LITTLE WORK REMAINS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 71, 5 January 1950, Page 4

LITTLE WORK REMAINS

PREPARATIONS AT EDEN PARK TRACK IN GOOD ORDER (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Jan. 4. With less than a month to go before the start of the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, little now remains to be done either for the actual conduct of the Games or for the provision of accommodation for overseas and New Zealand competitors. The ground at Eden Parle, where the track and field events will be contested, is now ready, and the 36 members of the Canadian team, who will be the first overseas competitors to reach New Zealand, will be able to go straight into the Empire Games camp at Ardmore when they step off the Aorangi next Tuesday morning. The organising secretary for the Games .(Mr C. L. Cleal) said that on arrival in Auckland all overseas teams would go into camp at. Ardmore. The camp had been taken over as it stood, and an extra 80 bunks had been provided. All of the necessary carpentry work had been finished, and the' only work still outstanding was some interior painting, the final cleaning and completion of some partitions and extra, bunks. The domestic staff would be returning to w r ork at the camp on Saturday.

Training Facilities

The training facilities for contestants were good, and involved less travelling than had been known at any comparable games in the past, Mr Cleal said. Competitors in track events from 100 yards to one mile would train at the Papakura camp, where about £IOOO had been spent, laying in tracks. Field contestants and boxers, wrestlers and weight lifters would train at Ardmore. Special rings and weight lifting platforms had been built in the former Air Force hangars, at a cost of £837. The oarsmen would live and train at Karapiro, the venue for rowing events. Cyclists and swimmers would be the only competititors who would have to travel to and from their training places. The former would prepare for the Games at the Western Springs stadium and the latter in the Olympic pool at Newmarket. State Of Eden Park Track There was every reason for satisfaction with the state of the ground .at Eden Park, Mr Cleal said. The ground had had more than 10 months of unremitting attention, and there had been a lot of luck with the weather in the spring. Provided the present hot spell did not last for too long, the turf at the park would be in the best condition ever known. The track now needed only a certain amount mm or,, failing rain, a soaking to bring it to the required moisture content to help, keep the grass in perfect condition. A mechanical mower and roller had recently been brought from England at a cost of almost £BSO. The preparation for the' track cycling at Western Springs had included steam cleaning of the concrete track and the provision of a set ot lights over the track. The Olympic pool was ready for the Games, and a new concrete grandstand to accommodate 2700 persons had already been used. Two photo-finish towers would be provided at Edep. Park and one at Western Springs. Everything for the actual conduct ot the Games was ready except the special measuring equipment for the high jump, broad jump and pole vault events. That equipment was coming to New Zealand from London in the Tongariro, which was due in Auckland on January 25.

Best Equipment In World The equipment used at the Games would be the best in the world, Mr deal said. The discs, shots, hammers and javelins had been imported from Finland, the weight-lifting equipment from the United States, and the pole vault poles, boxing gloves and fencing epees from England. Two laminated Oregon pine diving boards had been brought from Canada and two had been supplied by a Christchurch firm. Twenty-four' watches valued at £SO each, which had been used at the Olympic Games in 1948. were being sent on loan from England.