SPORT IN ENGLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 197, 18 August 1906, Page 14

SPORT IN ENGLAND.

(Continued from page 12.) broke the Doherty's sequence of victories, but for the past three years the brothers have evinced a more or less pronounced superiority at Wimbledon. They were expected to win again this year, but as it happened they struck a day when "J..F." was in an erratic mood, and when Riseley was in more brilliant form than he has ever shown before. For a very large part of the match he was practically playing the famous brothers single handed, for Smith was if anything less reliable than R. F. Doherty, and made many bad blunders. TJiseley indeed dominated the play. He served superbly, volleyed with tremendous power and beautiful precision, and lobbed, placed and smashed with accuracy and judgment seldom seen. His brilliance 6eemed to put the Dohertys off their game, and their customary admirable combination went to some extent "by the board"'. In a five set match the "Tnvincibles" were beaten by three sets to two and 29 games to 25, the scores being 6 —B, 6—4, ;> —7. 6—3, 6—3. AMERICAN DEFEATED. Time and space preclude one dwelling on the Ladies' Championship. As was anticipated. Miss Douglas proved too good for all her opponents in the Open Competition, and met Miss Sutton in the Challenge Round. She had the satisfaction of avenging the defeat the fair American inflicted on her last year, by two sets to love and 15 games to 10. She won the first set easily at 6—3, but Miss iSutton played up grandly in the second, and it Avas only after 1G games had been played that "England's "representative secured the set at o—7. America thus failed to gain a single honour at Wimbledon. Dya oma:c Mr L. 0. S. Poidevin, the AustralLancashire cricketer, who with Anthony Wilding represented Australasia in the Davis Cup contest, and showed himself to be "a cut above the common"' as a tennis player, did not put in an appearance at the Wimbledon meeting, but found time to take part in the Sunderlapd tournament concluded last Saturday. He entered for both the Durham Singles and Doubles Championships, and kept Australia's flag flying in each of these events until the final rounds. In the Singles his conqueror was C. R. Allen, the holder, who though he lost the first set at (3—o, won the next tree at o—4,0 —4, C —l, 6—4, thus retaining his title by 3 sets to 1 and 18 games to 15. In the Doubles final Allen and H. Lows proved too good for Poidevin and Mackay, beating them by 2 sets to love and 12 ga.mes to 6. AUSTRALIA AND THE KING'S CUP. A vast crowd congregated round the Highgate Pond last Saturday to witness the annual gala of the Royal Life-saving Society, the principal items in the programme of which was the first test race for the Silver Challenge Cup presented by the King. The thirteen entries for this event included Cecil Kealcy, the Australian crack, C. M. Daniels, the American champion, Halmay, the Austrian 100 yards champion of England, F. J. Mat.yiew**, of Liveruo-j-l, f. H. Naj-lor, of

Hornsey, Kidger, the one-legged Leicester swimmer and M. H. Blackmore, a member of our London City Police, who has several times put his knowledge of the society's methods to practical use in the course of his constabula-rv duties. , *

The conditions of this competition require the competitor to be attired in swnrtming costume, shirt, collar, tie, trousers, and boots. The contest comprises two rescue tests, one over a distance of 440 yds and the other 150 yds, and in both of these a person has to be earned on tae surface of the water a distance of about 40 or 50 yards to the winning-post. Besides the King's Cup the winner receives a gold medal and a diploma of the society. Other gold and silver medals are awarded to those who complete, the tests, which are considered to be very trying. Neither Daniels nor Halmay took part in the competition, and Healey was considered to stand a very fine chance of coming out on top in the initial heat, owing to his superior pace. The race, however, is not always to the swift in life-saving events, a.s Healey discovered on Saturday. As anticipated, he proved himself much the fastest of the competitors, and reached his "subject" fully fifteen yards ahead of Blackmore and Matthews, but when it c.-jiae to the rescue part of the business the Australian was far inferior to his pursuers. Amid tremendous excitement both Blackmore and Matthews commenced to gain on the leader, and ten yards from home the city policeman took the lead, and drawing away won by three yards from Matthews, who coming up with a rush in the last few yards deprived Healey of second honours by a bare foot. Another Australian who figured at Highgate on Saturday was the Sydney youth Harold Smyrk, who is now a member of the Cygrius B.C. and the Amateur Diving Association. He took a prominent part in the National Graceful Diving Competition, which received a big entry, and produced some splendid diving. G. SI. Clarke, the holder of the handsome challenge shield presented by the association once more asserted his superiority, and by winning with BC_ points out of a possible 06, made the trophy his own property, ..lis being his third successive victory. Smyrk and H. Aldens of the A.D.A., were his most troublesome opponents, and they ran each other very close for second honours, Aldens eventually beating the young Australian by a single point—B2*> and 81 _ being their re spective scores.

The final test for the King's Cup took place at the Bath Club on Monday night before a large and distinguished audience, including the Duke of Sutherland, tho Duchess of Portland and n score of other social "big guns." Healey did not take part in this competition, which was won by Matthews, who won the gold medal with a score of 25 points, to Blackniore's 17.

The great event of the evening, however, was a I2oyds international scratch race, for which Healey, Daniels, Toitan de Halmay and J. H. Derbyshire— probably the four fastest men ever seen in the water together—composed .the field. Daniels was smartest away, and at the first turn led Hakmay by a foot. Healey lying third. The American increased his lead to a yard by the time he had covered 50 ynrds, and at the end of the next length he was a couple of yards ahead of Hal-may, Healey being in close attendance on the Hungarian. Coming down the fourth length Healey passed Halmay and began to draw closer to Daniels, but the latter managefi to keep ahead to the finish and won hy a clear yard from the Australian in the English record time of lmin 12sec. Halmay was third, a yard and a-half behind the Australian, and Derbyshire brought up the rear some seven yards behind the winner. AUSTRALIANS AT HENLEY. Monday was a great day for the colonies at Henley Kegatta, for not only did the Argonauts beat the fancied first Trinity crew in the first heat of the Grand Challenge Cup. but both the Australian scullers, Bourke and Adam, achieved very easy victories in their respective heats of the Diamond Sculls. Harrison Bourke was the. first to give the spectators a taste of his quality, being drawn against Guy Rixon, of the Kingston Eowing Club, in ihe second heat of the Sculls. The Tasmanian drew the Bucks station, but the wind was shifty, and it is questionable whether any advantage accrued to the scullers from their being sheltered by either the Bucks or Berkshire banks. On the signal being given, Rixon, a. very speedy beginner, at once set out to get away from his rival, and, sculling rather more rapidly, was not long in sending the nose of his craft ahead. He gained steadily, and at a-qtiarter of a mile led by a full length. Bourke refused to be husitled, and, plugging steadily away, began to pull back his opponent foot by foot, till at the half-mile a bare half length was all the advantage Rixon could claim. Passing Pawley. the Tasmanian made a big effort to get on terms, and half a minute's vigorous work enabled him to wrest the lead from the Kingston sculler ore the three-quarter mile mark was readied. A great effort enabled Rixon to again get on terms, but his spurt died out. and at a mile Bourke was leading by half a length. By this time Rixon was pretty well used up, and a little further on he dropped into a mere feeble paddle, leaving Bourke to scull home at his leisure. The winner occupied 9m. 225.. as against Hlackstaffe's Bm. 445. in the first heat; but. of course, the last third of Bourke's journey was not made, at anything like racing pace. Roy Adam's tussle with W. B. ">Yert was on similar lines. The American, who i 3 a much lighter man than Adam— their respective weights were lust Sib and 12st—came over here with a highly gilt reputation. Much of the gilt disappeared after ho reached Henley, for his training spins showed him to be a moderate sculler, and lacking in staying power. Against Adam he stood 'no chance at all. At the start he put iv some very fast striking, but at 38 to the Australian's 33 per minute he could only just hold Adam, and rowing a steady, powerful stroke, the Mercantile Club sculler soon began to draw away. At half a mile he led by a length and a half, and from that point he had only to keep up a long paddle to keep Wert at bay. Adam was content to win by a couple of lengths in 9m. 215., but he could have won "by a street" if he had cared to do so. His race, indeed, had, like Bourke's, been nothing but an exercise outing.

Meanwhile D. C. Stuart and his brother, A. A. Stuart, had beaten St. George Ashe and the Frenchman, De la Plane, respectively, Blackstaffe having accounted for Woodward, of Oxford University, each winning easily. It fell to Blackstaffe to "take on" Bourke on the morrow, and D. C. Stuart was pitted against Adam. The Englishmen, alas! proved as much superior to the colonials as the latter had shown themselves to be over their first round antagonists. Blackstaffe and Bourke were a good match physically, the Tasmaniaa, at list 81b, J_aving V 3 a couple of pounds tho het-

ter of the weights. But when it came to racing, the Vesta. Club sculler was a street in front of the colonial. Blackstaffe went off at a great pace, and putting in nearly 40 strokes in the first minute, quickly gained a half length lead. Inerea.ing this at every stroke, he passed Fawley three lengths ahead in 4m. From that point the race resolved itself into a mere procession, for, though Bourke. plugged away with indomitable pluck, Blackstaffe held him easily at bay with a strong paddle, and won with great ease in Sin. 255. D. C. Stuart was at some physical disadvantage with Adam, but as a sculler he was much the better man. The Australian was rather slow off the mark, and with Stuart off like a shot from a gun, and striking quicker than his rival, the Cantab quickly established a half length lead. Forcing the pace for all he was worth, Stuart had a couple of clear lengths in hand at half a mile, and at Fawley his advantage had been increscd to three. Adam was in trouble soon afterwards, and though he hung on pluckily, his best efforts were uot good enough to force Stuart out of a paddle, and falling further behind, the Australian was beaten by several lengths in the. comparatively slow time of Bm. 435. Tho defeats of Bourke and Adam robbed Henley of much of its interest for Antipodeans, though F. S. Kelly, who won the Diamonds in record time (8m 10s) last year, and was also victorious in 1902 and 1903, was still iv the running for the Silver Goblets, in which he was paired as stroke witli A. K. GrahamThis London Club couple were far too good for their first opponents-wi Bed j ford R.C. pair—but. starting badly when opposed to the Third Trinity pair, Johnson and Powell, were beaten after a stem chase by a length. Thus was Australia "wiped out" at Henley, and Canada shared the same fate on the same day, for tlie Argonauts, who were thought to stand a good chance of carrying off the Grand Challenge Cup, were beaten by the Trinity Hal] (Cambridge) crew by half a length after a truly great struggle. This left the Cantabs the honour of upholding the Old Country's rowing fame ngainst the Belgian invaders —a splendid eight sent over by the Sport Nautique da Gand, which had thus far settled the pretentions of the crews opposed to it in great style, and splendid time.

Tlie Belgians proved altogether too good for Trinity Hall, winning easily by three lengths, after leading all the way, in 7m os, and thus for tlie first time since the inception of the race in 183!) the Cup leaves the Old Country. This was, however, the only success achieved by "foreigners" at Henley, and. without wishing to detract in any way from the merits of the Belgians, it must bo said that they were distinctly lucky in that the crews they had to meet were decidedly below the average of Henley eights.

Blaekstan'c, at the teuth time of asking, won the Diamond.-, the Goblets fell to the Third Trinity pair, the Wyfold Challenge Cup to the London' Rowing Club, the Ladies' Plate to the First Trinity (Camb.) four, the Homes' Challenge Cup to the Christ's College eight, the Visitors' Cup to the Third Trinity (Camb.) four, and the Stewards' Challenge Cup to the Leander Club quartette. And this reminds mc that in speaking of Australia's "wiping out" I quite forgot that F- S. Kelly rowed No. 2 in the winning Leander boat, so Australia can claim at any rate a fourth share in one Henley victory. Beyond this [ am afraid it must be confessed that we "came down with a> sickening thud.''" Annette Keller-man, whose attempt to swim the Channel last autumn only resulted iv a bad attack of mal de mer, intends to have another try this year. 'She has settled down at Broadstairs, on the Kent coast, and is now steadily training with a view to emulating Captain Webb's great feat. Though admitting that Miss Kellerman is a remarkably fine long-dis-tance swimmer, I feel quite confident that the task she has set herself will prove beyond her powers. Personally I think it is a pity that her friends cannot persuade her to give up the idea of tackling the Channel swim, for even if she get. within measurable distance of success it means a terrible physical strain, aud involves serious risks if, as has often been the case with cross-Channel aspirants, the swimmer collapses suddenly or is seized with abdominal cramp, a thing that is very likely to happen after prolonged immersion and exertion.