In its resume of the affairs to date, the Herald on the day of the meet mentioned the two previous international meets, in which Oxford beat Yale at London in 1894, and Yale beat Cambridge at New York the following year.

It said that the initiative for this meet had come from England. The Oxford and Cambridge presidents had addressed a challenge to the presidents of the Harvard and Yale University Athletic Clubs. The conditions of adoption were that the meet should consist of the nine events which normally comprised an Oxford-Cambridge meet (the 100-yard dash, quarter-mile, half-mile, mile, three-mile, 120-yard high hurdles, high jump, hammer throw, and long jump [broad jump]).

The Herald went on to comment on the hassle over the amateur standing of Burke and Quinlan, editorializing that the "solicitude of England as to the amateur standing of the Harvard and Yale men is amusing in view of the fact that many things are permitted at Oxford and Cambridge that would not be tolterated here at home." They did not elaborate on the "many things."

Included in the article were line drawings and descriptions of the Oxford-Cambridge entrants, and it also gave comparative times and distances of all the performers and the predictions, which called for a 5 to 4 American win.

But as prognostications they failed, for the heavily-favored Burke, who had been ill with a stomach ailment since he landed, finished a dead last, and a Cantabridgian named Davison won the quarter-mile in 49.4.

Before an enthusiastic throng of 8,000 fans, which included the Prince of Wales, the American Ambassador, the leader of the House of Commons, and the London Victoria Military Band, the English won this first gala international meet, 5 to 4.

With the score tied 4 to 4 (the meets were to be decided according to the English custom; on the basis of first places only), and only the three-mile remaining, the Herald described the climax of the meet.

"Workman (C) led at the firing of the pistol. Wilberforce (C) then went to the front and stayed there for a mile and 2/3, when he dropped out on account of a stitch in his side.

"The Americans for the first 2 miles were bunched about 5 yards behind the Englishmen. Just before the end of the second mile, little Clark [H.B. of Harvard], who had been pluckily sticking with the leaders, dropped on the track in a faint. Smith of Oxford was soon forced to retire owing to cramps, and the last mile was fought between Workman and Palmer (Y). Workman outran Palmer in the last 1/3 mile, to win amid the wildest imaginable enthusiasm.

"When the result was finally settled, the excited crowd burst through the enclosure and carried Workman, the hero of the day, to his quarters."

Speeches on Sportsmanship

At the gala banquet that evening, many speeches hailed the sportsmanship and the solidarity of the race. Each competitor was given a medal with the arms of the four colleges on either side.

E.J. Wendell the Harvard steward, moved by the flowing eloquence,, burbled, "We were met in the handsomest spirit and lost fairly on our merits and demerits."

Joseph H. Choate, the American Ambassador to England said that he had learned a great lesson from the contest--that two nations could oppose each other and fight it out to the bitter end, and yet remain good friends.

The Pall Mall Gazette, in its leading editorial chimed, "By all means let young England rub shoulders with young America on the cinder path or anywhere else and the oftener the better."