Sport: Ray

It is 26 miles, 385 yards from the doorstep of the New York Athletic Club, Manhattan, to the City Hall in Long Beach, Long Island. The road lies through the city and over a bridge and through a suburban district crowded with automobiles, trucks, delivery wagons, boys on bicycles, people walking, busses, trolley-cars, and traffic cops. Last week 30 marathoners ran a race along this road and Joie Ray won it. His time was within two minutes of the Olympic record for 26 miles made on a course that had no traffic on it at all.

The main facts about Joie Ray are well known. He has blond hair and has spent most of his life driving a taxicab in Chicago. His nickname is Chesty because he usually announces that he is going to win and tells what his time will be. He is the best prophet among runners. He is the only American who has run the mile in competition under 4:20 more than six times. He holds with Paavo Nurmi the world’s indoor mile record. Last month when he finished third in the Boston marathon (TIME, April 30) his first long distance race, his shoes had to be cut away from his swollen and bleeding feet. Clarence DeMar won at Boston. Ray finished with glazed eyes, a haggard face. At Long Beach, DeMar finishing seventh, was haggard, Ray happy. He kissed his hand to the Mayor as he crossed the finish line. “See those feet” he said in the locker room, crinkling his toes, “no blisters on them, eh boy? No sir. I feel as smooth as silk. Now that I have earned a place on the Olympic team I will win the Olympic Marathon for the U. S. A.”