ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1031, 21 January 1911, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

(BT Mercoet.) THE NEW CHAMPION TIMES. THIS YEAR AND LAST. January 23—Wanganui Caledonian meeting. January 25—Karori A.A.C. evening meet- ! in BMarch 4—N.Z. • Championships (Christchurch).. ' In addition' to the above it is probable that the Port Nicholson A.A.C. will hold its annual gathering on the Basin Reserve oil February 11. No Comparison with Last Year. Saturday's ■■ provincial championship meeting can be written off as a success. At the same time it must he admitted that the standard .of performance was not equal to that of last year. Several factors were responsible i'or this. There was "first the absence of two of our resident champion performers—Woodger, for reasons already explained, and Evensen, whose world lias prevented him from doing any training. • Secondly there was the fact that, owing to Friday's rain tho •■"going" .was not. conducive' to fast times, and thirdly, last and principally, because last year's-standard • was far above tho average. In'fact.it was. a standard that in all probability-will not be reached for many years. . ' Comparisons are 1 proverbially odious but they, are sometimes interesting, • and often instructive, which will serve as an excuse for tlie following list of figures for both meetings. Tho. time and winner last'year- were given first in each instance. . . : 100 Yards.—Last year, Woodger, lOsec.; this yoar, Opie, 10 l-ssec. 220 Yards—Woodger, 22 2-ssee. (New Zea- ' land record); Opie,, 23 4-ssec. 410. Yhrds.—Wilton, 52sec.; Wilton, 53 . 2-ssec.' Half Mile. —Wilson, lmin. 58 4-ssec.; Wilson,'2min. 12 2-ssec. Mil© Run.—Heft'ei*, :4min. 29 4-ssec.; Binnie,- 4min. 57sec.•• Three-mile Run—Thompson, 15min. 57 3-ssec.; Baxter, <16min. 5 4-ssec. One Mile Walk—Casliman, Gmin. 38 4-5 Turner, "Grnin". 59 2-osec. 120 • Yards, Hurdles.—Evensen, -10 2-ssec.; -•■ M'Kenzie, 17 3-ssec. 440 Yards Hurdles.—Evensen, 63 2-ssec.; Kitto, 65sec.' It will be seen that in all flat and hurdlo events', last" year-'s performances completely overshadow those, of-■ last .Saturday, .-even:, in the . cases when the same men won on both-occasions. The. field events compare better, albeit the performances (with tho notable exception of M?Kay,'s splendid hop, step and jump) were not -up ,to Now Zealand cha'mpiqnsliip form.. - Hubbard broad-jumped '19ft. 2in.,'- as against 20ft. "2iii„ last year," but in' the high jump the present, winning effort'by: Hodge and M'Kay (sft. -.Gin.) beats last year's by Half an.inch. Likewise, . B.isset's winning hammer-throw -oi 105 ft. :7ni.'is, sft. in'excess of Anderson's effort. Last' year M'Kay covered 44ft. 4iii. in the hop, step and jump—a good performance—but this time he beat this handily with, tlie exceptional. jump of 45ft. lin. The merit of this becomes apparent' from tho fact that the Australasian record for this event is 45ft. 7in., | which' was done by M'Cabe, the Queensland footballer.

Impressions of Opie. Opie rari : sb'undly father than brilliantly. However, hc-won both his races, as was generally ianticipatcd, and so he did all that was asked of hiin. No fault can be found with a 100-yard run in 10-l-ssec., even on the notoriously fast Basin track, and, with the slight southerly breezo to help, but his 220-yard gallop fell rather short of expectation. Ho appeared to get going slowly in this race. At the gunfire, M'Kenzio, of Masterton,. was-the first up—ho beat Opie away by over a. yard—but very shortly after, tho start Hubbard took charge. The local man Tan very strongly Tound the bend; and was not caught until about GO yards ifrom. tho tape. Opio then got on terms, arid a-hard struggle ensued past tho gate in front, of the stand.'; Then' Opio gradually drew out, "and eventually won by a good ' two yards. lie was raced out, .or very nearly so, from tho bend to tho tape; so'the time, 23 4-ssec.; shows cither that he took matters very comfortably in tho early stages, 'or that the track was a lot slower than it looked. Or, again, it may show that the timing in. some of his recent southern races lias been flattering to his abilities. Wilton's Pretty Quarter-mile. "Jimmy" Wilton ran a nico race, in the. quarter-mile. Only three started, but the event was a'pretty, one.' ; Right up to the home bend tho men were practically ; together, Wilton having taken the lead from M'Kenzio by a good burst at about 350 yards after running last. Both M'Kenzio and Coard replied iu kind to his challenge, and the threo came round the eastern. corner abreast. The champion was too strong for the opposition, and came away well after a desperate flurry over 30 or 40 yards, while M'Kenzie dropped back, leaving Coard in the second place, and they finished in this order, Wilton thus retaining his title. His timo was 1 3 : ssec. slower than his previous winning performance.■In the lialf-milo J. F. Wilson was not given a charico to reproduce . the limn. 58 4-ssec. that won him his title. His only opponent was Martis, of Wanganui, aruniier with a long raking, stride, who, for a while, looked like* giving ■ the local man a'really good race. -After setting the paco round the first quarter. (covered, in 59sec.), with Wilson at his heels, the visi-. tor slowed up, and Wilson- passed him just, after the bell. Martis, then pulled out,, and Wilson trotted over the last 300 yards unopposed. ... A Cheaply-won Championship. :Three local men turned out in the mile, Baxter not' having entered. The triofBinuie, pore, and Eliffe—iuade', the first half depressingly' slow;, each seemingly being too canny to take up the pacing. At the half-mile the officials took a hand,and instructed the recalcitrants to "shake things up" a bit,, or get off the track. Matters at 'once brightened somewhat. The end .saw Binnio and Eliffe fight out tho last 200 yards (the only decent running-in the whole race), and the former won in tho ridiculous time of 4iuin. 57sec. -It had been , expected that Baxter's standing down from this event would have mado an interesting, race of it, but it Jiad just the contrary effect—it robbed it of the only interest it .might have had —that of ■ seeing . a good man register a good performance. It was a poor raco and an exceedingly cheap championship. Baxter's Three-Mile Victory. Baxter won the three miles'cvent,handicap. but was not asked to run fast enough to show his real capabilities over this distance—a new one for him. Murray, did niqst of the pacing in the first mile, which took smin. ssee., and tlieri Rowberfy took the quartet along for the niext mile. Then Baxter assumed tho lead, and, except for a dying effort on tho part of Murray, who moved into the lead again in the ninth lap, only-to retire-soon after. he was not disturbed. When the bell went ho had 20* yards .to the good, which ho increased to 100 by a. fine sprint over the last lap from Rowbcrry. Tho latter ran a dogged second. Baxter conld easily havo improved upon his time, 16min. 5 4-ssec., as, indeed, ho: will need to to come into the New Zealand championship class. Over tlie "Sticks." The hurdles races.were good contests. M'Kenzie got away with tho 120 yards after a good race with his fellow Mastcrtoninns. llodge and Douglns, but the timo (17-3-ssec.) was slow. Kitto's win in tho 440 yards was very popular, and was the result of a game effort, in which ho passed and was passed by. M'Kenzie several times. Ivitto fences in a very taking style, and it is regrettable (hat lie lacks pace in between the "sticks." Otherwise he would be a hurdler with possibilities.

Those Walks: Who Shall Decide? The mile walk was an event that opens up muoli ground for speculation,- ina«riv.icii it was won by n wafer whose style was passed in this race by-one judge, Mr. "Doric" I.eslie, only to bring .disqualification in the nqxt race by another judge, jfr. Fleming lJoss. It was not that the walker in question (George. Turner) altered his mode of progression—it was that one judge was satisfied as to its compli.

ance with the regulations, and.the other was not, and that each judge adjudicated upon a different race. As to which is correct it is not the writer's place to say, even if. he were expert enough to do so, but it is an extremely unsatisfactory position for our walkers cither way. They naturally desire to acquire a correct stylo, and,'when the experts on whom they depend differ so materially, to whom arc tliev to turn for guidance? They do not" know—neither does the writer. Opie May Go to America. ■R. 'Opio ,informed "Mercury," before leaving for Christchurcli, that there is a possibility that he will be leaving Now Zealand for a time nest year for Pennsylvania University, U.S.A. If this.comes to.pass, there should be great things in store for the Christchurcli sprinter in the running line. The athletic adviser and .instructor at this institution is the one and onlv "Mike" Murphy, renowned throughout America as the greatest producer' of 'athletic talent extant. In such hands there is no saying where a young runner of Opie's undoubted powers will end'lip. So great is the.mana.of Murphy 'tliat he is paid by the -university authorities no less a salary than 5000 dollars "a year and housed, simply for the part he plays in supervising the athletic department... Opie has had practically no tuition in his running'at .all; he is simply a natural .sprinter, and \iust the material tliat Murphy-would delight in moulding into a champion—and ail American college sprint champion IS a champion. Before leaving Saturday's meeting, it-is worthy of record that the Masterton contingent returned with 4 wins, 4 seconds, and 3 thirds—truly, a most satisfactory "bag" for the new Wairarapa Club., . The programme : for .the. New .Zealand championship, meeting in Christchurcli on March -1 is now in circulation.' ,In addition, to .the. 16- championship: events it includes.22o yards and one .mile run handicaps. Entries close for all events on' February 17.'

Festival of Empire. "Prodigal,", of the "Referee," has the following:—l understand that J. M. Lynch, of the l3ast Sydney A.A.C., who visited London in 1908* for the 4th Olympiad, is likely to leave shortly on another trip to the "big smoke." If this turns out to be correct we should have the following athlctts in England available, fc-r selection in-any Australasian 'team competing for the Festival of Empire Cum— A; AV. Clemes (Tasmania and Oxford University), ' R. G. Waddy' (N.S.W: and Oxford University). J. M. Lynch (N.5.W.),S. A. Mardeu (N.S.W.). W. A. "Woodgei (New Zealand), A. F. Wilding (New Zealand), Norman Brookes . (Victoria). If these were reinforced by a boxer, a wrestler,, and a swimmer, a solid team could be made up.