Big Crowd To Watch St. Andrew’s Sports

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30740, 3 May 1965, Page 21

Big Crowd To Watch St. Andrew’s Sports

Chips flew as professional axemen drove their razor-edged axes into logs at the St. Andrew’s sports at English Park yesterday afternoon.

A very large crowd braved the extremely cold conditions to watch a variety of events. The function was officiallv opened by the Mavor (Mr G. Manning). It was unfortunate that these sports had to be held so late, but wet weather caused its cancellation early last month. The wood chopping was undoubtedly the highlight of the afternoon’s entertainment. J. Pohio showed great skill with the axe in winning two events and taking second place in the third. He could possibly have won the third but just as he was completing his chop his axe appeared to jam and he was beaten by K. Richdale by a very narrow margin. Only five cyclists were present and there were more cycling officials present than riders. C. Fitzgerald was vastly superior to the other competitors and was untroubled to win the quarter-mile scratch event. In the senior 500-metre sprint he gave M. Litolff 15 yards at the 220-yard mark, but had little diffiuctly in riding round him to take the decision.

Once again coming from the back, Fitzgerald got up to win the major event, the two-mile wheelrace, from T. Tabeck, by a very narrow margin. The tossing the caber had some interesting moments, particularly in the preliminaries when in some cases the caber appeared to be tossing the competitor, This event was won by G. McKenzie, who hurled the beam 26ft >3in. Wood Chopping Standing loin.—J. Pohio 1, D Ealam 2, J. Smith 3. Underhand 12in: J. Hunt 1, K. Richdale 2, J. Hafan 3. Standing 10ln: J. Pohio 1, J. Smith 2, B. McKay 3. Standing 13in: J. Hunt 1, B. McDonald 2, J. Hagan 3. Underhand lOin: K. Richdale 1, J. Pohio 2, L. Dodge 3. Underhand 141 n: D. McKay 1, D. Ealam 2, B. McDonald 3. Teams’ chop: J. Hunt’s team beat B. Ealam’s team by three-quarters of a block. Dancing Novice Fling: Susan Lethaby 1, Kay Hail 2, Beverley Inwood 3. Fling (eight and under 10): Paulette Reid 1, Penelope Thomson 2, Karen Renwick 3. Swords (eight and under 10): Penelope Thomson 1, Paulette Reid 2, Mark Armstrong 3. Fling (under eight): Deborah Browniy 1, Charmaine Dawe 2, Ann Patterson 3. Swords (under eight): Ann Patterson 1, Lorraine Barr 2, Kay Powell 3. Wrestling Fly-weight: W. Pickering beat T. Fisher, fall in third round; Light-weight: B. Roberts drew with B. Tullett. Tug-o’-War First heat: Royal George beat Winstones: C.F.M. a bye. Final: C. beat Royal George. Pull for second place: Royal George beat Winstones. Cycling Quarter-mile scratch: C. Fitzgerald 1, M. Litolfh 2, G. Wood 3. Time, 33.0. Quarter-mile handicap: G. Harwood (25yds) 1, M. Litolfh (10yds) 2, G. oWod <2syds) 3. Time. 30.6. 500 Metre Sprint.—Junior: G. Wood beat G. Harwood, D. Quinn. Time, 13.9. Senior: C.

Fitzgerald beat M. Litolfh. I Davidson. Time, 13.0. Two-mile Wheelrace.—C. Fitzgerald (35yds) 1, T. Tabak (35 yds) 2, M. Litolfh («ovds) 3. Time. 4:39.5 Half-mile Handicap.—G. Wood (50yds) 1, D. Quinn (130yds) 2, C. Fitzgerald (syds) 3. Time. 62.0. Tossing the Caber G. McKenzie 1, T. Gray 2, G. Holden 3. Distance, 26:3.