HONOURS WITH CANTERBURY TEAM

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 22

HONOURS WITH CANTERBURY TEAM

The possible in the Wellington v. Canterbury interprovincial fixture at the Basin Reserve on Saturday was 25 points. Wellington, with the advantage of competing at home, could not score even half the possible. The honours of the meeting very definitely were with Canterbury, especially as they were without the services of several of their front-rankere, notably V. P. Boot and C. H. Matthews. Canterbury's 16 points was a fine performance.

In a number'pf events Wellington's representatives . were unmistakably superior, as was demonstrated by their taking of the first, second, and third places, but in this contest it was the team that was able to score the greatest number of wins that was the winner, and Canterbury's representatives were able^to do that. It is the only way to run such a contest, for otherwise the visiting team, which necessarily , must be smaller than the home side, would be placed at a big disadvantage. POINTS ANALYSED. Wellington's showing was disappointing in some respects. The team was expected to do. better than it did, and on paper it appeared that it would. Where Canterbury picked up valuable points was in the field events, and in the junior section it was helped considerably by two very promising boys, D. Shaw an.d R. W. Christensen. who fully lived up to the good reports from Christchurch that preceded their appearance here. Between them these two boys contributed five points to Canterbury's total.

; The nine points scored by the Wellington team were. made up by seven wins in flat events and two wins in field events;, Canterbury scored a similar number of wins in flat events, but, in addition, won nine of the other events.

Apart from Shaw and Christensen, other outstanding members of the Canterbury team were C. R. Bradwell (hurdles), Miss L. Boanas (women's sprints), and H. W. Wilkins (jumps). Bradwell and Wilkins, of course, are national title-holders, and Miss Boanas, who is still in her 'teens, bids fair with further competition and experience to be in the top flight of women sprinters. Unfortunately, on Saturday the Wellington provincial women's sprint champion. Miss J. Cramptonj was out of action with an injured leg, but even if she had been on hand she may have found Miss Boanas too good for her. . - . ■ - . • .•..•,'. GOOD QUARTER-MILE PERFORMANCE.. , One of the best performances of the afternoon undoubtedly was that by ,J. P. Evans, the young Wellingtori Club quarter-rniler, whose strong finish again was too much for C. Robinson, the provincial quarter-mile champion, in : the 440 yards. Evans's time of 50 l-ssec was distinctly good. -The , fiiture efforts of this promising young athlete against Robinson, J. Eastwood, and G. Quinn will be watched with - the greatest of interest. It now - appears, however, that Robinson, by planning his running somewhat differently, will be found more difficult to beat at the business end of the race. On Saturday he had run in and had won the 220 yards in 22 2-ssec—the fastest time for this distance that he has recorded on the: Basin Reserve—before starting in the quarter-mile, and in this he was only narrowly beaten by Evans. ';';

J. Eastwood's form was not as good as that shown by him at other meetings in the last few weeks, and. G. Quinn, the national sprint champion, was not at his best. It was hardly expected that he would be, however, after having been out of action for some weeks as a result of the muscle strain he suffered at Petone. In the

100 yards, A. Welply again ran well He has shown on his appearances ir, Wellington this season that he can still run into the places, even though for a sprinter, he has had a long in. nings now.

W. A. C. Pullar made no race of--the three miles. He ran this distance in preference to the one mile, ori' which he has been concentrating, for a change. As C. H. Matthews will not be a competitor, Pullar will be a hard man to beat over three miles at the national championship meeting, if he starts in this event, as no doubt he will.

The three hurdles events revealed Wellington talent to be at a Tow ebb. On the present local standard of perfonhance Wellington will be fortunate to pick up a point in the hurdles event* at the national meeting. E. Irving (University) is the best of those who have been seen out lately, but he appears to be in need of further tuning up. His best plan, if he has championship aspirations, might be to con* centrate on one of the events. The 220 yards hurdles might suit him best. POOR BATON CHANGING. The Wellington team's baton changing in the 880 yards relay race was dismally poor. This cost Wellington the race. T. McCashin ran a fine quarter-mile to hand over the lead to J. Ford, and it must have been very disheartening: to McCashin to see the initial advantage lost because of poor ' baton changing and for no other reason. McCashin had the hard part of the race to do; he made a success of it, and the other members of the Wellington team, if the baton .. had been changed properly and they had been under way in the approved style, would have been ableto keep the inside running the whole way. Good baton changing can make all the difference between failure and success, but it is a point which some1 athletes never seem to realise.. ~> ...

Quite another feature of the meeting, though it was announced only in an inciclental way, was the success of the Wellington team in the parade for points in the annual competition for the A. C. Kitto Shield, the possession of which the Kiwi Club has appeared to hold a mortgage. With the same judie as before awarding the points, Wellington's 95 to Kiwi's 78 was something that was unusual, to say the least of it. However, ; it is something [which . should stimulate greater interest in this season's competition.