Lewisohn Stadium, New York, NY, August 19, 1923
Glen Park, Yonkers, NY, August 25, 1923
Van Cortlandt Park, New York, NY, November 11, 1923
Van Cortlandt Park, New York, NY, November 10, 1923
In the Greater New York division of the United States Regional Championships (Metropolitan Association), an exciting 440-yard hurdles race unfolded. New York Athletic Club’s Richard Oram won with the season's sixth-best time of 55.8 seconds. Swedish athlete Carl-Axel "Cacka" Christiernsson, visiting the U.S. from 1922–1926, clocked a season-best 56.2 seconds, ranking ninth globally. Meanwhile, Erik Wilén of Finland would have been in good company, as he ran under Oram’s winning time three times that year.
Finnish athletes took a double victory in the five-mile race (8,047 m). Ville Ritola, after a strong indoor and spring season, returned from a summer break to secure the win. His Finnish-American Athletic Club teammate Ilmari Prim claimed silver. In 1925, Prim, later invited to the White House with Paavo Nurmi, attempted to pocket the host’s silverware—an incident that remains infamous.
Just days earlier, on August 19, Ritola had lost to Joie Ray in an invitational two-mile race during the Metropolitan Junior Championships at Lewisohn Stadium in New York. Ritola led the race until Ray sprinted past him in the final 200 meters.
In November 1923, Ville Ritola achieved an impressive feat by winning the New York metropolitan area Cross-Country championship for the third consecutive time. According to The New York Times, Ritola's stride was as easy and rhythmic as a perfectly oiled machine. Even though the New York carpenter faced a daunting obstacle when an approaching car forced him to crawl along the ditch bottom during the race, Ritola demonstrated his exceptional speed and resilience. When the car came dangerously close, Ville had no option but to leap into the ditch. However, he quickly re-entered the race track and sprinted to a convincing victory. A useful drill for steeplechase, perhaps.
The race course wound its way through New York's Van Cortlandt Park, a location that had also been a favored running destination for Paavo Nurmi during his inaugural American tour in 1925.
1–4 (Spalding’s Athletic Almanac)
New York Times, November 11, 1923 (paywall)
Uusi Suomi, December 2, 1923 (in Finnish)