GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 25022, 2 November 1946, Page 6

GAMES AND PLAYERS

ATHLETIC SPORTS

(By MILES.) Schoolboy Athletes The meeting each year between the best athletes of the secondary schools provides followers of athletics with the feast of the year. Next Wednesday the elect of seven Christchurch secondary schools will parade at Lancaster Park. The entry of a new team in Papanui Technical College has made it necessary to run heats in the 100, 220, and 440 yards, and these will be run on Tuesday, commencing at 4 p.m. Wednesday’s meeting will start at 1.40 pun. The All Schools' meeting on the Sydney Cricket Ground early last month provided great racing and outstanding performances. The track

was in excellent order, and fast times were registered in all events. November is not the best time in the year in New Zealand for fast tracks, but it is of interest to show the times recorded at the All Schools’ meeting in Sydney, with the records (in parenthesis) made by runners at the annual sports meetings of the secondary schools held in Christchurch. They are as follows:—100 yards, 10 l-ssec (10 2-ssec); 220 yards, 22 2-ssec (22 4-5 sec); 440 yards, 50 l-ssec (50 4-ssec); 880 yards, 2min 0 4-ssec (2min 0 3-ssec); mile, 4min 38Jsec (4min 29 2-ssec); 120 yards hurdles, 16isec (15 2-ssec); long jump, 20ft 6Jin (21ft sin); high jump, sft oin (sft 7in). The next grade in Sydney is under 17 years, against the intermediate grade (under 16J years), operating m Christchurch. Performances were as follows:—100 yards, 10 2-ssec (10 4-ssec); 440 yards, 53 2-ssec (52 4-ssec); 880 yards, 2min 6sec ( ); mile, 4min 40sec (4min 47 2-ssec); long jump, 20ft 7in (20ft 7in). In the under 17 years division, the 220 yards was run in 22 3-ssec, against 22 2-5 sec in the open grade, and the high jump was won with sft against sft sin recorded by the seniors. Bradman and the Tests

The inclusion of D. G# Bradman in the Australian eleven which will begin a four-day game against the touring M.L.C. team next Friday will be noted with approval by cricketers all over the world. If Bradman decides to play in the test matches, it will lend added interest to a series which is already being widely discussed. Bradman was reported recently as saying that his business occupied nun so fully that he could not state definitely if ne would play or not; but if, in his capacity as selector, he can find the time to watch the matches, there appears to be every likelihood of . his taking part in them. Bradmanis performance for South Australia was an interesting one, and it appeared from the cabled reports of the game that he was intent on playing himself back into form. Although it seems he was but a pale imitation of his former self, the game must have benefited him considerably, and if, as seems likely, he plays in the tests, there is every prospect that he wHI again present the Englishmen with an extremely difficult proRiding to Schedule

One of the most sporting fixtures of the season is the cycle race from Christchurch to Akaroa and back, run each year at the Labour Day week-end under the control of the Avon Amateur Cycling Club. The riders leave on the Saturday on the first leg of the journey, spend the weekend at Akaroa, and return on the Monday. In this ride there is plenty of good solid hill-work, but It is less monotonous than the hard grind on the road from Timaru or Waimate. Each leg of the journey is done in less than three hours by the best riders. The week-end at Akaroa gives the chance for the riders to get together and cement the friendship that is made bet Ween keen rivals on the road. This is the spirit of every game worth playing. Cycling is not merely a hard-slogging game. Study is required. E. Jayet, who started off scratch and recorded second fastest time, had worked out a definite plan of action. •He set out to break the outward record of 2 hours 40 minutes 35 seconds established last year by T. A. Nicholson. .He had made out a map of the road with mileages, and the time that should be made over the different stages. Jayet is a first-class hills rider, and everything, was running to schedule until a pedal' strap loosened and another rider, R. Reddock, joined him. This was not the time to investigate the trouble, and Jayet used a hill to shake off his opponent. He opened up a gap going to the Summit, where he was a minute ahead of his schedule time. At Barry’s Bay the gap was wider; but at this time the strap caused further trouble, and Jayet had to dismount. It was at tills stage that ne was passed by Reddock. A puncture at Takamatua, about three miles from Akaroa, put Jayet out of first place. Luck in the running plays a btg part in rpad cycling. Jayet did not have the luck, for broken straps and punctures cannot be anticipated. The idea of racing to a schedule, however, is not new. The great Finnish tuner, Nurmi, carried a stop-watch, timed each round of the track as he ran, and tossed it away when commencing the last lap. Boxing Season Ends

The Christchurch Sports Club, which has shown commendable enterprise in its operations this season, will hold its final meeting of the year next Wednesday, when a match. between Frank Endacott, of New South Wales, and Henry Robertson, of Christchurch, will be preceded by matches between Wellington and Canterbury amateurs. There should be real fire in the bouts between A. Oatham (Wellington) and J. O’Cqpnor, ,B. McGrath and W. Underhay, J. Leary and A. Cahill, J. O’Leary and J. Musson, and B. Couloulias and W. Russell. The Sydenham Boxing Club has done much for the sport this year, and its meeting on November 11, when 12 amateur bouts will be fought, should draw a big crowd. Tennis Players Dismayed

The announcement of the president (Mr J. Mercer) at a meeting of the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association this week that Christchurch might hove to forgo the New Zealand championships because of the refusal of the Building Controller to grant a permit for the reconstruction of the old stands at Wilding Park has dismayed Canterbury tennis enthusiasts. The championships have not been held in Christchurch since 1938, and after the long war period without first-class play, the national tournament has been eagerly awaited. At the end of last season the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association began campaigning for funds for a rebuilding scheme, in which a big covered stand, in concrete or other permanent materials, was to be the main feature. That part of the project was shelved because of the cement shortage, and it was not expected that there would be any objection to the replacement .of the old wooden stands, which have literally fallen to pieces. Negotiations between the association and the Government departments concerned are still going on, and it is possible that a permit may be granted for the building of the under-structure of the timber stands. This would leave it open to the association to use temporary decking, which could later be diverted to other building purposes, or second-grade timber with a short life.

A Late Start The Canterbury Cricket Association 18 unfortunate in having the start of its competitions so long delayed by wet weather. This season is the first for very many years in which the competitions have not begun in October It is unlikely that next football season will provide cricket with a compensating delay and the season will be a shorter one than is asked by players. The competitions which will start to-day are almost a month later than in pre-war seasons. ’ In view of the drive this year to find promising young players and provide them with plenty of match play, the delay is serious. Further, the selection of the tearh to defend the Plunket Shield will have to be made well before Christmas, and at the latest, the players to practice will probably be chosen after only two games. During the last eight years the competitions have begun on a mean date of October 22, while in the previous 13 years the mean date was October 10. This may provide some support for the popular theory that the seasons are slowly conforming less strictly to the accepted dates. Mr R. H. North, president of the Canterbury Cricket Association, said last evening that his cricket .experience went back to 1898, and in that time he had never known the season to open as late as November. Research on Swimming

“Researches on the energetics of swimming are relatively few,” says a letter from the laboratory of Psysiological Hygiene of the University of Minnesota, which has been received by the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. Information on this subject was sought by the association, which has recently been concerned about problems of strain and over-exertion among young swimmers, The letter suggested that “in all maximal effort in events, whether swimming or running, the expenditure of energy may be judged by the time. Ten seconds of sprint running would be roughly equivalent to the same effort of sprint swimming. The human body is Gamble of fairly definite limited effort, and the particular means of putting that effort Into play may be of great confew muscles are used then the limitation is in those muscles; if a £ tal , body musculature Is involved, then the limitation also in,heart a ? d circulation. This ? rua events which last more than a minute.” Reference was also made to a report from Russia which quoted the oxygen consumed while swimming and in re" c ° v *ry- TJ? 6 ft * ur es. taken after distances of 100 and 400 metres had been swum, resembled those for the 400 and 2000 rtM>tre rimnina ,