CYCLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 245, 16 October 1929, Page 18

CYCLING.

AMONG THE AMATEURS. ATTEMPT ON RECORD FAILS. THE KOHN" CUP CONTEST. FIXTURES. October 16.—Manulcau Club's annual meeting. October 19.—New Zealand 5,0-miles championship, Christchurch.' 'V October' 19. —55-mile junior;' and 17-mile senior consolation road, . races, at Mangere Central. •- October 28.—Labour Day sports, Auckland Domain. The Mariukau Amateur Club's senior race last Saturday, over a distance of five miles and a., half, fulfilled its purpose to the letter. "The committee included the event on the "• season's programme to enable the seniors to attempt to break ! W. T. Bray's old' lap record of 13m .55 2-ss, established .as. far back as April.23, .1927. It'was the last of the open senior road handicaps of the season, and the result fully justified its conclusion. x An excellent entry of thirty-three contested the event. Onl'the scratch mark were J. 1 H. Wade, H, R. Dwight, A. Mackie , and L. B. Roberts, who were giving away 2m 15s to the three limit men, Camp, McColluin and Latham. The last-mentioned was making his ;• first appearance on the road. Mr.,R.,;'J. Mackrell .entered .'.into tile .''enthusiasm of the race, by donating the trophy for first placd. ' ./'■ f.] With such a formidable, guartet of fast road riders on the back mark, and conditions most favourable,, all anticipated that the record would ,be given a much more serious "jolt" than it had ever received previously. That J. H. Wade, in winning the sprint from his three comarkers, clocked a time of 13m 54 2-5s — one second below the record —proves that Bi'ay had the record shelved fairly high. Th& four scratch men had their heads down for the full lap. Taking short, sharp and snappy laps, and putting .plenty of sting into their; pacing, they took every opportunity of the splendid day to break the record. Wade started sprinting early, with 400 yds to go, and,thus gave Dwight no chance of putting in his noted' "jump" over the last twenty yards. In fact he lmcl wight well ..and truly beaten at a furlong to go. Even though he established record time, he was only able to finish 49 seconds behind the actual winner of the race. Wade's return to his old form and the reproduction of the long sprint which he used to employ to good advantage during the earlier part of the season thoroughly, pleased his admirers. Mackie, late of Christchurch, was close on Dwight's wheel on Saturday, but Roberts was well out of the picture, and candidly remarked that a "SA" was too fast for him.

A. W. Mackrell (lm 50s) won the race after a very exciting "last-minute" struggle. He v/as off the next handicap group to limit along with no less than ten others, the biggest bunch of riders to leave together in a road handicap conducted by the Manukau Club. Mackrell withstood all challenges in the sprint, and romped across the line with a length to spare. It was Maekrell's first victory on the road, and it certainly was a fine performance, for he had strong opposition. His actual riding time was very good for a long marker; he took 14m 555" for the lap of five miles and a half. C. G. Galbraith had the 'misfortune to break his pedal spindle just as he started to "rev. up" from off the 20s mark.

L. H. Dwight, lm 509, younger brother of "H. R.," showed he will have to be seriously considered during the coining track season. He unfurled a fast sprint to come sec.ond, although he only started racing last month. A powerfully built rider is "L. H.," and his easy style reminds one of his. brother "Bill," who is at present in business in Australia, and raced with a fair amount of success with the Manukau Club last season. "Bill" will be returning to Auckland in December. ' L. Hall (I'm 50s), who came third, ran into his first placing; for the season, after starting iii eight races. A word must be said of the fourth

man to finish, K. Spragg (lm 50s). He was warned not to race again at the commencement of the season. He accepted the advice as long as he could, but-;started racing again, a fortnight ago; Last week he was pushing the abnormally high gear of 91in, and in consideration of this fact did well to finish so close up.

The Junior Race. D..-Milne (scratch), did as he wished with; the other eight juniors Jn their Si-miles-He gave limit rider W. Webb 2m 20s start, whilst his nearest rivals were K" Pinfold and L. Oxton off 20s. He put up a splendid ride to clock the good jjiims ' of. 15m 34s and to win by four lengths: from H. V. Gordon off 40s. Milne hails from Papakura, where the cycling game is starting to take a strong hold'..;.He has done well for a first;.Beason rider with two wins, a second, and. two .iirds. exciting three-cornered congest, resulted in G. M. Lethaby winning ; the ; gold medal donated by Mrj C. A. Paul, who was very anxious to see how the -'three junior back-markers would ,far&, when matched against each other and on;:equal terms. A "tini'e trial" was held toi decide the winner.. In a race ,of competitors draw for starting; positions, and are sent off at any interval named by the referee (lm on this Occasion), and have to ride the distance unpaced. Hall was the first to be sent, off, and he returned in lorn 17s, but Lethaby caused quite a stir when he crossed the line only 38s later, to register the; remarkably fast time of 14m 555. The best, junior race time of the season was previously 15m 5s when pacing was permitted. Thus Lethaby's unpaced ride is, an.exceptionally creditable' one..' He pushed an 84in gear, and, being an abnormally strong lad for one -.under. 16 years, found it suited him admirably. In the s£-anile junior time trial on August 3i last Lethaby clocked 15m 555 : . "His improvement is shown in his- latest'figures. Now that ;the;open. road races have concluded,, the . Challenge _ Cup points competition is. automatically brought to ■ a close.', The first five on the list are:—H. 'R. 7 Divight, with 21; L. B. Roberts and R.~R. Watson, with 15 each; J. H. Wade, 14; and J. Whitten, last year's winner of the Cup, 13 points. Fastest times do not come into consideration when points are allotted for the Kohn Cup, with which goes a two-guinea gold medal kindly donated annually by Mr. E. S. Kohn.

L. G. Lukey's splendid ride in New Zealand's longest amateur wheel race, tlie Palmerston North •to Wellington annual race of 102 miles when he finished third from scratch and,,, recorded fastest ancl record time of 5h 34m 20 3-5s last Saturday, marks the third successive occasion on which lie has returned time honours off scratch in " that event. The 1927 race, held on October 8 of that year, he won outright, and last year he finished fifth. The Labour Day Sports Committee acceded to the Manukau Club's request to include a "miss and out" race on the programme for that particular day. Next Saturday the sen Tor race will be a consolation event over three laps of the Mangere course —17 miles—and is open to all cyclists who have never had a win or a fastest time in a Manukau Club race during the season. The junior race will be over one lap of the course.