In the annual regatta of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association to be held at Poughkeepsie on June 21, the race for eight-oared university shells will be over a three-mine course. This announcement has been made by Charles Halsted Mapes of Columbia, chairman of the board of stewards, following an investigation as to the advisability of cutting one mile off the regular distance.

The elimination of the fourth mile will mean the extension of an invitation to Princeton and the Navy to compete with Columbia, Cornell, Pennsylvania, Syracuse and the winner of the Pacific Coast regatta on the Hudson next June. The Tigers and the Midshipmen have kept away from Poughkeepsie because of their opposition to the fourth mile.

It is now very likely that Wisconsin will rehabilitate rowing as an intercollegiate sport and once more send its eights to the Hudson. Minnesota and Michigan have started movements to organize crews and may also find their way to the Hudson.

Change in Eligibility Rules.

In addition to the three-mile reform Mr. Mapes announced a change in the eligibility rules which will put a curb on the presence in university boats of men who had gained experience on boat club crews. The change makes the standard of entry into the Poughkeepsie regatta similar to that which governs entry into events of the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America.

Any man who has rowed at a club must now be in residence at a college at least one year before he can pull a sweep for his college.

The change in the eligibility rules makes it imperative that all contestants be university students in good standing. It will also prevent any recurrence of objections which came up last season.

How About the Harvard-Yale Race?

The New York Sun makes the following suggestion apropos of the change:

"Now that the board of stewards of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association has decided that the fourth mile is injurious for young oarsmen Harvard and Yale stand alone as exponents of the deadly fourth mile. How long can they afford to ignore the judgment of the majority?

"The leading coaches of the country have shown that three-mile races are sufficient tests of the oarsmanship and stamina of the collegians without subjecting them to the heart strain which makes the fourth-mile so dangerous. How much longer will Harvard and Yale bow to a tradition that is both false and harmful?"

Ithacan Track Men at Work.

With the opening of the track season but a short time away, candidates for the Cornell track team are reporting in increasing numbers to Coach Jack Moakley. At first there was a marked scarcity of men in the sprints, weights and hurdles, but a vigorous appeal from the management brought fourth a large number of new men. The schedule has not been decided but will be much like last year's and will include the annual relay race with the University short distance team.

Although Cornell has a lot of good material this year in the distance runs and in some of the field events, the society of good sprinters and hurdlers is going to make the task of building up another championship team more difficult than usual. When Moakley had Reller and Van Winkle he was reasonably certain of placing in one or both sprints, and with Starr and Gubb in college the Ithacans were amply protected in the hurdles. Now that all these men are gone, the university must depend on untried material. The most uncertain branches, on the track teak are therefore both dashes and hurdles, although Watt looks promising for the 220-Yard hurdle race.

Of the six men who ran on the one mile relay team at different times only three are now in college. The team will probably be made up of Crim, who secured fourth place in the 440 at the Intercollegiates last year, Bartsch and Shelton from last year, and Culbertson, jumper and Sprinter.