AMATEUR ATHLETICS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 105, 27 January 1933, Page 16

AMATEUR ATHLETICS

Sport in Wellington

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(By

“Hurdler.”)

Coming Events. . January 30. —Evening meeting, Olympic Club, Basin Reserve February 11.—Dewar Shield mectmt, Petone. . , ... February 25.—Provincial championships, Basin Reserve. Meeting at Porirua. After a lapse of a season the lorirua clug again came into the limelight, and held a sports gathering on Monday las... The meeting took place in the Mental Hospital grounds, and proved very successful. Officials of the club did everything possible to give competitors anti centre officials an enjoyable day, and tne general opinion was that they exceeded all expectations. . , , The gathering was controlled mainly oy officials of the Porirua . club, and the promptitude with which events were run off proved , that they were worthy Ota permit, and knew their job. The handicapping was done by Mr. C. B. Allan (Athletic), and Mr. A. Matsou (cycling), who, in the main, made few mistakes The women's events drew very tew entries, which can be accounted for by the club charging one shilling for the entrance fee. Officials will see that the charge is reduced for future meetings. Miss Thelma Kcneh is gradually working into form, as could be seen from her second iu the hundred yards and third in the 120 yards off scratch. She beat Miss E. Sharp (scr.) .by two yards in the 120 yards event. Miss L. Ooughton_ (94yds.). ran well to win the 100 iu 11 4-ssec., anti was second in the 120 yards off 104 yards. Miss M. Watson (K.) goes on winning, aud off eight yards breasted the tape first in 14 3-ss'ec. Miss Joyce Murray (A.), 51 yards, has lost all form, aud Miss D. Hurley (IV.), is on a false mark, 2-J yards, The handicapper made a slight error in the 120 yards. On Saturday, in the. 120 yds. she had 4yds., and at Porirua, she was placed on 34 yards, running unplaced in both races. Miss S. Oughtou could be given a longer mark, and so could Miss Jean Murray. . The cycling events were a triumph tor T. Roe, of the Petone club. brom the scratch mark he won the two miles event, and finished second in the three miies.i Lyster, Sowerby, Disley and Ericsson all rode well. , The two sprint events saw close finishes, with R. McLeod (M.), 64yds., first in the 100 yards, and R. Knoblock (K.), Gjyds., second. The 220 yards looked a certainty for Kuoblock off 12yds., and so it proved. This Kiwi performer will from now on find it much harder to win. A. Telfar (IV.), 13yds., was second. The 440 yards event drew a field of 20 starters, and the liberally treated W. 11. Fisher (W.), 26yds., had no difficulty in winning, with B. Lawer (S.H.), 17yds., second, and the consistent C. M. Brown (O.), 20yds., third. The 880 yards handicap was the event of the day. W. Ogg (0.) started off scratch, giving away starts up to 58yds. At the bottom of the straight J. McConchie (A.), 46 yards, was leading by 10 yards, when Ogg put in his run, and only failed by inches to reach him. The judges gave their decision as a dead-heat. The time, Imin. 59sec„ was good. In the field events the best performance was that of D. Phillips (K.),.who leaped 20ft. Ilin, in' the long jump. M. Cook (A.), a late entry, off 60yds., won the mile event easily, finishing with a characteristic sprint in 4min. 34 3-ssec. The junior events filled well, and there was a great finish in the 440 yards race, C. Mextcd (W.), 25yds., just lasting long enough to defeat W. Darragh (K.), 27 yds., in 54scc.

Canterbury v. Wellington. Interprovineial contests are now an, established fact, and. the meeting between Canterbury and Wellington held ou the Basin Reserve last Saturday proved that they are worth while aud should be continued. Though Canterbury won by 10 points to three, the events were keenly contested, and many exciting finishes were seen.

A, Cameron, the giant from Central Otago, who is now living in Christchurch, put up wonderful performances, especially in clearing more than 6ft. in the high jump. It looks as if Cameron is easily capable of capturing three titles nt the next national championships. Tim Crowe, national high jump champion, did surprisingly well to. clear sft. 104 in. as he has been out of action since Christmas. G. Broadway is the best half-miler this country has seen for many a long day, and if he specialised on this distance alone would, in my opinion, break the existing record of lmin. 54 4-ssec. now held by Don Evans. W. Ogg ran a splendid race against Broadway, but had to give in to a better man. Ogg surprised by winning the quarter-mile test in 51 4-ssec., which was a really good, performance after his strenuous half-mile.

C. H. Jenkins had no difficulty in capturing the 100 yards test in 10sec., but to the surprise of all had to lower his colours to the Canterbury lad, J. B. Me-' Farlane, in the furlong event, Jenkins was not running with his usual dash and seems to be taking things a little too easily. He will turn the tables on 'McFarlane at the national meeting, though the time, 22 l-ssec„ proves that the Canterbury'lad is good. The 120 yards hurdles was a spectacular event, the three contestants jumping beautifully all the way. with McGregor (Canterbury) always in the lead, and winning b.v a yard nnd a half. J. McDon-ald-was second, with A. Cajupbell a foot behind, third. The time, la 4-usec.. was far'above the average. The 440 yards hurdles, on the other hand, was a fiasco. Only Anderson (Canterbury) and Richardson (Wellington) faced the starter, and both fell in the straight, although the Canterbury lad got in) again to win in 63scc. Richardson failed to finish.

The one'mile event proved what a game runner C. Gibbons is. He was absolutely done half-way up the straight, but battled on.to make Mathews run hu best race to date and lose b.v inches. Mathews fully deserved his win. and more will be heard of him in the future. F. Bradey (Wellington) was not in his best form, and could not clear 10ft. in the pole vault. The winner, M. Mulvey, is steadily improving, and bis effort o£ 10ft. sin. was a good one. Peter Munro, much to the surpri.se of. the Canterbury team, won the discus event with a throw of 128 ft. IJin. J. T. French (Canterbury) was reported to have done 135 ft. in practice, but all he could do on I his occasion was a little more than 110 ft. The javelin throwing was won by E. R. Hounsell (Canterbury), with the creditable throw of 155 ft. 4in. H. Griffiths (Wellington), did well to reach 146 ft. Jin. The relay race was thrown away by (he Wellington team —their baton changing was not worthy of a junior team. Canterbury fully deserved its win in the test, and on results will be a tough proposition for 'Wellington at the national gathering. The exhibitions of the maiority oi the Wellington team were not up to championship class, and a great improvement will have to be made if many wish to secure a place in the Wellington team for the national meeting. . It was a pity that McLeod, of the Miramar club, was not. given an opportunity to start in the 440 yards. hurdles event, for he certainly would have been Jiard to beat. Then again, why was C. Campbell (O.) omitted from the half-mile test? His performances are superior to those of Lawer (S.H.), who finished well back. The meeting was well conducted, and went with a swing, the loudspeaker being an acquisition, and much appreciated b.v the outside patrons. At future meetings a horn should be directed inside the grandstand. The officials of the Wellington Centre must fed rather disappointed at the poor attendance for so great a bill of fare. Th«re were not more than 1200 present, and this state of affairs does not. of course, lend any encouragement for future big meetings.

Women and Athletics. Some years ago a prominent official oi the Wellington Amateur Athletic Club decided to form a women’s branch of the club, and after a certain amount of opposition the ladies’ club became an established fact. Knowing that there would bo caustic remarks from a certain section who thought it was not the correct thing

for women to parade in public in shorts, the club decided on retaining all modesty possible, and rightly choose a costume to which no exception could be taken. The girls proved a great draw card to sports meetings and, being under the control of chaperons, were an object lesson to the men’s branch of the sport. The march of time sees many changes Other women’s clubs have sprung up and adopted the same style of dress as the first club. But to-day what a change has taken place! Practically every club has adopted shorts and discarded the skirt. This change might give a runner 1-16 of a second faster time in a 100 yards event, but seeing that Wellington has so few champions it is a change which on this score is not needed. Further, if some of the girls go on as they are, the centre will be forced to take action and make them wear a standard costume. The athletic field has not yet become the swimming pool, but to judge from some of the costumes it is fast doing so. At the beginning of the present season, too, the entries for the women’s sprint events were exceptionally good, but today they have dwindled away, and not more than two heats are now scheduled. What is the reason for this? Many, I know, are disappointed with their handicaps, and have lost heart, but they must remember that they will not turn into sprinters right away. My experience proves that a girl must run for a whole season simply to learn how to run. Another reason for dwindling entries may be the lack of expert coaching and the lack of proper control. Control is the making or breaking of a women’s club, and I think that that is where certain clubs fail to-day. Instead of seeking and appreciating offered assistance, they seem prepared to run on their own, with disastrous results to the club and the sport. Evening meeting this Monday on the Basin Reserve under the control of the Olympic chib. Entries close to-day. The handicapper for the Masterton meeting was very liberal to the limit men. Jenkins never had a chance. Once a programme lias been printed, late entries should not be taken. Miss J. Lark (Wellington club) is the most promising sprinter in the city today. Miss N. Browne (Petone) is Ihe best: of the hurdlers, anil duly won on Saturday.. More than 18 members of the Kiwi club arc journeying to Blenheim ou February 3. The Wellington and Kiwi clubs have decided to hold an evening meeting (electric light) ou the Basiu Reserve on March 4. It. is practically certain that the New Zealand cycling championships will be held on the banked track at English Park. It has been suggested by the president of the Wellington centre that this season banked track and grass track cycling championships should be held. If this idea is carried out. the first will be held at the Dewar Shield meeting at Petone on February 11. Points for the MeVilly Shield will only be counted at the grass track meeting ou February 27 at the Basiu Reserve. D. O. McKenzie (S.H.) had another win last Saturday. He has had more than his share, but is running well and deserves his victories. The Wellington club put up a great performance last Saturday in winning the three relay races, women’s, junior and senior. The officials of the Kiwi and Wellington clubs are endeavouring to arrange a women's relay race for local firms for their meeting on March 4. An action which went to show real sportsmanship was witnessed in the relay race held at Porirua last Monday. Only two teams, Wellington and Kiwi, faced the starter. In running the third distance Phillips, of the Kiwi club, fell over ,but he was soon on his feet again, losing at least 20 yards. Welphy (Wellington), who was to run the final distance, waited until his opponent had received the baton and made a good race of it, just winning. His action was loudly applauded by the spectators.