ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1144, 3 June 1911, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

ANOTHER BURNING TOPIC. THE. CROSS-COUNTRX PROBLEM. (Bs Mercury.) Juno 24, etc.—Festival of Empire Sports, London. The Burning Topic Introduced. In his budget of notes this week my harrier correspondent writes feelingly on a matter that has been exercising the minds of local cross-country men during tho week—tho allocation of the annual cross-country championship of tho Dominion. Ho states the caso for Wellington as under:— The evident intention of the council of the N.Z.A.A.A. to givo' the Auckland Centre's application to conduct tho NewZealand Cross-Country Championsliip equal consideration with that of the Wellington Centre is making our own harriers sit down and think hard. Whether or not the locals are justified in doing so much "hard thinking" is not for tho writer (with his natural bias for Wellington) to say. But a statement 'from him of tho position from our harriers' point of view should be of assistance to those in whoso hands lies the power of allotment. When the N.Z.A.A.A. decided, two seasons ago, to revive tho . cross-country championship, it insisted upon tho race being contested by teams representing at least three Centres, otherwise the event was to lapse. Otago and Canterbury each decided to enter teams, the former naturally (as being the home of harricrism in New Zealand) and the latter becauso to it was given the honour of conducting tho event. .Southland made no move at all. Consequently, it was only tho action of tho Wellington Harriers (which at that time was the only harrier club affiliated to tho association outsido tho South Island), in organising a team and dispatching it to J imaru, without assistance, that enabled the championship to be run. Again, last year, tho Southland Centre, which was given control of the event, was able to welcome only tho same two teams which had travelled from homo on tho previous year, viz.: Otago and Wellington—Canterbury being content to allow the raco to go by default. On this occasion it was the unanimous opinion that '"is year's event should bo decided at Wellington. Tho Otago men, who were the only other team considered as possible claimants, made no secret of the 11 x, at tlw 7 wero of tue "Pinion" that the North Island men should, this year, bo given control. The Topic Pursued, N? tu fal'y. then, it was considered that all that was needed was a formal application from the Wellington Centre, but tho cross-country runners were reckoning without their friends from the far north, who now have an application l>efore tho council, accompanied by a proposal to run tho important event as a side-show to some more or less interesting football match. Now, to analyse Auckland's case. That hardy annual, the harrier, was originally introduced (so far as New Zealand is concerned) into Otago and Southland, where ho grew and' multiplied exceedingly, and gradually spread north to Canterbury (southern portion only), and Wellington. The one attempt mado (o introduco him to Auckland ended in failure— the kindly climate of tho northern city not being to his liking. Yet an application from tho north is being seriously considered by the council, against the expressed opinions of the men who have made the sport. Should the race go to Auckland, it major may not create sufficient interest in cross-country running to place the sport on a good footing there, but, in the meantime, a blow will have been struck at the harriers of Wellington—the men who have for years wrestled with public apathy, and contended against the unpromising configuration (for harrier purposes) of the country in our vicinity. '-" ■.' ' ; ■ Tho former obstacle is gradually being overcome,' but, like the poor, is always with us. , Wellington has only two places at which good cross-country runs can be held, viz., Miramar and Hutt. On the other hand, Auckland has an abundance of gently undulating laud on its outskirts which would provide ideal courses for harriers, and yet the sport is non-existent there. Therefore the council should, in the .'writer's opinion, inform the Auckland Centro that, when it has succeeded in establishing harricrism in its midst, any assistance which can fairly bo granted to tho movement by the council will bo freely offered. Until then, Auckland would appear to have no claim to a championship event whatever. With tho Harriers on Saturday. Nothing startling happened at either of the runs held by the harrier clubs last Saturday. Attendances in both cases were very fair, Brooklyn with a muster of twenty-one, being the stronger. , Wellington held an all-road run from To Aro Baths—a procedure that was rather severe on those men who had taken part in the Exhibition Marathon of tho previous Wednesday. A handicap run-in from tho Patent Slip ended in Power winning, and F. Rowberry and Rollo filling .the other places. Brooklyn Club ran from its headquarters, and spent the afternoon among tho clouds. The going on the hill-tops was exceedingly greasy, whilo tho heavymist made conditions at times very depressing. Coad reached homo first at the end of the run-in, with Poynton second and Oliver third. To-day the Wellington Harriers will resolve themselves into a rambling club, meeting at the "Royal Oak" corner at 9 o'clock, for an all-day tramp, whilo Brooklyn will have an outing at Day's Bay. Two things which tho writer has noticed of late appear only to require mention in order to bo remedied. The first is tho bad habit which has becomo prevalent amongst the hares this season of scattering their paper broadcast over the golf links at Miramar. As scarcely a week passes nowadays without ono or other of tho clubs running over theso links, tho presence of the paper is becoming a continual source of nunoyauco to the golfer who, in searching for a lost ball, is often misled by the paper. Tho average harrier is too good a sport to wilfully spoil another sportsman's pleasure, so this word in his ear should lie sufficient to cause tho nuisance to be minimised, especially as the golfers have hitherto freely conceded the privilege of running over their links to tho harriers. The other matter is tho small amount of respect which is paid to the pacemaker for tho day in both clubs. Timo after time, tho pacer finds himself left by a few of • the runners who aro not content with the pace which is being set. A little consideration on tho part of tho "bolters" should convince them that they aro not "playing the gamo" by their captain, who has to consider tho slower men equally with the fast. Perhaps, if the captains insisted on the pacemaker wearing his distinguishing sash, an improvement would bo made. Under the Stadium Lights. Tho second of the weekly scries of sports at the Exhibition Stadium on Wednesday proved eminently satisfactory. There was a goodly assembly of onlookers, and the fields wero exceptionally large. Of the twenty-two entrants for the hockey and lacrosse" 50yds. championship, there were only two scratchings, and the event was disposed of in four preliminary heats, two semi-finals, and a final, and the racing was very keen. The winner turned up in that consistent performer F. O. Hubbard, who won by two feet from E. Bates of Pelonc. L. Fama, a well-known track performer of two seasons ago, was third, being beaten by inches for second place. Bates is a runner of whom more would bo heard if ho took tho sport up seriously, and indeed this romark applies to several of the starters. Tho form shown amply justifies somo of them taking .to the track in tho summer months with, moro than a fair prospect of success, and it is to be hoped that theso little meetings will bring out some of the latent talent. Tho two-milo raco brought out a field of twenty—a muster that was really too big for the track, the result being that, until the later stages were reached, it was next to impossiblo to tell who was leading. This was complicated by tho fact that several of tho big-mark men started with a lap and a half handicap, and, until tho back men got into tho samo lap as the leaders, thero was considerable, confusion in the minds of tho spectators as to .tho respective platings.

However, matters straightened out in tbo last four or five rounds, and tho finish was a stirring one, F. Rowberry, 115 yards, winning by five yards from I'. Byrne, who beat F. Pinekney by a short foot for the place—a tribute to Mr. J. Gow's handicapping. II would bo a good idea on the next occasion lo make- two heats of such a big field, with tho bigmark men in one and the back division in another. This would avoid tho overlapping difficulty, and also considerably minimise tho work of the lap-takers, besides making matters more intelligible to the spectators. Five turned out for tho walk—ono and a half miles, minus half a lap. Fitzgerald was on scratch, conceding D. Cashninn 30 yards, and the race resolved itself into a duel between these two. Cashman carried too much condition for Fitzgerald, however, and won by rather moro than his start. The walking form was not quite what it should have been, even allowing for the sharp turns, and, though' never flagrantly unorthodox, was—well, "suspicious" at times. This is a matter that calls for attention. There is no reason why a doubtful gait should be tolerated at the Exhibition moro than at tho Basin Unserve, and a little necessary firmness now on this point may stop some unpleasantness later on. There are two other slight suggestions that may 1m offered to the management with all duo deference. Ono is that tho meetings bo compressed somewhat, so that tho programme be finished by 9.30 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. This' could be done by shortening tho waits between events. The other suggestion is that the number of "non-combatants" in the ring bo reduced while the events are "on." Woodgcr and Co. Arrive. A file of the London "Sportsman" just to hand contains tho following noto on the arrival of a detachment of tho Australasian athletic forces "at tho front":— Harold Hardwick, of Now South Wales, the 220, 440, and BSO yards swimming champion of Australia, and W. A. Woodgcr, of Wellington, New Zealand, the 100 yards and 220 yards running champion of Australasia, arrived in London yesterday, and woro met bv Theo. 13. Tartakovcr and William 'Henry, chief secretary Koyal Life Saving Society. Hardwick and Woodger, who travelled by the R.M.S. India, will tako part in tho Festival of Empire sports. The same paper also publishes tho following paragraph on the Festival of Empire sports:—"At a meeting at tho Bath Club of a special committee, consisting of tho representatives of ilio governing bodies interested in the various 6ports, the programme for the Empire sports was discussed, and it was resolved that tho athletics should take place on June 24, under tho management of tho Amateur Athletic Association, the events to be decided being 100 yards, 220 yards, 880 yards, ono mile, and hurdles; that tho boxing be conducted under tho management of tho Amateur Boxing Association (heavy-weight only), and tako place on June 2D; and the wrestling (middle-weight only) under the l .management of tho Amateur Wrestling Association on the same day. Tho swimming is to be under the management of the Amateur Swimming Association, and is to tako place in the Lower Lake on July 1, tho events being 100 yards and one mile."

Tliio settles a very vexed point—as to the actual events to 1)0 decided at tho games, and, fortunately, it 6cttlcs it in a manner that suits tho Australasian team. It will be remembered that tho last; cable on the subject stated that a quarter-mile event had been included, but made'no mention of the half-mile. From this, it was concluded that the latter event had been dropped in favour of tho former. As our team had been picked on tho halfmile, basis, this caused some perturbation in Australia and Now Zealand. However, tho cablo man erred, and, so far as tho running ovents are concerned, things are as they should be. There is still tho matter of tho dropping from tho programme of the tennis, and tho consequent loss to Australasia of her biggest "hope" —Anthony Wilding.. Mr. Coombes is looked to to make a stir about this, and much satisfaction has been expressed at the.action of the local'executive in cabling Jtf.,'Coombes, asking him to make a vigorous 1 .protest on this point. At tho same time, 'it is to be feared that such a protest will bo of little avail—tho mischief has been done.