RELAY ATHLETICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 30, 6 February 1939, Page 16

RELAY ATHLETICS.

WIN FOR HAMILTON.

I* SBNXOR DIVISION

OLD GRAMMAR lAXS A YD OTAHUHt

LADIES' ALSO SUCCEED.

By scoring 42 points. the Hamilton Clul» retained the Kohn Shield in the annual AiK'klaiHl provincial relay championships ilr .'ty the Auckland Centre of the N./.A.A. at Car law Park on Saturday. The trophy is allotted tor most points in the senior division, and Hamilton were the holders of it. Close rtinners'iap were University with 37 points, and so keen was the competition that the position was only decided on the last lew field events, a department in which the Waik«to imen were particularly strong. Other point* in the senior division were: Old Grammarians 22, Auckland 15, Ellerslie U Lynndale 12, Technical 10, Otaihubu Jf? unt an <i Pupatoetoe 1 each Old Grammarian* were outstanding among the juniors, taking the honours With 27 points. It was pleasing in this section to note the success of the PapaJctrrA Cmb, one of the youngent olinon, which was the runner-up with the good aggregate of 19 points. The positions of the other di«bs were: Hamilton 10, Technical and Ellerslie 9 each, Lynndale 2 and Mount Albert 1.

The main contenders in the ladies' division were Otahuhu and Mount Albert, •nd finally the former emerged the victors with 27 ipointit as against 24 ipoints. Then came Ellerslie with 11 points, Auckland 6, Kiwi 5, Hamilton 2 and Papakurn 1. The meeting was the third of its kind to be held, and once more it proved .highly successful and productive of athletics at their best. Records are not as yet recognised, but times set at preceding gathers were ibettered in many of the events. Competition throughout wm keen and interesting and the team spirit prevailed. Entries were good in all trie events, and 14 clubs were represented. The races were preceded by a (fraud parade add from then on event succeeded event in quick succession. A feature was the general improvement in the standard of the field events, while in the flat events the finishes could not have been closer in many cases (ban if a ihandicapper had ibeen on the job. The best finish of the day, however, was in the senior one mile relay, a thrilling finish giving Ellerslie the ihonours by the narrowest of margins over University. The last runner N'or fclie winners was M. C. Baker, Xew Zealand 440 yds title-holder, and when he hit the straight lie was lying third and it did not seem possible for 'him to get i»p. However, lie put in a remarkable sprint to snatch victory on the tape by inches. The title-holder*, Hamilton, finished in third place, and the time of 3.34 I-.") was several seconds slower than that of last year.