Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, February 9, 1929
Paavo Nurmi also participated in the Millrose Games, held at Madison Square Garden in early February. The crowd of 15,000 cheered and threw hats and programs into the air as American Ray Conger kicked into a final sprint on the last backstretch, leaving the “King of Runners,” who had worked the whole way, defeated in one of the oldest invitational meets in track and field.
“I suppose I am getting older; I’m not as nimble as I used to be,” Nurmi told the Finnish sports paper correspondent reporting from New York after the race.