ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 170, 11 April 1908, Page 9

ATHLETICS.

(Br Mr.itcunv.) , COMING EVENTS. To-day.—Carruthors Benefit Meeting (Basin Reservo). Easter Monday.—luter-TJniversity Carnival, (Dunedin). July.—Olympian Gamos (London). i Tho athletic column of tho latest Sydney 7'Refcrco" is ornamented with a photograph of L. M'Kay. Our champion vaultcr has tor o*lloo facal tho camera minus his cap and tho lofty wind-swept dome that encloses his tliinking apparatus is done full justice to, and the whole cll'ect is highly decorative. An ovemt oil tho programme of tho benefit meeting this afternoon that should prove an exceptionally' attractive one is tho footballoVs' teams race. Six clubs,- Oriental, Selwyn,\ St. James, Athletic, Old Boys, and Star Beating Club, have entered teams, 1 and tho competition is bound to be keen. Tho conditions'.of tho raco arothat tho ! to fillip football kit, carryiiig a ball, which 16,10 bo transferred from man to man of the club represented by the first man home with the ball to bo the winner. . Including this event, tho programme comprises twenty-two items, • and in addition to tho deserving causo to be assisted the calibro of tho runners engaged should ensure, a successful gathering. 1 believ.e the venture is tho first ofi the kind to be undertaken here, and it caifr be confide" tly recommended to all desirous of a'.ong a* good work and incidentally,\of 'witnessing a hrst-class afternoon's sport. ." Fisher, lienderson, Sharp, and'M'Kay,'members of tho Dominion's suc-cessful-team\ at Hobart last month, are among the competitors, and the last-named intends to an attack on his Australasian polo vaulting record. - Tho movement to secure tho representation of the Dominion at the Olympic Games in-London definite form, and-tho sending of Harty Kerr and St. Aubyn Murray may be looked upon as a fait accompli. Tho amount necessary for tho expenses of tho trip is, roughly speaking, £100 per man, and as Canterbury may bo relied upon to finance her representative, tho duty, and it should bo a pleasant ono, of finding the sinews of war for our popular walker will devolve on Wellington. The matter was to have been discussed'by tho local Centre last night, but.at timo of writing nothing has transpired as to tho plan of campaign; but whatever is done will nave, to be done right away. Tho movement t-hofiull support of tho Council of tho N.Z 1 ,A.A.A., and in addition to the two men -..named the governing body has decided to Ha skins, the great middle-distance ru.mier, of the' Philadelphia University, to represent tho Dominion. Tho decision' of tho Board controlling tho Games that competitors must bo either native-born or. natural citizens ofj tho countries they represent will debar Tlaskins from inclusion in tho American team, and this makes it extremely likely that his';-services will'bo available. .. ' -' Speculation as f to tho chances of .the pro-' posed representatives is, of course,' mere guesswork at present, but from figures available both ITaskins and Murray look, very likely, the latter .especially so; In his department, tho 440 yds. hurdles', the Americans are admittedj.v weak, v and tliere is no news of any English times that come Jinywliero near his 58 2-sscc. Franco and Hungary havo hoisted figures of - 59 l-ssec and 61 1-pscc. respectively this--season; \so it would appear, that the'-Canterbury man's prospects aro -pretty rosy':-.. ~ , ■ ■: An attempt to, defino Kerr's chances in tho ',walks;6pens; up a of discussion. 'Thb.fcv'eHastiiig ,'qucstionjjof,.styles .is tho dnrffe..st'.,|actor' .to be' considered, in fact- it ■all ihmgesyoii - this. OnoN tiling.- howoyer,> appears" certain,- which is that-.if Kerr is 'to'-' '.walk-, strictly..; according.t«-. tho Australasian definition, lije- won't ,failure at Home proves that. And then the ques.'ti'on arises, Ifiho does not;walk a la Ccombes, ,tq what extent can he"m'odify '.his present 'styl6;-;' ) witfl ol safety? r 'All .Itßis.ijnakes it -the moro; imperative that lie should ba on the spat as soon as possible so that ho may havo ; an' opportunity,, of familiarising. himself - with lqcak\conditions.'■ ■" Interest in tho Victoria College meeting Inst Saturday was chiefly, confined to the Collegians and their friends, of whom about 500 put in an appearance at the Reserve. Somt of tho performances' wero meritorious,' notably •Gcodbohrro's. win in" tho 220 yards from scratch in 24sec. arid his winning'long jump of 19ft.. lOin, ' Ho also ran second.in his. heat of ■ tho ,100 yds. handicap.. In tho quartor-milo flat Gbodbehero ,was wiso in his generation; in' scratching; as''the event 'was won . by ' Eichelbaum in 1 50-4-ssec. from, the absurdly long/start-of, 56 yards, and in tho '440 yds- hurdles lib "ran a- good second to AdUms from-scratch in 63' 2-ssec—a good-day's-work. . The ■mile .walk provided the usual comedy turn of:tho afternoon,-and was won by that' good sport,. J..M. Hogben, by a process of elimination—all the other finishers in the race being disqualified. ' ' ■ - F. Rigg. who gave promise of good form in the long distances at tho St. Patrick's Day meeting, put-up a good run in tho milo handicap; running, second;in'4miri. 40sec., his own time being 4min., 53sec.—a good effort in the face of tho wind and oh the rough track. ;, Another good performance, was that of G. P. Anderson in't-ho hammer;.event, which he won from scratch with a throw of 104 feet. "Prodigal," in tlio "Referee," continues his notes on tho Australasian championships as undpr. Dealing with the hurdles and pole jumps, ho writes-:— "Stewart won his; boat by ten.yards fromMaher in 16 2-ssec., ; whilst Murray just beat Cook, by half a yard after a'ding-dong go in 17 1-osec. It certainly looked a fair thing for Stewart aftef tho heats, although it was evident Davis was not all out. ' In the final Stewart and t)avis "practically had the raco to themselves, arid in a rattling finish tho judges could-not separate them in 16 1-osec.-It is said that tho .track, both for the 100 yards flat and 120 yh'rds hurdles, was slightly .uphill. Personally, I;did not notico any rise, although admittedly;tho ground was not level, as, owing to drainage arrangements, it slopes away from thoicontre lik'o our Cricket Ground. . A breeze from tho sea, however, was straight against the runners. In the run-off oh tho Monday morning what is perhaps unique in any' championship hurdles took place—another dead heat. To look at tlio two hurdlers standing ou thd mark, one would at once single out the Victorian—a very finely-proportioned' young fellow; in fact, tho ideal hurdler in make-up. Davis is probably slightly the faster on-the flat, and a fraction quicker-between the hurdles, but Stewart jumps slightlyi the; quicker—gets down faster. It uas hi 'the run-in' that Stewart each timo ma'doiup a lost ,12 inchos or so, and effected tho dead heat: Stewart, who. had a very bad trip'across from Sydney, quite surprised, mo by tho. way lie picked up form. Murray was some yjirds away third. The'44o yards hurdles is a different; race altogether to' tb j 120 yards. It is a sovoro raco in which tho threb-strido business plays no part whatovor. \ Fit, well, and quietly confident, Davis was voted ■-"pretty good," but. New Zealanders manfully stuck to Murray. The Victorian evidently intended to take the party along so fast as to break up all opposition. Ho' ; sailed away in front, and it looked a pound to a peanut on. him at the , half-distance, where . Murray singled out in pursuit. Davis ! now began to loso his brillianco at the hurdles, and Murray .commenced to go up, gaining*, at each obstacle. -They rose the last, flight/together, and with the Victorian palpably tiring; it was plainly seen that ho had shot' his bplt. Tn the end Murray won -handsomely. Davis gamely chasing, him home. The world's record (58 l-ssec. by Davis) all but went—and would have gone had tho Victorian r not been caugirt quite so far from homo. Murray ran. with groat judgment, but beforo coming to : ,a definite finding as to tho relative merits'bf those great '440' hurdlers I would like to see just ono more meoting between tho pair, ••>]- though candidly I can see no excuse.for ths loser's defeat, neither would- I attempt-to offer any possiblo explanation. . "Next come tlio jumpers and vaulters. ' I propose to tako tlio vaulters and Jeavo tlio' jumpers and field - gamo artists-until next: • wools. ' As. is usually tho _ case,; Now South; Wales had no representative. All the competitors used tho specially-imported bamboo poles excepting T. Frawley, who stuck to a. polo kindly -lout by R. A. A. Adams, and, Walker, whoso pole was either spruco or ash.' Adams's polo-is cither hickory or. spruce, and is far too short, being but lift. Gin. or thereabouts, as against the L 3 of 14 feet of tli&

bamboo poles. The Currans and Cook quickly retired. Tom Maher went noxt, failing at 9ft; 6iii.. Tlio-burly boy from tlio North is too hbavy for tho game, being fully. 14st; Noxt out? was Walker, who failed at 10ft. Gill.—after clearing 10ft. .3in. at tho third attempt. Walker, who lias, a graceful stylo and possesses a wonderfully good'pole, will yot. do better. It now settled down to a duel between M'Kay and Frawlcy, who began to get up abovo anything,they had previously done in public. Frawlcy displaced tho bar at 10ft. 3Ln. and 10ft. Gin. at tho first attempts, but got over 10ft. 9in. and lift, at tho first trials. The next height was supposed to bo lift, lin (actually lift, lj-in.), and hero Frawley failed, and with- M'Kay getting over cleverly at the sceond attempt, it was all over, with New Zealand in tho lead, and amidst tremendous applause, the "Ponekol Ponekel.Ake, ake Kia Kahal' of tho Maoriland contingent beiiig easily heard amid the din. M'Kay and Frawley fairly excelled themselves, tho excitement of tho stirring contest bracing them up. M'Kay, who is a muscular middle-weight, certainly had tho pull over the heavy-weight Queenslander in tho matter of poles, and personally I was astonished to hear that Frawley had successfully negotiated lift. Both winner and leser performed ably, and congratulations to both were lavishly given and richly merited. Frawley feels certain that with a lift, polo ho oould have gono up two or tlireo rnoro inches, but, anyway, M'Kay was, of course, also likely to havo got higher. Hearing that Frawley was anxious for another 'go,' it was arranged that ho bo invited to compote in tho 'exhibition vault' at the 'Varsity-New Zealand match in Sydney, and to place things on an absoluto equality bamboo poles were, cabled for, and arrived in Sydney on tho day cf tho contest—one of tho quickest bits of work on record. But Frawley went on homo to Brisbane, and a'second meeting is 'in tho air.' Probably no event at Hobart aroused raoro interest and enthusiasm amongst tho spectators than tho polevoult." A. B. Postle. tho great Queensland professional, is still astonishing tho natives of South Africa. Last week came news that ho had eclipsed tho previous world's best .by covering 50 yards in Johannesburg in 5 1-5 sec., and-this week's mail gives particulars of a three-distanco match in which lie beat the local crack cyclist over 95yd5.,. 100 yds., and 105 yds., Postle won the two first distances, thus rendering tho third test unnecessary.. His times were EHscc. for tho 95 yards, and 10 l-ssec for tho 105 yards. Tho latter, is little short of marvellous, as tho timo works out at three ,yards better than oven time. , '