NORTHERN TEAMS ARRIVE

Evening Star, Issue 22274, 27 February 1936, Page 17

NORTHERN TEAMS ARRIVE

TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES Members of the Auckland, West Coast (North Island), and' Hawke s Bay-Poverty Bay teams to compete at the national track and field championships arrived in Dunedin by last night s express, and were welcomed at Die station by the president (Mr Guy Tapley) and officials of the Otago Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, while Mr F. M. Reid (the Otago Centre’s delegate on the New Zealand Council) was also present. Manager of the Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay team is Mr Norman M’Kcnzie, who is even better known in Rugby circles than he is in amateur athletics. Mr M'Kenzie was one of the selectors of the 1924 All Blacks, and he it was who scoured the country districts of Hawke’s Bay to find the side which he moulded into one of the finest combinations ever to hold the Ranfurly Shield. - What he did in Rugby, he has repeated in amateur athletics. From very small beginnings, the Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay centre has been developed into one of the strongest in the Dominion, and only recently it organised a tour by E. W. Winter, the New South Wales pole vault champion. Auckland, holders of the championship shield, have also brought a strong ana representative team, but the West Coast (North Island) contingent is of smaller dimensions than usual, a notable absentee being S. A. Lay, the famous javelin thrower, who has won this title seven times. The visitors engaged in light workouts at Carisbrook last night, and many of them commented very appreciatively on the fine order of the ground. The Canterbury and Wellington teams will arrive by the express this afternoon. XHe Wellington team is piloted by Mr A. C. Kitto, who has seen more national track and field meetings probably than any other official in the Dominion. He is one of New Zealand’s greatest authorities on the sport and is also a leading Rugby administrator.