ATHLETES FROM OVERSEAS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 198, 19 August 1908, Page 6

ATHLETES FROM OVERSEAS.

THE ENGLISH AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS. A RECORD MEETING. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, July 10. Though the English Amateur Championship Meeting of 1908, held at the Stadium lust Saturday, must as an athi letic meeting "pale its ineffectual fire" before the great gathering of world's athletes which commences next Monday, it was certainly the most important meeting decided under the auspices of the Amateur Athletic Association, not excepting even the memorable gathering of 1900, when a wonderful troupe of American athletes almost cleared the board. To begin with, the entry of 254 was a record as regards numbers. In quality it was quite up to the standard, while for variety it surpassed everything in the past. Competitors from nearly every part of the Globe toed the scratch at the Stadium on Saturday. The Empire was represented by competitors from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Scotland, and Ireland. America sent us some of her best, and, taken all in all, such a gathering has never previously been seen, but the visit of the strangers notwithstanding, the home-bred talent rose to the occasion in a gratifying fashion. True, there was a wholesale slaughter of champions, but their places, if taken by better men on the day, were in many eases filled by Britons bred and born. As an Olympic trial the meeting on Saturday, so far as old England is concerned, was fairly favourable. From a general sporting point of view it has never been surpassed. ! As regards the conditions, they were good, if not perfect. A little sunshine iv place of the misty atmosphere would have been a great improvement. A storm in the early morning had made the track perhaps just a trifle slow, but there j was very little wrong, while an absence of wind was appreciated by the runners. All records as regards attendance were easily broken. At rive o'clock 22,115 had passed the turnstiles. The Antipodean competitors were not I numerous, uor did those that took part make much of a show. Murray, the New Zealand hurdle racer, is still far from fit, j and Kerr, the walker, has not yet entirely j recovered from the effects of attempting | to train on the hard, unsympathetic deck : of the ship that brought him Home, his , feet being still very tender. Besiides this couple, Australasia had only one other representative, to wit, A. E. M. Rowlands, a New Zealand walker, who has been at Home for about a year, and is steadily improving. Kerr and Rowlands both turned out for the two-mile walk, for which a decidedly "hot" field competed, including G. E. Lamer (champion 1904-5), T. Yeoumans (champion 1906), and R. Harrison (champion 1907). Yeoumans was pulled out" early in the race, and at a mile Lamer (6m 51 2-ss) just led Webb, Kerr being third, with Harrison fourth, and Rowlands close up. In the second mile Lamer drew steadily away, and in the end beat j Webb by 30 yards in 13m 58 2-55., Harrison being 40 yards off third, with Kerr, who did 14m 24s for the distance, fourth, W. J. Palmer, at his shoulder, being fifth, and A. E. M. Rowlands, at their heels, his time being 14m 265. Both Antipodeans thus easily gained the standard certificate for beating 15m. The record for the race is 13m 50s, which Lamer did in 1905. H. St. Murray's efforts were made in the 120 hurdles and the 440 yards flat race. In the jumping event Murray, in his heat, had only to beat E. B. Savage, of the Canadian Olympic team. Savage was away the quicker, and led for five hurdles. Then Murray caught him, and won a line race by a bare half-yard in the somewhat slow time of 16 3-ss. In the final heat Murray's opponents were the South African (V. Duncker), O. Groenings, of the Polytechnic (holder), and D. Stupart, of South Africa. Stupart was first away, and led Greenings half a yard over the first obstacle, Murray, who again dwelt at the start, being over a yard behind the leader. At the fifth hurdle Stupart blundered, and retired at the eighth. Meanwhile Groenings and Duncker were fighting out the issue, and the South African, clearly the better jumper, got the best of the struggle, and won by a yard in 16 LOa, Mut-

ray being third, at least two yards away. He, however, qualified for a medal, aa he easily beat the 17a, which is tbe standard tune for the race. In the quarter mile Murray was put out of court in the first heat, for he finished last of the four runners, E. H. Montague (the holder) wining easily by 5 yards from Densham, of the L.A.C., in 51 l-ss. Densham secured a standard medal, but both Murray and Gibbins were outside 52 seconds. In the final Montague succumbed to that ftplendid runner, Lieut. W. Halswelle, who won in 1905 and 6, and beat the holder by 6 yards in 49 2-ss, Montague being only able to dead-heat with the Cantab., E. H. Ryle, for second place. In none of the other events on the programme was Australia represented. The hammer event went to America, her representative, S. P. Gillis, of New York, hurling the missile 164 feet 51 inches, which constitutes a British record, and was over 30 feet better than Denis Horgan could accomplish on the day. A new British record was also made in the pole jump by the Canadian, Archibald, who easily cleared 12 feet, and beat the holder, Soderstrom, of Sweden, by a couple of inches. Four of the five competitors in this event were "foreigners," and the only Englishman to compete failed to reach the standard of 10 feet. The following table of results shows at a glance how the Old Country fared: — 100 yards—R. Kerr, lOsec., Canada. 220 yards—R. Kerr, 22 2-ssec Canada. 440 yards—W. Halswell, 49 2-ssec, England. 880 yards—T. H. Just, Unin 58 l-ssec, England. 1 mile—H. A. Wilson, 4nrin 20 l-ssec, England. 4 miles—R. Vorght, 19min 47 2-ssec, England. 2 miles championship—R. Noakes, lOmin 35sec, England. Long jump—H. Bleadon, 22ft 3Jin, England. High jump—C. Leahy, sft llin, England. Pole jump— E. B. Archibald, 12ft, Canada* Weight—D. Horgan, 44ft 7rn, England. Hammer—S. P. Gillis, 164 ft sJin, America* * New British records. AN AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIUMPH. The first of the English swimming championships—the long distance event—• this year was decided last Saturday evening over the usual 5 miles 50 yards course, between Kew and Putney, the victor being the young Australian, F. W. Springfield. This is the first time since Percy Cavill won in 1897, in the then record time of 66mu. >>ssec., that Australia has won this face, which, since Cavill's victory, has been practically farmed by the wonderful Leicester swimmer, J. A. Jarvis, who won it seven years in succession, "stood down" in 1905, when Dave Billington won, and won it again in 1906. Last year, P. Radmllovic won, Jarvis being an absentee, as he was again this year. Jarvis's defection made the race more or less a certainty for Springfield, his most dangerous opponents being the English champion miler, H. Taylor, Radmilovic and his fellow Australian, Beaurepaire. There was no doubt about Radmilovic's staying the course, but the pretensions of Taylor and Beaurepaire to "stayers' parade" honours were open to question. Beaurepaire's style in the "Through London" race hardlyl suggested that he would last the distance. On that occasion he had to be taken out of the water at the Doves, and last Saturday he collapsed at about the same place, and had to be taken out of the water. He had, it appears, been seized with "stitch," and certainly seemed in a very bad way. Taylor was also unfortunate, getting a nasty knock on the knee from either a scull, or a piece of driftwood, which placed him hors de combat at Barnes. The thirty starters were sent away about seven o'clock in the evening on a slow ebb tide. The first to show in front from the plunge was Taylor, who led Beaurepaire and Springfield for a short time, with Radmilovic fourth. Then Springfield began to force the pace, and speedily assuming the lead was not later challenged. For a time, towards the finish, Radmilovic seemed to be gaining, but it was only a flash in the pan, and without being called upon to exert himself, Springfield continued to lengthen the distance between himself and last year's champion, who in the end was beaten by quite 300 yards. The Australian's time was 70 minutes 57 seconds, which, considering the state of the tide, was very good. Had he been really pressed at any point of the race he could no doubt have reduced this time considerably, for he finished quite fresh. Radmilovic passed the post in 72min 42sec, 600 yards ahead of Judd who just beat the 17-year-old G. R. Savage, of the Cygnus S.C., for third place. Knight, of the Metropolitan Police, Darnton, and W. E. Booth, of the Cygnus, came in next, these being the only starters to qualify for the standard certificate which is given to all who finish within 10 minutes of the winner Altogether 27 of the 30 starters compassed the full course, and all finished inside 100 minutes. At the time of his seizure with stitch Beaurepaire had been swimming about 35 minutes. The record for the course was put up by Jarvis in 1906, when the Leicester crack covered the distance in 63min 40sec.