ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 57, 30 November 1907, Page 9

ATHLETICS.

(By Mercury.) . . COMING EVENTS. ; Catholic Young. Men's' A.A.C: evening meeting, December •!. . W.A.A.C. evening meeting, December 11. Wellington Centre Carnival,; December 21. \\ .A.A.C. evening meeting early iir January, 1908: : , .;-. N.Z. Championship meeting, nbout : end of January IyUB. ■ : Quito a crowd -was present at the evening meeting of. tile combined Port Nicholson andCivil.. Service Clubs on, -AVcdncsday evening and -witnessed. some .'very " fair racing. A Held of. 17 turned'out for the 75yds. Jiandi_cap,-, with Henderson- on the 'scratch mark, giving- away a : limit;;of -7yds.-,-Mr. L . Leslife, itlve starter, got vth'e men away, together in .the various '-heats, Which'■ were "all Uippropri'ated' b.v; the." front markets, tlio only; one of the: rear guard ~>vho . ran at: all prominently being Dawsou, who secured a. secoiul'.iii the third heat off 2|yds. /Henderson did not ;<=atch his „ field at" all," .-and .'appgarerLi.to be striding very stiffly,- while iftshcr:-.(offiiyd.) ■was; palpably: -out; i-iofi'qpnclitiqril .-. Golds,. Wlio ran .second iu.'his heat, 'appeared' to *b'e well within- himself "at the" finisli'-"arid' looked a good thing for the filial, in which, however, he had a bad run and failed to secure a place. Dawson elected to save; himself for tho long jump, and- the '51, G and 7 yard marks furnished all tlio competitiors in' the determining 'eilort. Hodge, -oil" 7-yards, got .well away, and ran strongly until about o' .yards from homo, whcn.-'lie' faltered and •Woodger;-. coming with a.rush,. jus't;iifanaged to break the tape in front of, him, .with Fama almost a dead heat for second place. ThiS tinio was given as 7 3-sth ,sec., but I fancy this flatters, the performers considerably, especially as the men bunched badly and-' kept' up- "a•' running argument as to 'tlip. rule of tho road'.over ;'the ,distance. . '• r "'

For. .the milo.-niii.thirteen started, ,tl)e handicaps, ranging up to 120 yards. I was surprised to see that ]3urge (scratch) wasrasketl" to give W....<jqsling ( 25 yards, in this events a lieayv impost for a' v young runner, consider-.' ing that Gosling represented his province last' season and has proved that lie has struck form this season by winning a half mile from scratch two weeks ago. It is, of course, easy to be wise-after the event,, but I think that the should have been .'reversed, und also .that Wilton, in consideration of Ins harrier.-, and road race performances would have been better suited with 40 yards instead of .60. However, .as to. the-race itself, Lambert, on the limit, set the main for; the first two laps, and held-Jus,- lead "until.; halfway•round the third la)f, - when' Wilton and' 7 M'Grath displaced;him; with Gosling in close' attendance. Passing the fountain for the last time Gosling moved up to second and got on terms with Wilton at the home turn. Hero his superior pace told and landed him home by a yard after a rattling go up the straight.

Wilton's lack of a sprint at tho! business end of his run is a failing that'wjll lose himliiaiiy races that he deservesVtq..win, and I should advise him to go in for fast work withthe short, distance brigade occasionally. j

Tom Stubbs, who will be remembered ;by our older runners as a one time-Wellington representative,' is back' a lengthy sojourn in the Old Country; and will shortly'bo seen figuring among the backmarkers in local sprint ovents. Last season lie was credited 'with covering the 100 yaras in,;lo l-sth at-a meeting.at Home, so it willbe; seeni that if Hendersoiij \Goodbehcre and Co., wish to retain their laurels tliey. will liavo to show a very clean pair of heels.

As ai set.off'to the acquisition „of Stubbs, the centre is losing a Very handy' liirin in tlie hurdling .;aiur.jumpihg' departmqht's ill the .person of. A*. ;Halligan, for Scotjarid'shortly. -The lengthy ori.o;lias'iiiade:hini-solf-fveryVpopttlar withr bur 'runners,' and his clicerful countenance,will he much missed,'as' also will the points he would have secured at the. championship 'meeting. ' -

The fate of Harry Kerr's walking record of Cmin. 26scc. is still in doubt. The Australasian Board of Control, to whom the. perform-' ance was submitted for endorsement! as an Australasian record, has postponed filial consideration until its next meeting in Febrii-"

Fqr.-those clubs in soarch-.,0f novelty: in sports'events I should recommend the latest American notion—a pole vault for distance. In a recent competition of this description in New York one Martin Sheridan won out with' a' jump of 26ft. Gin.

13. R. Day, the English and Irish'professional champion for distances from 100 yards to 1000 yarqs, wild was defeated in Australia last season by A. B, Postle, is now iii America, and is .endeavouring to make a match' with Arthur'; Duffey; In ocptember at ii; big carnival-in-.Faconra he mado a vigorous onslaught- on. the ... existing figures , forlso yards, ; ■ 14Jsccs.-,.: put..up by. the -onco; famous -.English;sprinter H. Hutchins, ..who . visited Australia' in the big 1 pedestrian boom' days. Day'was paced by his '.manager, Mr. Rufc Naylor, and just failed in the attempt)'clocking 14 3-ot-li sec. .

An. interesting feature of the..next N.Z.Championship gathering will ' be tho new championship event—the all-round championship.- The following conditions have'been approved by the N.Z.A.A.A. Council:— (1) The ehampionship is to be run at the annual Championship Meeting. (2) The qualification to be fixed by the Council at the annual meeting. (3) The entry fee to be £1, to include .each of the five,events in tho ''all round" championship;' (4) Competitors jlor the "all round" championship will compete in-'the ordinary championship .events,' and will; he allowed to seoVe points 'for the' shield in:, the same manner as other competitions. ! (oj' Points for the "all round" championship will bo decided as follows man will Teceivoa percentage ..for his performance' in each of ■ the events. - lit each event the' New Zealand Amateur record will be taken a? a maximum for'.-.w-hich 1000; points , will .'be.'allowed: Performance equal to ov tho qual-ification-,limit' will score nothing. For, per.-, formanco;betweon tho :maximum rand ;tho limit points will be : allowed. : pii ■ a percentage basis. - Extra ■ .points beyond -the' :1000 .' limit': will be allowed when, a, record is-broken. Any competitor failing,to;reach 'tho.qualification'limit m two; 1 6r ; more events will be"disqualified.? ! (6j • : A", gold medal emblematical of thcV-'a'll- round"chnmpi.onship of Now Zealand, presented by, Mr. W. L. Hopper, will bo given- to tho winner';' a trophy value £2 2s'., presented-by tlifc; New Zealand Amateur Athletic, Association Jtos the second man'. (7) Tho limits were fixed as* follows: : 220 yards, 31sec.; one • mile, Oijiin. 3050 c.; long jump, 15ft.; putting the shot, 22fti; throwing" tho hammer, 00ft.- -The majority of these standards seem to" be absurdly low,' and' I should not be 'surprised to. see them tightened up considerably before the event norii'es olf.' At present'it'looks rather, a good thing for L. M'Kay of the P.N.A.A.O. Now South Wales does not seem to be exactly a happy hunting ground for the anVatour pedestrian so far as the general public is concerned. Tho-Now South Wales A.A.'A. gathering took place on November ■ 16, anil despite splendid weather and good performances tho public aforesaid showed great enthusiasm in staying away, only a bare 500 being present. Tho chief event of the day was tho 440 yards championship of New South .Wales. . The holder, B. R.. French, of the University A.C., rliYbnot defend liis.titlo, but. this was compensated for by . tho'• reappearance,, on the track of Nigel Barker, of the same club, who competed .at • the last: Olympic games in Athens. Among tho oiher starters were A. J. Wilkins, 100 and 220 yard Champion of the State, and C. W. Koe,

440 yard champion ."of. Queensland:.' Barker, took charge of the fickl 2IJO yartls from liQnie., and romped in" a winner In- 15 yards in "the" good time of 51. 3-stli sec., with-Ifoe second..

A novelty, introduced ■ from, tho United States by Barker, was an-"Unknown i)istanee" race, but it appears to have fallen rather fiat, may he 'from a want of. understanding on the part of the spectators..,.

The recent Wanganni A.A.G.'s sjiring meeting brought to light a promising, sprinter 'in V. S. Williams,;, who' won.the'.. 100 yards maiden in ljsec., his heat of the 73 yards pppn in 8 l-otlv.sec. off 7 yards, aiid the linal in Bs'.'c. The ;:mile : -run was" woii'Niy \V.. A. il'lCQiizie, a Wcllingtbiiiau. in iiiiiu. J!)sec. off 31 yards. . . ...... . ...

Last week I, had:'occasion,\ to. refer to tho; unsuitability of tile pole? commonly psed by our pole-jumpers,' and m.tliis eonnection 1 have received the* following letter signed "Vnulter." • ; :.... .'. J '!

"Dear 'Mercury','—ln your notes last-Sat-urday you made mention that certain vaulting poles in vogufe lfere were more suited lor 'sabre-tossing' than'.for jumping. Never Having seen this sport I venture to-ask what it is. Does it in . anyway . resemble sword swallowing or sword-dancing," or is it a nulitary form of 'two-un''-?-" Information on these points would be valued, .as I have'a few old sticks and a lot of spare days, and'would like tj try some .'sabre-tossing.' " -1 have, to thank "Vaulter"'for the opportunity of'explaining that I wrote ."Caber-tossing"->and the operator did tile rest. Apropos of' this the shipment of poles orderecf by the New Zealand A.A.A. lias come to hand'and are on sale in Christchurch. They were obtained from Yokohama", being specially .qhoscn by a member of the; Athletic (JllitT there, and are made of iron-shod 1 bamboo.' I respectfully venture to draw the intention" of the" local centre to this. '.•: - r