This film is part of Free

AAA Championships at Fartown, Huddersfield (1901)

The annual championship meeting of England's premier athletics association.

Non-Fiction 1901 4 mins Silent

Overview

The annual Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) championship was Edwardian England's premier athletics meeting. The 1901 Championships were held at Huddersfield Cricket & Athletic Club on Saturday 6 July. Ten athletes are seen: four American, two Irish, and four English, and this international aspect is reflected in vignettes of the champions posing for the camera.

The film includes shots of some of the winners of the individual events, including the USA's Arthur Duffey, the world's premier sprinter and winner of the 100 yard sprint. Although the American athletes appeared as amateurs, their level of support and sophisticated training regimes gave them a marked advantage over the less well-resourced British athletes.