DELEGATES KEEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1936, Page 23

DELEGATES KEEN

ATHLETIC CENTRE

THE ANNUAL MEETING

If the 'keenness.shown by a number of the delegates "a* the annual meetIng of the Wellington Amateur Athletic Centre this week, is maintained, it will be all for the good. In recent years the tendency has beer, to leave most of the work for a'handful of men who have carried the burden. It is time there was a change, and it therefore must have been refreshing to the president of. the centre (Mr. A. C. Kitto) and other stalwarts who have stuck to their work through good times and bad to find others alive, interested, and keen to contribute something for the good of the sport. Mr. Kitto was re-elected president, and that he was the only nominee for the office was a tribute to the sterling service he has given the centre and the sport, locally and nationally, over a long period of years. He has been president of the centre for about fifteen years.

The honour-of life membership, which, because it is not freely bestowed by the centre, is an honour indeed, was conferred upon Mr. H. RoEe, chairman of the executive and father of the one-time great New Zealand champion,-Randolph. Rose, one of th 6 most remarkable and popular ! athletes New Zealand has produced. As a man and as-an administrator Mr. Rose has the respect of all. He has I given the centre good service both , from an administrative point of view land also in his position as a field I events judge. The honour is one which I all who know. Mr. Rose and his worth i w.ill agree is well deserved, and ■it was noteworthy that after the meeting 'many of the delegates made a point ,of personally congratulating him.' , A REVIVAL. , ' A real revival of the sport this sea--1 son was forecast by Mr. Kitto, who i reviewed, the position existing' in the , various parts of the Wellington CenItre's territory. He.made reference to the acquisition- by the centre of the Hataitai ground, which is now open for training purposes, and appealed to club officials and. the athletes to do their best to make the season the success it is hoped it will be. He briefly mentioned some.,of the sports meeting? to be held during the season, and said that so far as concerned the move being made by the council of the New Zealand' Amateur Athletic Association to engage an overseas team to visit the Dominion, no reply had yet been received from Japan. Ha referred to-the visit to New Zealand of J. E. Lovelock and said it was hoped that Lovelock would be in Welling; ton on Saturday'next and would give an exhibition. The proposal is to hold a meeting on the Basin Reser.ve and Lovelock's appearance there should attract a record .attendance..

The first sports meeting at * the Hataitai ground is to be held on November 21. On the'following Saturdaythere is to be a meeting at Johnson-

ville, and an application has been re.ceived from the Petqne Club, -to hold its .annual Laykold .Cup meeting at :the Petone Oval on- December 12. Unfortunately.- on that date'i the Wellington Club is 'desirous, of•'sending a team to compete in Wanganui. In the meantime the centre has withheld approval of the two applications and the two .clubs, are, to confer to see whether/ .they -. cannot ..come to some other arrangement.

At present it is proposed to hold the Dewar Shield, competition at Hataitai and to spread it over four Saturdays, but the matter has not yet been finalised. So as the. fixture will not clash with counter-attractions in February, January 30 has been selected ■as the date for the Wellington • pro-

vihcial championship meeting. The meeting therefore will be held earlier than. is usual, and no doubt the announcement of the date will have a tendency to attract - more athletes .to the. training,ground at Hataitai and speed up training operations somewhat. '•' ' NUI. VIBER OF SUGGESTIONS. The invitation extended to delegates by .Mr. Kitto at the annual meeting to offer suggestions and , criticism if they thought. it : necessary was availed of and the result was ■ that a numbei of recommendations were made and 1 these are to be considered by the executive. . :. ■ .

: Mr. A. J. Hose brought forward several matters. His first suggestion was 'the adoption of a blazer by the Wellington Centre.- Mr. Hose said that Wellington was.the only centre without, a blazer, with the exception, perhaps, of theJWest Coast (North Island) Centre. The ■ provision of a blazer would tend .to'make athletes keener and would serve* to bring the sport under the notice, of the public. The privilege of wearing the blazer could beI'granted to all athletes who "had ■represented the centre and to officials who had/served the. centre for at least three terms and also any others who might be considered worthy... He suggested the appointment of a sub-com-mittee to go into the question. Details', he. said, could be obtained from Auckland, where finality had just been reached. : '

The next' suggestion made by Mr. Hose was the making of a sealed handicap %of all races of two miles and over run from scratch. This,, he said, would make the races more interesting from the public viewpoint as the field would be larger and runners, would not drop out to the same extent; it would also give the long-distance men something to train for. , :The idea had been tried in Otago with much success.

A similar suggestion was made by Mr. K. Perrett,--except that- his idea was that. ;:a sealed handicap; should bs run in "conjunction with the one-mile and three-miles' provincial championships. ''.•-■ . -...-'*

The third suggestion. made by Mr. Hose was in ; connection with.'field events. It "was that if scratch trophies are : again to be competed for,-field; events be cut into two grades as follows:—(1) Shot, javelin, hammer, and discus; (2)' high jump, broad jump, hop, step, and. jump, and pole vault. ■ At present competitor's in- the No. 1 group of events, he said, had no hope of winning a "trophy because the No. 2 group, competitors were catered for with a" larger number of events' over the season. :.' :

These • and other matters the president, said the 'executive would look into. .'.'.'.'>