put back to the 75-yard mark, but again won, as easily as before. The third heat found him at scratch, and this time he succeeded in making the best two-mile amateur time on record in America (6 min. 41 1/4 sec.), thereby distancing all his competitors. This third successive victory gave him the $200 silver cup for his own property. On January 31 he started at scratch in the five-mile handicap, and although unable to obtain better than second place on account of the excessive handicaps given, he still succeeded in bettering his own time for one and two miles, and also in adding to his score three more "best on records," - for 3 miles, 4 miles, and 5 miles respectively. His record at each distance is appended below, for easy reference: -

1 miles 3 min. 8 1/4 sec.

2 miles 6 min. 28 3/4 sec.

3 miles 9 min. 53 1/4 sec.

4 miles 13 min. 22 1/4 sec.

5 miles 16 min. 46 1/2 sec.

All these records were made indoors on an asphalt track, and it remains for the spring sports to show whether Mr. Clark can do as well on a cinder track. It is not too much to say, however, that Johnson will have to ride much faster next September than he did last year, to retain the amateur championship title. It may be of interest to state that Mr. Clark will probably be in '84 at Columbia, and will prove a dangerous opponent at the Intercollegiate next year, in case a bicycle race is added to the programme, which is more than probable, as Columbia, Princeton, and Harvard, all favor the idea.

MR. J. S. VOORHEES, the well-known sprinter, has improved so much during the past winter, that competent judges are led to believe that he will be the third amateur to place a 100-yard record of 10 seconds to his credit before the spring season ends. Those Harvard men who happened to be present at the Columbia Boat Club sports of January 3 and 4 will doubtless remember that Mr. Voorhees, with a handicap of 2 yards, won the 75-yard dash for college men in 7 1/5 seconds.