SPORTS LETTERS

Rival runners are races apart

From Mr A Radermacher

Sir: I agree with Sir Roger Bannister (14 Sept) that different races have different qualities. The endomorphic Eskimos and the ectomorphic Dinka are physically and physiologically different, because their characteristics have been naturally selected to give advantages in their respective environments.

Artificial selection during the slave trade of "well muscled" West Africans resulted in an abundance of anaerobic muscle fibres in American Negroes. This muscle type is well suited to explosive activities such as sprinting. The slimmer build of the highland people from East African countries, such as Kenya and Ethiopia, with more aerobic muscle fibres are better suited to the longer distances. There is nothing racist about this, just that races are different.

Yours,

ALAN RADERMACHER

London SW13

Long and short of Rovers' problems

From Mr R Turner

Sir: I watch with interest the supposed current efforts of Blackburn to switch from the "long ball" game to a "short passing" strategy. At Luton Town, who I have supported for 26 years (no pity required!), Ray Harford took us in the opposite direction. In the process he made himself the least popular manager in that 26-year period and was hounded out by the fans.

Paradoxically, he is the most successful manager in the club's history - League Cup winners 1988, finalists 1989, FA Cup semi -finalists 1988. However, he is judged to have gained that success with David Pleat's team, but to then have wantonly destroyed that team - a "short passing" one - in favour of a "long ball" style.

Despite all this, I wish him well, as an ex-Luton manager. Time heals, and he is nothing if not honest and earnest.

Yours sincerely,

ROBERT TURNER

Kingston, Surrey