Thanks for putting this article from 1888 on Ultralegends!

The headline in the New York Times says it all:

LITTLEWOOD EASILY BEATS ALBERT’S DISTANCE.

HE MAKES 623 3-4 MILES AND COULD HAVE COVERED 650 WITHOUT TROUBLE…

This was a world record that stood for 96 years, but what is interesting about is that it confirmed that the great George Littlewood could have ran so much further on the 8-lap to the mile indoor sawdust track at Madison Square Garden, New York… 8-laps to the mile with tight turns at either end… beggars belief doesn’t it?

What is also interesting about the great man, who in my humble opinion, was the greatest ever ultra long-distance foot-racing athlete – ever – was that he proved himself time and time again in his chosen career – that of a professional pedestrian.

What also is little known is that George still owns the 6-day world record for walking 531 miles and 800 yards between March the 6th and the 11th 1882, at the Drill Hall, Sheffield, England, thus beating the previous world record held by Charles A. Harriman of Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA, of 530 miles. That commendable effort was made at the Exposition Building, Chicago, between Monday, the 9th and Saturday, the 14th of May 1881.

The “Sheffield Flyer” was simply sensational!