In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

90 ARRAYS
Sunday, August 29, is an even more complex example of this new fashion
in the world of sports:
The men have to cover a total distance of forty-four kilometers. Twelve
runners, four bikers, three swimmers, and a rower make up a team.
First, ten of the runners go into action, carrying the baton along Unter
den Linden and Charlottenburger Chaussee up to the Tiergarten. From
this point two bikers take over ... A runner and a swimmer convey
the baton to the rower, who has to maneuver his boat over the fifteen
kilometers to Schildhorn. He passes the baton to a cross-country runner,
who in turn gives it to two bikers. They speed by the HeerstraBe
train station ... and head toward the Kronprinzenufer. The last two
swimmers, who have to race against the current to the Reichstag, decide
the outcome. (Berliner Tageblatt, August 29)
The Industriestaffel, as its name suggests, mimics the new style in industrial
production [see Assembly Lines]: a complex system, based on the
principle of complementarity, fulfills a specific function with a speed and
an efficiency that go beyond the physical limits of even the strongest
individual bodies.
Multiple forms of coupling between human bodies and high-performance
engines bring an unprecedented expansion of physical experience
and practical achievement. [see Center = Periphery [Infinitude], Present
= Past (Eternity)] Their endurance and their resistance to the elements
are tested in a new type of techno-sports competition that shares structural
elements both with Channel swimming and with events like the
Tour de France. The German Reichsverkehrsministerium (Ministry of
Transportation) and the Reichspostministerium (Postal Ministry) donate
the astounding prize of more than 250,000 marks for a multi-trial hydroplane
race held at Warnemiinde in July. A dauntingly complex series
of individual tasks and evaluation procedures (see Airplanes, Automobiles),
this Seeflugtag puts to an extreme test the endurance of both the
airplanes and their pilots: "The results of the technical trials and the
coastal flights can always be overturned by the so-called sea tests, in
which each aircraft has to perform three takeoffs, three landings, and
two loops against a strong wind" (Berliner Tageblatt, July 25). If, on the
one hand, such events combine bodies and engines into a unit that is the
functional equivalent of an athlete's body, they contribute, on the other