THRILLING MILE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 59, 9 March 1940, Page 9

THRILLING MILE

PULLAR TOO STRONG

N.Z. TITLE MEETING

OPENING EVENTS

Sharp at 5 p.m. yesterday, near the end of a bright autumn day, the competitors were on their marks for the opening event of the forty-ninth New Zealand amateur athletic championship meeting at the Basin Reserve, the event being the first heat of the 120 yards hurdles championship. Conditions were well-nigh perfect, though when the sun went the air' became a little' chilly. It was an auspicious start, auguring well for the success of the meeting, which concludes this afternoon.

f* The Wellington Centre is the present holder of the New Zealand championship Shield, emblem of provincial superiority, and the centre's representatives last evening did well, scoring 15 points with three firsts in the five championships that were decided. In this competition five points are awarded for first places and two points for seconds. The West Coast (North Island) Centre scored seven points, Canterbury five, Otago four, and Auckland two. The other centre represented, Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay, did not score a point. There is a second team competition, that for the Queensland Jubilee Commemoration Shiei'd, at present held by Canterbury. This is awarded to the centre gaining most points for records, best New Zealander's performances, and standards. In this competition Wellington, West Coast (North Island), and Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay scored two points apiece, and Canterbury and Otago one point each.

The big thrill of the. evening was the one mile championship, in which W. A. ,C. .Pullar.. (Wellington) defended his title successfully after a great tussle with the young Otago runner L. V. Dickison. Pullar won by about two feet in as fine a finish as anyone could wish to see. S. J. Wade (Auckland), who, after his fine shbwing in the Centennial mile against V. P. Boot on the same ground recently, was regarded with favour, was disappointing, finishing third, about ten yards back. Even with V. P. Boot and T. Allen (Otago) not starting in the race, the anticipations were for a fine contest arid they were fully realised. The fieid was further reduced by four defections —P. Wallace,5 L. Hannan, and A. Birtwistle (West Coast, North Island), and S. McConnell (Canterbury), leaving six starters. Hannan, who ran so impressively in the 880 yards at last year's meeting unfortunately was suffering from a sprained ankle. THE RACE DESCRIBED. One of Wellington's three representatives, J. Barron, jumped out to set the pace at the start, followed by Wade, C. Dickie (Wellington), Pullar, W. J. Potter (Auckland), and Dickison. Barron did not maintain his initial fast pace, and the order of the runners remained unchanged for two laps. The first lap was covered in 63 3-ssec and the half-mile in 2min 16 4-ssec, relatively slow time.. Up to this point there was nothing, in the race to enthuse about. At the start of the third lap, however, Dickison moved up from the rear and went to the front. Going along the back straight, Dickison held the lead from ! Wade, and Pullar moved up in front of Dickie, with Barron fourth and Potter out of the hunt; The three-quarter mile was covered In 3min 19 3-ssec. At the bell for the start of the last lap Pullar was on Dickisori's shoulder, and a yard behind them was Wade, with Dickie close at hand. Barron had dropped behind;. Dickison was still going well and along the back straight he opened out still more. Pullar responded. Three hundred yards from the finish was a long way to start a finishing sprint against a man of Pullar's proven ability at this end of a mile, and it proved to be Dickison's downfall. Rounding the bend into the home straight, Pullar wrested the lead from Dickison, but the issue was still not determined. Dickison came again with a last desperate challenge, and the crowd were on their toes as he caught up on Pullar. But Pullar still had a little in reserve, whereas Dickison faded over the last few yards. Wade, who could not go with Pullar when he spurted to pass Dickison, was third, and Dickie fourth. J. N. McCarthy, the Wellington policeman, who was beaten in the three miles walk championship last year, did not fall into the error of allowing others to get away out in front this time. It soon became apparent that the issue was between him and R. Watson (Otago), last year's champion. These two opened up a gap on'the'others and kept together until the eleventh lap, when McCarthy cleared out from Watson, whose pace dropped right away, and he went oh to' win by 130 yards. H> Hingston (Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay), who was second last year to Watson, did not finish. The third man was F. Dumble (Wellington), who did exceedingly well to finish 23 yards behind Watson. A SURPRISE WIN. Wellington's other championship win last evening was a surprise success gained by E. Todd in the discus event, in which last year's champion J. D. Morgan (West Coast. North Island) was beaten into third place. Morgan, however, was in no shape to be. defending his title. He was suffering not only with a poisoned finger, but also with swollen glands. . After the mile, an event whicn claimed a great deal of interest was the pole vault championship, principally because of the appearance of an American, D. Weichert, who is engaged in petroleum investigations in Taranaki and who , represented the West Coast Centre. He had cleared the bar in Olympic trials in America at 14ft, a dizzy height measured by New Zealand performances. Weichert easily won the title from last year's champion F. Barraclough with a clearance of 12ft, and then attempted to break the New Zealand record by clearing 12ft 4in, but failed. It was rather a pity that the pole vault was not held a little nearer the spectators. The New Zealand record is held by E. J. Winter (New South Wales) at 12ft 3in. Weichert's vault was the second best that hag been done in this country. . The other championship event decided last evening was the broad jump, which was won by H. W. Wilkins (Canterbury) with a leap of 21ft 7in.The standard in this event was not high. In the early stages competitors to some extent appeared to be disturbed by the shadows cast across the ground and they may also have been affected by the chilly air. Except for three handicap events, the remainder of the programme was devoted, to the running off of the heats of hurdles and sprint events. -P. F. SharpXey. who 'is in camp at Trentham' set himself- a big task. by. competing in the 100 yards flat, 120 yards hurdles, 220 yards hurdles, and 440 yards hurdles. It was too much for him. He showed good form in the 120 yards hurdles and. 220 yards hurdles, winning his heats in these in great style, and was also second in his 100 yards heat, but was distressed in the 440 yards hurdles and failed to finish. He should not have started. His chief opponent in the 120 yards hurdles and 220 yards hurdles this afternoon will be C. R. Bradwell (Canterbury) . SUTHERLAND'S SPRINTING. j- Although badly left at the start in his heat of the 100 yards—unusual for him —the young Wellington runner J. Sutherland was top pacy for his >p■ponents. and it will be surprising if he is beaten in the final. C. Knight (Canterbury), who was fast away, appeared unlucky from the Press box riot to be placed third in the first heat, and- the I same--commentiapplies~toV R.

Phillips (Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay) in the second heat.

The form of Wellington's three representatives suggested that they might fill all the places in the final of the 220 yards and that C. Robinson will find it difficult to defend his title against J. Ford. A. T. Anderson is not defending his 440 yards hurdles title, the chief contenders^ for which are likely to be the young Wellington representative W. Evensen and H. Ramsay (Otago). C. Robinson and J. Eastwood will carry Wellington's colours in the final of the 440 yards, and the contest will be between them and the present title holder, H. J. Tyrie (Otago). Although no stylist but a man with a powerful leg action, Tyrie gave the impression of again being a hard man to beat. In the results the competing centres are shown in the following manner:— Wellington (W.), Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay (H.8.-P.8.). Otago (O.), Canterbury (C.),. West. Coast, North Island (W.C.). Auckland (A.). CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS. 120 yds Hurdles Championship.—First heat : P. F. Sharpley (H.8.-P.8,). 1; L. C. Woodward (C), 2; K. Patience (W.), 3. Time, 16 l-ssec. Second heat: C. R. Bradwell (C), 1: K. Brown: (W.), 2; J. Devcich (A.), 3. Time, 16 2-ssec. 100 yds .. Championship.'—First ,' heat: J. Sutherland (W.). 1; P. F. Sharpley (H.8.-P.8.), 2; H. Emus (A.), 3. Time, 10 2-ssec. Second heat: G. C. Gordon (C), 1; R. A. Mottram (0.), 2: W. K. Mansill (A.), 3. Time, 10 3-ssec. ''•'■■■ • One Mile Championship.—W. A. C. Pullar (W.), 1; L. V. Dickison (O.), 2; S. J. Wade (A.), 3. Time, 4raln 18 l-ssec. . Broad Jump Champlonship-^-H. W. Wilkins (C), 21ft 71n, 1; C. A. Calvert (A.), 21ft, 2; J. B. Prendergast (W.), 20ft 6in, 3. Pole Vault Championship.—D. Wcichert (W,C), 12ft, 1; F. S. Barraclough (W.C.), lift lin, 2; L. Grey (H.8.-P.8.), 10ft lOin, 3. . Throwing the Discus Championship.— B. L. Todd (W.j, 124 ft 0y 2 !n, 1; A. B. Redmond (C). 120 ft 2in, 2; J." D. Morgan (W.C.). 117 ft llin, 3. 220 yds Hurdles Championship.—First heat: P. F. Sharpley (H.8.-P.B), 1; R. B. Joyes (A./, 2; R. C. Woodward (C), 3. Time, 25 3-osee. Second heat: C. R. Bradwell (C). 1; H. D. Ramsay (O.), 2; K. Brown (W.), 3. Time, 25 2-ssec. 220 yds Championship.—First heat: .1. Ford (W.), 1: D. Adcock (C), 2; R. Mausill (A.), 3. Time, 22 4-ssec. Second heat: C. Robinson (W.),.1; H. Emus (A.), 2: H. J. Tyrie (0.), 3. Time, 22 4-ssec. ' Third beat: C. Knight (C), 1; J. P. Eastwood HW-), 2; F. Collinge (H.8.-P.8.), 3. Time, 23sec. Three Miles Walk Championship.—N. McCarthy (W.), 1; R. Watson (0.). 2; F. Durable (W.), 3. Time, 22rain 53 4-ssec. 440 yds Huraies Championship.—-First' hea.t : W. Evensen (W.). 1; J. Gerken (Q.), 2:; G. I. Bickerstaff (Hvß.;-P:B.), 3. Time,. 57 4-5 sec. Second'heat: H. D. Ramsay (0.). 1; R. B. Joyes (A.), 2; D. Tossman (W.). 3. Time, 57 2-ssec. .•,.'■ - - 4'4oyds Championship.^First heat:'C. Robinson (W.), 1; A. W. .Ldhrey (C), '2; G.> Morgan (H.8.-P.8.), 3. Time, 51 2-ssec. Second heat: J. P. Eastwood (W.), 1; Smith (O.), 2; Christiansen (C), 3. Time, 51sec. Third heat: H. J. Tyrie (0:), 1; S. McKenzie (W.C.), 2. Time, Slsec. HANDICAP EVENTS. 100 yds Handicap.—First heat: R. Ki'dd (Wellington), 7yds, 1; E. Todd (Kiwi), 4yds, 2; L. Bacon (Kiwi), s^yds, 3. Time, 10 2-ssec. Srcond heat: B. Synott (Kiwi); syds, 1; H. Hudson (Wellington), 7%ydß, 2-; A. Robinson (Kiwi), 6%yds, 3. Time. 10 3-ssec. Final: Kidd, 1; Todd, 2; Hudson, 3. Time, 10 2-5 sec. 880 yds Handicap.—D. J. Butler (WelllngI ton), 20yds, 1; A. Rowell (Kiwi), Gsyds, 2; J. S. Hay (Kiwi), 3. Time, lmin 56sec. One Mile Cycle Handicap.—S. A. Webber (P.N.), 90yds, 1; Langley (Nelson), 2: G. Pennington (Petone), 50yds, 3. Time, 2min 20

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