Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1920 — ZUNI INDIANS FLEET-FOOTED [ARTICLE]

ZUNI INDIANS FLEET-FOOTED

Remarkable Racing Tournament In Which Runners Usually Defeat Mounted Competitors. The Zunl Indians of Northwestern New Mexico occasionally hold a racing tournament in which a number of the fleetest runners of the tribe contest for prizes to be given those who first complete on foot a circuit fully 25 miles in length, after a week of severe preparatory practice. The contestants are compelled to kick a small stick the entire distance of the race. Sometimes they bare the right foot and grasp the stick between their toes so that In taking a step they can fling It a surprising distance in front of them as they run. The rule of the race is that this stick is never to be touched by any part of the body other than the foot The contestants may get into severe difficulties when the nomadic piece of wood happens to fall into the midst of one of the large thorny clumps of cacti which -abounds In that country, or if the river has to be crossed In the race. So extraordinary are the endurance and speed of these runners that they often cover the entire 25 miles in a little more than two hours. Sometimes Indians mounted on swift ponies enter the race against the foot runners. At the end of ten miles the horses begin to show signs of fatigue, and when 15 or 20 miles have been traveled they have often to be from the race. The foot runners are almost always able to win the race ove*r their mounted competitors, and seem to suffer no serious effects from the great muscular strain to which they have been subjected.