TRACK AND FIELD

Evening Star, Issue 23128, 30 November 1938, Page 6

TRACK AND FIELD

Athletic Notes and Comments Coming Tour by Victorians [By Pistol.]

FIXTURES December 5, 12, and 19.—Otago Centre evening meetings, Caledonian Ground. January .21.—Meeting at Brighton. February 25.—Otago track and field championships, at Caledonian Ground. March 10 and 11.—New Zealand track and field championships, at Napier. March 11.—New Zealand marathon championship, Napier to Hastings and return. , , . March 23 (tentative).—Caledonian Society’s annual games. AUSTRALIANS’ TENTATIVE ITINERARY December 14.—Sail by Maunganui from Melbourne. December 18.—Arrive at Bluff. December 21 (Wednesday).—Compete at Milton. December 26 (Monday).—Compete at Roxburgh. _ January 2 (Monday).—Compete at Alexandra. January 4 (Wednesday).—Compete at Ashburton or Blenheim (tentative). January 7 (Saturday).—Compete at Wellington. , , v „ January 11 (Wednesday).—Compete at Oamaru. January 14 (Saturday).—Compete at Dunedin. January 16 (Monday).—Compete at Invercargill and depart from Bluff. EMPIRE QUARTER-MILER REAPPEARS CENTRE'S EVENING MEETING It is indeed unfortunate that the Otago Centre in the year in which it is undertaking its first tour by overseas athletes—an ambitious project, which deserves every encouragementshould have experienced a season which to date has been marred by most unseasonable weather. All the evening meetings have been held in cold and boisterous weather, with a consequent effect upon entries by athletes, attendances, and standard of performance. Nevertheless, the athletes are rallying around in good style and entries for this week’s meeting .were better than for any of those held previously. Some of the more prominent athletes are now approaching good form. Monday’s meeting marked the first appearance of the Empire Games representative, H. T. Tyrie, whp had a run in the interclub relay. Tyrie strode through a 220yds in good style. The big Civil Service quarter-miler has filled out con-: siderably since last summer, and is running stronger than ever. Tyrie has benefited from a season of football in the pack of the Southern senior team, where he also made his mark, gaining representative honours, and it will not occasion surprise to find him returning better times this season for the quar-ter-mile. Should he chose this year to make his forte the half-mile he should prove one of the finest runners ovex this distance New Zealand has produced.

now domiciled in Wellington, it looks as if Paterson will be hard to beat for the title

CLUB'S ENTERPRISE

GAVERSHAM'S COACHING SCHOOL The Caversham Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club is to be congratulated on the move it has made in organising a coaching school for next Saturday nfternoon at 2.30.

It will be held at the Caledonian Ground, and experts in various branches of athletics will be present to give the benefit of their advice and experience. In the event of wet weather, talks will be delivered in the club room. Among the coaches are Messrs B. B. M'Kernan, C. G. Gibbons, A. A. Cameron, and P. Souter, and there is no doubt that the move should do a good deal to improve the Caversham Club’s status on the track, AUSTRALIA’S GLAMOUR ATHLETE Australia’s glamour athlete, .Deciina Norman, is to join South Sydney Club when she arrives in Sydney at the end of January (says the Sydney ‘ Labour Daily ’). Club secretary Holey Bateman expects the West Australian flyer to prove the drawcard athletics has lacked during recent seasons.

" The game has lacked an outstanding personality,” said Bateman, “ and consequently public interest has been negligible. lam confident that Miss Norman’s advent will begin a new era in athletics.” It will be interesting to note Miss Norman’s influence on the attendances at the State championships in February. She received more plaudits than any other competitor at the Empire Games when she won the. 100yds and 220yds and broad jump titles. SYDNEY PERFORMANCES Brian Dunn gained his third N.S.W. State record this season when he dashed over a furlong in 22 3-ssec at the Sports Ground in Sydney recently. The University star led from start to finish. Previous record was held by the N.S.W. Rugby League representative Don Manson, with 22 4-ssec. A week earlier Dunn broke the junior 100 yards and broad jump figures under unfavourable conditions.

Bill Cartwright cleared 12,4 in the best pole vault effort of the season. Cartwright had an interesting duel with Ted Winter and Les Fletcher, who tied at 12.0. NOTES Can America boast a greater allround jumper than Jack Metcalfe, of Australia (asks a correspondent in the American ‘Amateur Athlete’)? He has done over 6ft Gin in the high jump, 24ft in the broad jump, and 51ft 9in in the triple jump. Miss Rona Tong, outstanding women’s hurdler in recent years and Empire Games has been coaching girls at the Hastings High School in running and hurdling. A good deal of success has attended her efforts so far, and there are hopes that the standard will be considerably improved. Douglas G. A. Lowe, one-time Olympic 800-metre champion and for several years the hon. secretary of the British A.A.A., has resigned from his post. E. J. Holt has succeeded him.

Another prominent performer who was, seen in action on Monday night was A. R. Duff,'the New Zealand University 220yds titleholder. Duff finished second in his heat, and in the final was within a yard of the winner in 10 4-5 sec, running into a half-gale. Duff is striding nicely, and with a few more weeks’ preparation should furnish some ,of the strongest opposition the Australian champion, Ted Best, will have during his tour. A popular win in the 100yds handicap was that of the young Caversham rum ner, Jim Strathearn. A consistent performer, he is reaping the benefit of steady training. H. M. Sullivan, who was second, has done great work for the Celtic United Club since its inception, and has also trained haz-d on the track, his perforxnance on Monday being his best this season. Sullivan is a well-built sprinter, who should improve a lot as the season advances.

The British Amateur Athletic Association has arranged to send a team to the United States in July, 1939, and also for an international meeting in London during the first week in August of the same year. British teams will visit France and Germany at the end of _ next year. The association, after fixing its arrangements for the United States, Germany, and France, felt that in view of the crowded fixture list it would be unable to accept invitations which had been extended to it by New Zealand and South Africa.

11. Naumann (Anglican), who was third, is also running well, and may yet fulfil the promise he showed as a schoolboy.

The 880yds senior handicap saw a fine finish between two improving young runners in R. Scott Moody (Anglican) and Norman Coutts (Civil Service). Moody proved too strong for the slightly-built Civil Service runner, and won by two yards, but, nevertheless, both z-an good races. Moody has improved his striding a lot this year, and is running more strongly. He should soon be back among the back-markers. This was Coutts’s first defeat of the season, but he was not disgraced as the strong wind was a handicap to one of his slight build. Coutts has a stylish action, and will be a force to be reckoned with in middle-distance races during the year. The 880yds junior handicap saw two good Celtic United youths in R. Baker (the winner) and H. F. Coombes (second). The latter was virtual scratch and ran a good race, just failing to catch his clubmate on the tape. The outstanding performance in the field events was A. J. Barr’s win in the javelin. Two weeks ago, the Caversham man could not get the spear much past 80ft, but under the coaching of J. V. Anderson, of the Dunedin Club, he has improved nearly 40ft in a fortnight. Barr has a nice build and flexibility, and looks to have possibilities of hurling the spear 150 ft or bettor.

One of the best hurdlers Otago has had in recent years, A. 11. Malcolm, is now a master at the Hamilton High School, one of the biggest secondary schools in the North Island. He is concentrating upon field events, and has already produced one of the most promising pole vaulters in H. Caro. He also has a good high jumper in W. J. M'Kenzie, whose sft 4in is better than many a senior is capable of. The Australian athletes. Gerald Backhouse and Ted Best, are now to disembark at Bluff on December 18, and are to spend their first two days in New Zealand in coaching activities at Invercargill, their first appearance on the track being made at Milton on December 21. Their second apppearance is to be made at Roxburgh five days later, and from Roxburgh they will go on to Alexandra before proceeding north. The big feature of the tour, from the point of local athletic followers. will be Backhouse’s meeting with Best over the mile at Dunedin on January 14. Their final appearance will be made at Invercargill on January 16 shortly before they depart from Bluff for Melbourne.

K. W. Paterson, the Otago junior champion, did 9ft Bin in the pole vault, which under the wretched conditions was a really excellent performance. With the Otago champion, Les Fagg,

The Otago representative wing threequarter, W. A. Black, with a view to keeping in trim during the summer months will shortly be taking part in track athletics. Black is a sprinter better than the ordinary, and will add a lot of interest to competition. Another Otago- rep. footballer who will be seen on the track in the near future is R. Neiper. “ Napper ” will be dabbling in field events in which he has shown some prowess in the past. V. P. Boot, the Empire Games halfmile champion, is given world rating by the ‘ Amateur Athlete,’ official pul> licatinn of the American A.U.U. In a list of world’s best performances for ,4

1938 Boot’s winning time on a grass track at the Sydney Cricket Ground in winning the Empire Games half-mile title is rated fifth among performances for 800 metres. The first six are given below :—Sydney Woodergon (Great Britain), Imin 48 2-ssec; Harbig (Germany), Imin 50 3-ssoc; Lanzi (Italy), Imin 50 7-10 se c; Woodruff (United States), Imin 51 3-10 sec; Boot (New Zealand!. Imin 51 2-ssec; Bordk (United States), Imin 51 5-10 sec.

Last athletic season one of the most promising sprinters of the year was W. A. Churchill, the Southern and 1937 Otago representative footballer. Churchill took on track running with the idea of doing some preliminary preparation for Rugby,. but made such rapid progress that at the conclusion of the season he was classed as one of the best sprinters, in the province, and finished only just out of a place in the Otago track championships. During the winter he had the misfortune to be injured early in the Rugby season, and consequently did not play further. He will, however, be seen on the track very shortly, and in view of last year’s performances his running will be watched with a lot of interest.

J. R. Dalgleish, the former Palmerston athlete, is now resident in Dunedin, and will be seen in action at centre meetings shortly. Dalgleish was runner-up to A. A. Cameron in the New Zealand discus throwing championship, and at the North Otago championships at the end of the season was within a few feet of Cameron’s winning effort. Dalgleish is most promising discus thrower, and with the increased competition he will have through competing against Cameron, Souter, and other good discus throwers in Dunedin he should blossom into a first-class discus man. In addition he is an excellent shot putter, having several putts of over 36ft to his credit. Ho will be an asset to the sport locally. At the big meeting to be held in Dunedin on January 14 the principal attraction will be the meeting of the two famous Empire Games athletes, Gerald Backhouse (.Australia) and V. P. Boot (New Zealand), over the mile, blit a subsidiary attraction will be the attempt to establish a New Zealand 20-mile record by G. L. Austin, G. R. Colston, and C. G. Gibbons. It has been suggested, also, that M. R. Spillane, the greatest hammer thrower New Zealafid has produced, should be invited to make a special attempt on the New Zealand hammer throwing record of 169 ft 9|in, established by J. W. Merchant (U.S.A.) in 1923. Spillane has trained throughout the winter, and has been exceeding his previous best performances by many feet. It should be a great opportunity for Otago people to see one of the finest exponents of hammer throwing in the British Empire in action.