AMATEUR ATHLETICS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 56, 13 April 1914, Page 2

AMATEUR ATHLETICS.

A MATTER OF MANAGEMENT. A little over a week ago, iu commenting on the management of the last evening meeting held by the Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club, I referred to the inefficient management of that gathering and said that I anticipated better management of the next evening meeting, which was to be under the control of the Canterbury Centre of the N.Z.A.A.A. And now I have to confess that my anticipations were wrong, for the Centre's meeting was more noticeable for mismanagement than the Canterbury Club's gathering had been. No doubt it was a rather novel change : to hold competitions in gathering dusk. It was certainly a new thing for athletic meetings that bystanders should have to strike matches in order [that the judges of the pole-vaulting ; should have some light in-" which they could measure the height of the winning result. But it was not fair to competitors to" ask them to jump in such a light, and the general arrangements of the meeting were not such as conduce to the popularising of athletics. The trouble' could have been avoided, for the delays between the ■ events—which were quite numerous enough for an evening meeting—were - far too long. The meeting lacked a controlling hand; several of the centre's officers were absent, and too much work devolved upon a few men. The control of the meeting was surprisingly different from the centre's usual method, > and I hope it will be the last time that ■ the centre departs from its practice. MANSELL 'S CHAMPIONSHIPS. Of comment on the meeting there is not a great d6al to ad(l to what has appeared already in THE SUN. Only one of the five championship events seemed to be very ' 4 open,'' and that was the half-mile. If he had been thoroughly fit, J. W. Mansell should have-had a chance of winning this, but, he was'palpably" stale," from overmuch running, and he retired be£ore a lap had been completed. S. W. Birdling did not start, and. this, left three runners of fairly equal merit— R-i J. Richards, H. S. Richards, and W. A. Ford—to contest the championship. R. J. Richards, a very promising runner, was expected by his comrades at Canterbury College to win, but he showed poor judgment- He made his run much too soon, and consequently he had no , "ginger" left for the finish. Ford ran well throughout, and finished with something in reserve. It was a,good finish, H. S. Richards being only a couple of yards behind Ford. As I have pointed out before, Ford is a very promising middle-distance runner. He is very., keen; I believe he walked about nine miles to catch a train to bring him to Christchureh for the meeting. He pays good attention to training, and as he is young, considerable improvement may be expected ,of him.

As was expected, Mansell won the 220 yds championship, although C. L. Young ran him closely for a good part of the journey. It is the third championship the Canterbury College crack lsas gathered in this season—he had won the 100 yds and the putting the shot. Mansell has been putting in a good deal of time on the track this season, and he has done well, but—he has also run himself '' stale.'' Whether a week's rest would prove sufficient to knock off the stateness before the University Championships I could not say at the time these notes were being written. Mansell is a fine runner, of excellent physique, good style, and plenty of heart —he finishes very strongly—ami as he is very keen and a line sportsman, he should do very well on the track. He possesses championship quality, without, doubt, but lie is so versatile a runner that it is ■ rather difficult to say just which is his best distance. I rather fancy lie will prove best as a 220vds and 440 yds man. • THE PROMISE OF BATSTONE. 'The high jump and the pole vault were held in such a bad light that the competitors could scarcely be expected to show their real merit. In a better light \\\ .J. Batstone probably would have added six inches to each of his efforts —he won at Bft 11-iin, but afterwards did 9ft ojin. Batstone is a decidedly prom.ising van Iter. He is only eighteen years old, I understand, but he shows a patience in learning how to pole vault properly that is seldom seen. Realising that he should not strive for height until he has thoroughly grasped the best method of vaulting, he has been content to let other vau'lt'ers beat him until he had got that method. Such patience will be rewarded, for Batstone is showing unusual promise as a pole vaulter. Hobbs, the second man, vaulted well, but lie probably would have done much better in a good light; he did not seem very certain of himself in the dusk. Next Tuesday the last meeting of the season will be held. It will consist of four championship events—44oyds fiat, three mites Hat, long jump, and hop, step and jump. All should be interesting. A. C. L.