ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 187, 2 May 1908, Page 9

ATHLETICS.

COMING EVENTS.' s - - , July 4.—English A. A. Championship (Loni do>4- ■ y July.—Olympic Games (London). j The Kerr fund is still progressing surely s towards tho £100 mark set down as neces!i sur.v, and it may bo looked, upon as certain - that tho entire amount will bo collected by t 'the end of next week. An interchange of r cables with Mr. R. Coombes, the Australasian representative of tho Olympic Boa ; rd of. a Control, resulted in that gentleman giving 1 his opinion that Kerr is ' quite ' eligible to y compete, and, as already stated, his passage 1 i has. been booked by tho Tongariro, to sailon. May 7. The N.Z.-Shipping Co. auth'ori- ; t, ties havo been approached in the matter',! e and have kindly consented to , help the s traveller in- every way as regards his,-ship--<r board training operations, and nothing ref mains now but for Kerr to pack his port--0 manteau and join, the ship, which he has- ant nounced his ability to do at two days' notice. Members of the Canvassing Committee report that-they have met with nothing but goodwill throughput' their not too agreeable task,'and Messrs. J. H. Pollock and J. Bi ■ Speed, tho energetic secretary and treasurer, who have borne 'the brunt of the task, are 1 more than pleased' at. the result of their eno deavours.' _ i. Tho following chat, from the "Referee's" , American correspondent, about,another likely o Dominion representative, is interesting just o now:—"Guy Haskins, I see, lias.been haying t all kinds of adventures. To. begin with, ho: . was'dropped from the' roll of-',University, of: 0 Pennsylvania, presumably for taking - moro.| - interest in"leg .exercise than mental culture.' ; This, I suppose, is something that can be' b smoothed over by a promise ip do bettor, fc although lam not quite sure. With tho s i bulldogs of the great American educational 3 system, it. is ' percentages that count./ My 7 readers, I am sure, will be more interested £ in Guy's-fortuiie on tho running path. vHas--1 kins outran 'Tad(:' White, ' the apparently t overrated .distance mail of the Now-'Yorks,'' s. in the mile. Haskins led for three laps,'and 3 then White went'to,tho front. .Haskins al--0 lowed him to remain'there until\they entered a upon the last lap. Then Guy shot to tlio . front and, won by somothing like'4o yards s in 4min.', 3S l-Ssee. 1 But Mr. Haskins, of, 1 Maoriland, hasn't been .-having things- his v own way; altogether.. -In the ' Varsity, meet r it. Ann -Harbour, 'Mich., on March--14'■ (iri--1 door, of course), Harry L. Coo, or Michigaii, - - - : defeated Hajskins'^-in a special race at-1000. 3 "yards, an affair whiMi iVas regarded as.tlio! 3 main event of tlio programme. ' Coe won by - : 15 yards iii, rather slow'timo-rto wit, 2miu. 1 16 3-ssec.', Coo had Haskins'well'in hand from , tho ■ start. . It. was: noticed ■ that : Ilasi kins was over-anxious and seemed to'-lack i' confidence, while-Coe, who was familiar, with l the track, was'coolness itself: , . K "Haskins was compelled to sniff tho dust r of- defeat when lie mot Harry Hillman, of ; the New York Athletic' Club, a few nights 3 prior to.his race with Coo. This was in a - special 60,0 yards at the annual indoor games: 3 of the Now York Athletic Club in Madison j Square ,on, March 10. The huge crowd 5 which packed the place went, wild with de- '• hght .when Hillman, who is . vory popular, r raced past''.Haskins.- in the.last lap arid won i by a. full yard. The time,: lmin. 20 1-osec.,. r was slow, tho indoor record being lmin.: 3 14sec. ■ 'lhore -Avas. a-600yds. race, which' was : won by -M.-, 'Weeks',•' of. .Yale,' from the 22oyds! i mark. In this Guy- Haskins' (scr.) - was'' [ second. In >tlie_ 1000 yds.', also-a; haddicaii,' i Haskins ran third. Ho' was tlio scratch ' rimri, and ho was beaten by L. Frantz, of i Princeton, 30yds., first; and'' J.'. F ; Rehr- ; man, of tho Mohawk, 34vds., second." > The respect that Haskins is "held in.':is! t amply demonstrated by- the.:long handicaps: he'was; conceding in'the first'event of those' under notice in thp.last paragraph, though it; is hard to bohevo*.,tliat tho- figures arc cor- . rect., .One can hardly realise that any runP e r-shomd be asked to '-give away 225. yards : m 600, but I reproduce the paragraph as it ' appears. . - , . ' From' : files, to..ha'rid ; it.'would appear that [ n s . el 'j9^ s deadlock -has arisen between tlio' Canadian A.A.A. and the American A.A;U ; over the; Olympic . Games. The bone of con- ' teution is. the status of the:great Indian loiig-distance runner, Tom Longboat, in whom Canada has cpnt-red all. her .hopes ■ of. winning •' the 'Marathon, road.!race.'' . Aii ,ex- : ' i deals 1 with tlio difTei-ence'- thus :'— ' liie-'-American officials have always disliked | Longboat's methods, and have frankly; ad-, mitted: tile -fact. . The: Canadians?'. on; tho other -hand,; consider Tom a valuable athletic asset-, and seem determined to hold and ; uphold '.him. ' President; Stark, ; of the: Canadian Athletic Association, commenting, ' upjn the Americaji threat.-' to have Tom ostracised from the Olympic Games, called our American officials a lot. of meddling But-, tinskis. The Americans-said that iio American Would be allowed to start in any Olympic oyont'-in which Longboat was a competitor, and now Stark cives; out that- no athletes belonging to his Association will be allowed in .future to competo in games held under the'sanction of the American A.A.U. For that matter, no Canadian athletes will be permitted to - cross'the border to take part in games held by American athletic clubs'." ( "Says a correspondent j/--' This step ivas ■ evidently taken \by thej - Canadian: 'officials in retaliation for the disqualification of. Tom ■ Longboat by the'American-A;A.U., It" was more or . less expected, because some time ago'the-two rival organisations for amateur . athletes'in' Canada got together arid patched •up their difference. > As soon as t-hey' did this they announced that Lonsboat. would be selected to -go to-'London as a 'member of the Olympic team. This announcement drew from James E. Sullivan,- president of, the American A.A.F., the. statement: that' Longboat was a- professional," and that lie would never>be allov/ed to- join the ranks of the amateurs. , If the Canadian Association • had sustained its alliance with the American 1 AiA.U. .it would have abided by r the judgment of' tho latter as -to professional athletes, and •■■under ■ such circumstances the Canadian Olympic team would have been deprived of the service's'of Longboat.. ' > ; , "From tho foregoing it looks as though tho clash over Longboat will be carried across to England and resolve . itself into something that the officials of the coming Olympic Games will havo. to pass upon. Judg : ing from the stubborness which possesses the Americans and Canadians just now,,it: is a question that will-call for tho.employment', of very. nice tact, on' the ' part -of the British managers of tho Olympiad. "With' America saying to Canada: 'You won't' and the Kariucks'yelling back: 'Wo will,' the final outcomo of the wrangle looms up liko a full,sized conundrum." ■ t . ■ "Prodigal," 6f the Sydney "Referee," is ■! urging that ;the affiliated ; to the Amateur Athletic Union of Australasia ' should do all possible to cncourage discus j and javelin competitions. ,' The. discus 'is made of wood, is about 4.41b. in weight, ] and 3.7 in. in diameter;'it.has a smooth iron , rim, and is capped oil each ■ face with - a ' , smooth ■ metal plate. It is thrown in '.two "! .ways, one the .Greek style,- and'.tho' other .) in tho, "freo" stylo. In the former tlio ' thrower places'himself on a pedestal for the ! throw;.in the latter'lie throws .from within ! a circle. The javelin is made of wood,'is B.lft. long, weighs! 1.61b.. and has a'sharp iron point.; At the "centre of gravity there is a grip formed by a binding of whipcord. 4 In tho "free" stylo the javelin is held in < any manner; in the other style it must bo , hold by the grip. • Now-that it is the close season in local c athletics,' it might bo as well if our local f authorities considered the question of taking i up tlieso competitions, and introducing them i: into next year's sports programmes. From a 1spectator's yiowpoint, the events would be attractive, and the eternal round of jumps and shot events in tho field'games depart- s mont would be brightened considerably by a tlio inclusion of somo such novelties.: I: re- 0 commend tho idea to our field game fcxperta. ?

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