TRACK AND FIELD

Evening Star, Issue 20995, 8 January 1932, Page 5

TRACK AND FIELD

ATHLETIC HEWS All NOTES

[By Pistol.]

FIXTURES. January 26 and February 3 and 9. Civil Service club championships. February 27.—Otago track and field championships. March 11 and 12.—New Zealand track and field championships, at Auckland. LOCAL ACTIVITIES. There was little activity in local track and field activities over the holidays, but championship contenders are now entering on the really serious part of their training, and the next few weeks should find some of them turning in good performances. The first evening meeting of the New Year will probably be held in about a fortnight’s time, and the Sports Committee of the Otago centre is expected to meet next week to arrange a programme for the centre’s third evening meeting. To date, the centre has staged two afternoon and two evening meetings, and in addition_ it had control of the amateur athletic events at the Labour Day sports. The Civil Service Club will get its championship events off towards the end of the present month, and no doubt the Anglican Chib will also soon be on the mark to decide its various title events. Club competition at the championship meeting promises to be. the keenest for some years, for with such fine athletes as A. A, Cameron, J. G. Leckie, and M. R. Spillane doing their share for the North Otago, Toko., and Palmerston Clubs, Anglican will not pick up the easy points in the field events that has been its habit in the last year or two. Anglican, Civil Service, and Invercargill are all likely to share in a good distribution of points in the contest for the' List Shield, at present held by Anglican, and University invariably has to be reckoned with, while Pacific should be able to field a stronger team this year than for a very long time past. It is the aim of the Otago centre to make the provincial championship meeting at Carisbrook on Saturday, February 27, one of the best it has ever held, and with clubs taking part from all over Otago, Southland, and North Otago, it should be a historic gathering. It is many years since a championship meeting was held on this ground, which possesses undoubtedly one of the fastest tracks in the dominion. It is hoped that by the end of February, the centre will be able to return to the Caledonian Ground, and possibly during March a meeting will be held there. The Civil Service Club is holding its _ championship meetings on the University Oval. Considerable enthusiasm is being shown by members of the Tokomairiro Club, and the secretary of the Otago centre has been asked to supply the Milton Club with particulars of forthcoming meetings that are to be arranged. Local athletes are awaiting the announcement of the date of the annual fixture at Milton, which promises to receive the best support since it was revived a few years ago. The Waikouaiti Club is another club which has yet to announce the date of its annual meeting, but it will probably be held at Easter, as was formerly the case, and Dunedin athletes are likely to present in force. The Taieri Club has not shown much activity during the last couple of seasons, but local athletes are hopeful that the_ Mosgiel sportsmen will be able to revive what was formerly one of the most popular fixtures in Otago. WITH THE WHEELMEN. Th professional one-mile cycle championship of New Zealand at the South Canterbury Caledonian Society’s sports on New Year’s Day was won by a Timaru rider, W. R. Wilmott, after a good exhibition. The race was won in 2min 28sec, the slow time being due to the amount of jockeying which went on among the riders' Wilmott rode a well-judged race, and won by a wheel from W. T. Weir. Wilmott was also second in the two-mile chamniou-

ship, which was won by the Christchurch rider, A. C. Ritchie, who had just enough in reserve to overhaul Wilmott in the strajght and won by half a wheel, the time being 4min 51sec. Ritchie also won the mile handicap. In the one-mile amateur handicap G. Hetherington, the Pacific rider, rode into third place off the 20yds mark. He was on the 20yds mark, and was set a difficult task in having to concede B. Dempsey 155yds. The latter won by 60yds in 2min 8 l-ssec, the scratch man, J. Flaherty, finishing 30yds ahead of Hetherington. The Pacific rider is expected to shape well at the Otago championships, for he has had any amount of racing this season, and though lacking a little in judgment at times, he has a good finish and is a game rider. Jack Fogarty is training in earnest with a view to defending his titles at the Otago championships, and at Carisbrook should be hard to beat.

A rider from whom serious opposition will be forthcoming is Gib. Smith, who invariably goes well on the grass and is reported to have commenced his championship preparations. If G. Milligan sticks to training he will be good enough to compete at lire provincial meeting. Ho has been used to riding a high gear, but is now beginning to realise the value of a low gear for speed and ease on the limbs. Although J. S. Parsons has not yet revealed nis best form this season, he has plenty of time to strike it before the championships, and he invariably does well in important events. Probably th© most impressive of the new riders this season has been C. Hanson, the young Pacific representative, and though he is a, bit young, there is no reason why he should not line up for the championship meeting. He can he depended on to perform with credit.

A. J. Hay has had a month’s spell, but will be starting training in earnest shortly. He is a strong rider who should be capable of extending most of them at the championships. A real enthusiast for the wheel sport is Mr H. R. Greenfield, who did a lot of work in connection with the Otago Amateur Club’s evening meeting recently. Both clubs here are fortunate in possessing a number of men who are prepared to devote their time to further the interests of the sport. The Otago Amateur Cycling Club will probably hold another evening meeting before the Otago championships, and with the riders getting into top form some good racing should certainly be witnessed. Duncan Gray’s chance of again being an Australian Olympic cycle representative seems to be gradually lessening (says an Australian writer). A week ago he was deprived by Home Pethybridge and Joe Buckley of the mile and five-mile titles, and on Saturday evening he failed to gather the half or ten-mile New South Wales championships to compensate for his earlier losses. If chosen to trip to Queensland, the Goulburnian may rehabilitate himself by winning an Australian championship, but he has an uphill fight now. Norm Robinson continues to demonstrate that he is the best grass track cyclist in Wellington, and his win in the three-mile event from scratch at Athletic Park last Saturday was clearcut (says the ‘ New Zealand Sportsman’). O’Brien, New Zealand triple champion, did not impress in any of his rides at this meeting, and lacks the crowd-pleasing ability of Frank Grose. A meeting between Grose. Gane, Robinson, and Roberts would be something worth watching these days. RELAY RECORD. The proposal of the New South Wales A A.A. for a team comprising Jimmy Carlton, George Golding (N.S.W.), E. M. Davidson, and Alan Elliston (Vic.),, to make an attack on the world’s 1,600 metres relay running record is impracticable at the present juncture (says Mr Hugh Weir, bon. general secretary of the V.A.A.A. (says the ‘Sporting Globe’). The suggestion is for this team, following the Australian national championships in Sydney in January, to attempt to better the 3min 14 l-sseo made by the American team (Baird, Alderman, Spencer, and Barbu'tti) at the Amsterdam Games in 1928. Mr Weir said that until be received the letter from the N.S.W.A.A.A. he was unable to commit his association. Speaking off hand, howeverj he said there were some difficulties in the way. The Australian championships were paramount to any record attacks, and, under no circumstances, would the V.A.A.A. permit any members of the team to engage in special races until after the carnival. The present plans were for the Victorian team to return to Melbourne on the Tuesday following the second day of the championship (January 18), and it would be asking too much of runners after their strenuous contests to give their best in a relay attack. The art of relay racing, said Mr Weir, was baton changing, and while the proposed Australian four was a very fine one, they would require much practice before they could hope to be adept sufficiently to attack the world’s record with confidence. SPEED RECORDS. Do you admire the man who can run nearly twelve miles in an hour better than the man who can fly six and a-half miles a minute? Readers of a French newspaper have voted on the most popular world’s record holder, and, strange as their choice may seem, they have put Flight-lieut. Stainforth’s world air speed record of 4074- m.p.h. as eighth in a list of ten. They consider that Paavo Nurmi’s run in Berlin in 1928, when he covered just under twelve miles in an hour to make a new world’s record, is the finest speed achievement in the world. Next to Nurmi they place Ladoumegue’s run of a mile in 4min 9 1-osec. The third place is given to Oscar Egg for cycling twenty-seven and a-half miles an hour on the track. The list of honour for the first ten world’s record-holders is:— 1 1. Nurmi’s hour running record of 11 miles 1,365yd5. 2. Ladoumegue’s mile record of 4min 9 l-ssec. 3. Oscar Egg’s hour cycling record (unpaced) of 27 miles 863yds. 4. Jarvinen’s Decathlon record. 5. Rigoulot’s two-handed weight-lift of 402i1b. 6. S. Cator’s long jump of 26ft 0 l-Biu. 7. Roland Locke’s 200 metres run of 20 3-ssec,

8. Flight-lieutenant Stainforth’s air speed record of 407 J m.p.h. 9. H.M. Osborn’s high jump of 6ft BJin. 10. Weissmuller’s 100-metree swim in 57. 2-ssec. NOTES. A. A, Cameron, the North Otago athlete, should be in fine form for the Otago amateur championships. At the South Canterbury Caledonian Meeting on New Year’s Day Cameron did 46ft Ojin in the amateur hop, step, and jump handicap, which, indicates that in another six weeks he should just about be capable of bettering R. 0. Johnson’s Otago record for the triple leap. A. H, Malcolm, the former Otago hurdles and high jump champion,-won the amateur high jump handicap at Timaru, and in the 220yds amateur handicap occupied third place. A feature of this meeting was a splendid exhibition over a quarter of a mile by G. S. Cabot, the Otago and New Zealand amateur walking champion, who started off at a great pace and maintained it right to the finish. The outstanding mile runner of the past season in England was R. H. Thomas. In 1930 Thomas won the championship title in 4min 15 1-osec—-a time which then was the second fastest ever recorded at the English championships. At the British Empire Games at Hamilton some seven weeks later he returned 4min. Usee. This year Thomas made his first appearance on Whit Monday, when at Stamford Bridge he ran right'away from somewhat mediocre opposition, and, finishing in 4min 13 2-6seo, beat A. G. Hill’s ten-year-old record by 2-ssec. New Zealand amateur athletic administration suffered a severe loss, by the departure from Wellington for Rotorua of E. 6, Guy, one of the vicepresidents of the New Zealand Council. Mr Guy was always a great worker on behalf of the cause of amateur athletics in the country, and now I note in a northern paper that he has established an amateur athletic club at Rotorua. Ted Guy could not keep out of the sport, and it is- a good thing for athletics that such is the case.Now representing the Auckland Centre on the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Council is Mr W. F. Ingram, a prominent member of the Wellington Amateur Athletic Club. Mr Ingram is a newspaper man, who is well known as “ Miler ” of the ‘ New Zealand Sportsman,’ and he is possessed of such enthusiasm and energy that he is bound to. be a success on. the council. Miss Norma Wilson made a reappearance at an evening meeting in Gisborne recently. Although she did not win, she showed glimpses of the form that earned her a place in the, New Zealand Olympic team in 1928. Mr O. Willis has been appointed by the Wellington Centre, N.Z.A.A.A., to act as honorary secretary for the season, in place of Mr S. Philpott, who expressed a desire to , relinquish his duties (says a Wellington exchange). Mr Philpott intimated at the annual meeting of the centre that he could not continue, and it is to his credit that he carried on until a new secretary was found. The new secretary is not unknown in amateur sport, and should prove a success. [He has been keenly interested in harrier circles, and is an ardent enthusiast. 0. Cameron won the mile walk off 40sec, and he was not troubled to beat the limit man, Killeen, in the final -stretch at Auckland recently (says the New Zealand ‘Referee’). S. Gudsell was set to concede big handicaps, and, although he finished third, he had no chance of overtaking the leaders. His time, 7.34, was not so good as he recorded a month ago, but on the back stretch, the more exposed side of the track, a strong wind was against the competitors, which would probably account for the slower time. Killeen tired badly in a half-mile walk three weeks ago, but on this occasion he was much better conditioned, and showed noticeable improvement. In conversation with G. S. Cabot, the champion walker, the writer learnt that A. A. Cameron, the North Otago field athlete, referred to above, did sft lOin in the high jump. Cabot expressed the opinion that Cameron was a groat prospect for the New Zealand championships in the field section. Incidentally, in the quarter-mile walk, Cabot did Imin 23sec, not quite 2sec outside the world’s record of F. H. Creamer.