ATHLETICS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 51, 1 March 1930, Page 22

ATHLETICS

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M-VILLY SHIELD

WELLINGTON CLUB'S WIN

SATURDAY'S PERFORMANCES

Quantity does, not always mean quality, but with the Wellington Amateur Athletic Club it is different. The club is the strongest numerically in the province, and over a long period of years it has always been to the forefront. And so it is to-day. The result of the M'Villy Shield competition at th- provincial championship meeting on the Petone Oval on Saturday afternoon proved that conclusively. The Shield .Points. As has been pointed out previously, no detailed1- list, of the points scored by the club 'and sub-centre teams which took part was available aft^r the meeting, but this'was provided during the week, and it shows.the Wellington Club to have scored more than double the number of points credited to University, the next on tho list. The points, which are allotted on the basis of. six for each win, three for a second, and one for a third, aro as follow: —Wellington Club .70 1-3, University Club 31, Olympic. Club 20, Wairarapa 22 1-3, Mastortori 19 1-3, Hawkes BayPoverty Bay 18 1-3, Manawatu 11, Petone Club 9, Scottish Harriers 9, Athletic Club 7, Hutt Club 5, Kiwi Club 2, Motueka Club 1. Munro and the Discus. Considering that the athletic track at Petone is not full size, and that for the first half of the meeting there was a stiff' southerly wind, performances at the meeting were of a high order, with several notable achievements, chief of which was the record throw with the discus by P. Munro, a great field events exponent for some time now. That he was' able to better by 2ft 2in his effort of 1924, which has stood as the Australian and New Zealand record ever since, shows that Munro has lost none of his form. It was a record-breaking throw, which the crowd knew little about. The throw coUld not be announced officially as having bettered the record until the official surveyor had been feverishly hunted up on tho tennis courts. In Fine Form. Another prominent competitor (lack of space forbids individual mention of all the fine .performances registered) was Nonna Wilson, the Gisborno girl, the Dominion sent to the Olympic Games in 1928. Miss Wilson had a season off the track last year, and it seemed that the announcement made that sho had finished was true, but the speedy Gisborne girl is on tho mark again, and is as good, if not better, than ever. It is pleasing, too, to see her in such fine form. If anything, Miss Wilson wearing a blue costumo on Saturday that was something new. to Wejington, seems to havo got slimmer. Her style was a delight to watch. Thelina Kench (Hutt)1 pushed tho former New Zealand champion to a close finish in the 100 yards championship. In the 110 yards ladies' handicap later Miss Wilson gave another fine exhibition. A repetition of tho form displayed by the Gisborne girl on Saturday and Miss Elaine Martyn, and the other aspirants for honours at Wanganui this month, will know they have been running—running really hard. . Surprises and, a Problem. The 440 yards and 880 yards events are races for which it is difficult to pick winners at the New Zealand championship meeting. On Saturday, too, in those two events calculations were rather upset. While realising that stout opposition might be likely from T. Pickering, who has been specialising on the quarter, it was not generally thought that J. T. Fleming would be beaten. In fact, it may bo said, that the general opinion was that Fleming would not be run out. Even when Fleming and Pickering came into the straight sido by side one could not see Fleming being bcaton, but a few seconds later, when it was seen that Fleming's efforts to get ahead wero unsuccessful, everything changed. Pickering withstood these efforts finely, and in a splendid finish proved a match for his club mate. There was not more than- a touch between them. The time of 50 4-ssec was only 4-asee outside Fleming's "best New Zealander's performance." What can be said about W. Ogg? At the Peltzer meeting, with a start of 15 yards, he ran second to the famous German in the special 880 yards event, beating, L. Hack (Masterton), who was on the same mark; a little later he put up a fino performance over 1000 yards at Petone, and then on Saturday Hack strides past him, and H. M'Donald (Manawatu) also gets home ahead of him. Such a state of affairs left the selector, of tho Wellington team for the Now Zealand meeting in rather a quandary. Hack then suggested that the' performances of himself and Ogg in the 880 yards of the' one mile relay might be taken into account. The result: Ogg drew well away from Hack, giving the Olympic Club a serviceable lead, tho young Mastorton representative (Hack is not yet 20) collapsing bofore entering the straight and failing to finish. Bayne and Savidan. , It was stated prior to tho meeting that J. W. Savidan's main object in competing in the distance events was to help along his preparation for his engagements at the Basin to-day. But, nevertheless, that cannot detract from tho excellence of G. Bayne's win over the New Zealand champion in the one mile- event. Savidan doesn't loaf along in,the early laps of a mile, and it was significant he did not get away from Baync on Saturday. Then, too, Savidan made a bid for tho honours along the back straight in tho final lap, but Bayne had-plenty of power left, and tho Aucklander was unable to shoot ahead. Bayno spurted, making a fino finishing effort, and Savidan eased, up. In the three miles, however, Savidan won as he liked. It was pleasing to see Randolph Rose having a go in the mile, over which distance his' performances in the past delighted thousands all over the Dominion. In his prime, the Wellington Centre had in Rose one of the best draw cards it has ever had, and it would please many to see tho popular champion of the past come back again. Randolph arrived in Wellington on Friday, and during this week he has boon under Mr. W. Barke,' the masseur, who played an important part in his preparation for the memorable contests with Lloyd Halm. Rose said that while his_ legs were rather sore, his wind ,w;is fairly good. He is round tiboufc his usual racing" weight of 12si',