RECORDS SMASHED

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 February 1938, Page 2

RECORDS SMASHED

AT EMPIRE GAMES MATTHEW’S WINS SIX MILES [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT. | SYDNEY, February 10. Records were again smashed at Today’s session of the Empire Games athletics.

The most meritorious performance of the day was that of C. H. Matthews (New Zealand)' in the six miles event. He ran a well-judged race, lying quietly behind the leaders iu the early stages, and going to the front when half the distance bad been covered. He showed great stamina and increased his lead to 50 yards in the last mile and finished up a magnificent, effort with a sprint. As the last. lap progressed the crowds round the fence rose and cheered. Matthews twice lapped Doyle (Australia), who was the last man to finish, but four of the 14 competitors dropped out during the race. Matthews was quite fresh when he finished, as also was Geddes, who also ran well, though he never looked like winning. Matthews’s time. 30min 14.55ec.. was a Games and Australian record. It reduced by 35.1 sec the Games record established by J. W. Savidan (New Zealand) in 1930.

Once again the* New Zealand women runners did not show to advantage, compared with the other competitors. Miss Decima Norman, who was victorious in the women's 100 yards and broad jump, again distinguished herself in the heats and semi-final of Hie 220 yards race. Her time in the semifinal, 24.5 sec., was only one-fifth ot a second outside the world record.

Holmes's win in the 220 yards event for men was a magnificent performance, and gave him a double win in the present series. Leckie was up against strong opposition in Sutherland (Canada) in throwing the hammer, but he secured third position. In the women's javelin throw. Miss Mitchell (New Zealand) passed the present Games and Australian records, but the high standard can be seen Irom the fact that three threw further than she. Results: — 220 YARDS (Men). (Games record: 21.Ssec.. S. E. Engelbart (England), 1930). Final Holmes (England.) .. .. 1 Mumford (Australia.) .. 2 Best (Australia) ’.. .. 3 Won by a yard; half a yard between second and third. Time, 21.25ec.; a Games and Australian record. From an even start. Holmes narrowly took the lead, which he held throughout. 80 METRES HURDLES (Women) (Games recordT 11.3 sec E. Hiscock England. 1934). First Heat—Burke (South Africa) 1. Tong (New Zealand) 2, Kennedy (Australia) 3. Won by two yards; three-quarters of J a yard between second and time. Time, 11.9 sec. Miss Burke established a lead from the outset and improved it as she ran Miss Tong jumped well v and led the remainder, of a bunched field. ONE MILE i Men i (Games record: 4min 12 4-ssec.. J. Lovelock (New Zealand), 193.4) First Heat —-Alford (Wales) 1, Graham (Scotland) 2, Pullar (New Zealand) 3. Won by in yards: four ya ids between second and third. Time. 4min 17.3,5ec. The New Zealanders. Pullar and Allen, were lying fourth and fifth a few yards behind the leader, until they moved up to third and fourth. Approaching the tape they were content to hold (hose positions. Second Heat —Backhouse (Australia) 1, Boot (New Zealand) 2, Eeles (England) 3. Won by one and a half yards; 15 yards between second and third. Time 4min 18sec. The field wtis well bunched until 200 yards from home, when Boot sprinted from the last to the front. Backhouse in the straight, bul Boot made little effort to respond, being content with second place. Clarke (Canada) was fourth, and Matthews (New Zealand) did not start.

THROWING THE HAMMER (Men) (Games record: 158 ft 3£in. M. C. Nokes (England), 1931) Sutherland (Canada), 159 ft 9-T-in. 1 Pardon (Australia), 148 ft OJin. 2 Leckie (New Zealand), 145 ft. sgin. 3 Sutherland’s throw was a Games record. SIX MILES (Men) (Games record: 30min 49.65ec. W. J. Savidan (New Zealand), 1930) Matthews (New Zealand) .. .. 1 Rankine (Canada) 2 Hayward (South Africa) .. .. 3 Won by 180 yards; 250 yards between second and third. Time, 30min 14.35 e—a Games and Australian record. Geddes (New Zealand) was fourth. Coleman (South Africa), followed by Weatherill (England) and Matthews, made the running for the first two miles, but then Coleman was disqualified for attempting to prevent Weatherill passing and also for crossing Rankine twice. After three miles Matthews moved to the front, followed closely by Ward (England), Rankine, and Hayward (South Africa). Geddes was then in sixth position, 100 yards behind Matthews. That order was maintained until the last mile, when Matthews increased his speed and established a lead of 50 yards from Rankine and Ward. Matthews spurted in the last lap and finished with a sprint.

SECTIONAL TIMES. The sectional times for the six miles were as follows: Mile 4.46.5, two miles 9/55.4, three miles 15/11.4, four miles 20/17, five miles 2/27.6. . The last mile took only 4/46.9. Ward tried to go on with Matthews, commencing the last mile, but soon fell back, beaten. It was learnt later that he struck the running board on the inside edge of the track, with his left foot, and last night his ankle was badly swollen.

440 YARDS (Open) (Games record. 48sec. G. Rampling. England. 193 l.i. Second Heat: Eoaring (Canada) 1. Tyrie (New Zealand) 2. Jones (Australia) 3. Won by half a yard: live yards between second and third. Time. 19.2 sec. Third Heat—Roberts. (England) 1, l-'ritz (Canada I 2. Sayers (New Zealand! 3. Won by six yards: 15 yards tietween second and third. Time. 48.1 sec. Sayers does not qualify for the final. In the first heat, won by Shore (South Africa), with Mumford (Australia) second, the lime. 47.95ec. was a Games and Australian record. 22(1 YARDS WOMEN (Games record. 25sec. E. Hiscock, England. 1934). First semi-final —Norman (Australia) 1. Burke (South Africa) 2. Talbot (Australia) 3. Won by six yards: two and a-half yards between second and third, ’rime, 24.55ec. a Games and Australian record. Second semi-final—Meagher (Can adtO 1. Coleman (Australia) 2. Wearne (Australia) 3. Won by half a yard; inches between second and third Time. 25 J sec. In the heats of this event Miss Strachan (New Zealand) ran fourth in the first heat, and Miss Lumley (New Zealand) ran third in the third heat, but was disqualified for running in the wrong track.

BROAD JUMP (Men) (Games record. 23ft 71in, L. Hutton, Canada, 1930) FI. Brown 24ft 4§in. 1 J. Panton (Canada), 23ft 9 Jin. 2 Eickensen (Australia), 23ft s§in. 3 The winner set a new Games record. THROWING THE JAVELIN (Women) (Gaines record, 105 ft. 7Jin, G. Lunn, England, 1934). Higgins (Canada). 125 ft. 7Mn. 1 Robertson (South Africa), 121 ft 4in 2 Lunn (England), 119 ft 5 Jin. .. 3 Mitchell (New Zealand), 118 ft. Ogin. 4 All four figures bettered the Gaines and Australian record. 440 YARDS RELAY (Men) (Games record. 42 l-ssec Canada 1930) Canada .. .. .. 1 England .. .. .. 2 Australia .. .. ■■ •"> Won by two yards: onp yard between second and third. Time. 41. G sec., a Games and Australian record. WRESTLING. 'fhe wrestling finals resulted as fol low: — Welterweight: Trevaski (Australia) outpointed Standee (South Africa), after a tight tussle, the wrestlers being on their feet for the, greater part of the bout. Podjursky (New Zealand) was third in this division. Middleweight.—Sheasby (South Africa) lost to Evans, on points. Evans brought his opponent to the mat with a body hold, and maintained, his advantage to the end. Light-heavyweight.—Scarf ( Australia) defeated Greenspate (South Africa) by one fall, after a lively bout, with a double wristlock. Heavyweight.—Knight (Australia) defeated Dryden (New Zealand) by one fall. Knight was more experienced than Dryden, but the New Zealander moved very smartly and did his share of attacking. The pair came out level, after six minutes, and each attacked in turn. With 15 seconds to go, Knight rolled Dryden over and pinned him. after the best bout of the evening. BOXING. In the final of the flyweight, Joubert gave a clever exhibition of twohanded fighting and good ringcraft. Bantamweight: Butler (England) defeated Knoesen (South Africa), on points, the decision receiving a very mixed reception. Featherweight: Watson (Scotland) lost to Henricus (Ceylon), on points. The victor was superior in height and reach, but the Scotsman fought lyMoran (New Zealand) was third in this section. Lightweight: Groves (England) gained a points decision over Hurst (Canada), in a hard-fought match. Welterweight: Smith (Australia defeated Heeney (New Zealand), on points. Snimi had an advantage in weight and reach, but Heeney forced the fighting, and scored in close with both hands to the body, boxing more impressively than in his first bout. Smith used the ring well, and scored with both hands in straight work. Heeney went after Smith in the last round, but Smith countered cleverly. After a willing mill, the decision went to Smith. Middleweight: Dennis (England) lost to Reardon (Wales), after a spirited bout. Light-heavyweight: W ohnarama (South Africa) defeated Overell (Australia), after a bright bout, in which there was much hard hitting. Heavyweight: Osborne (Canada) defeated Sterley (South Africa). It was a poor display, with much wild swinging.

CYCLING HEATS SYDNEY, February 10. The preliminary heats of the 1000 metre sprint cycling events were run off to-day at Henson Park. ! The New Zealanders, Ulmer and'! Taylor, won their heats, and Giles had a. walk over. Thus the three qualify for the quarter-finals on Saturday night. RIFLE-SHOOTING SYDNEY. February 11. For the rifle shooting, 'conditions were good. Hoddle still leads at the end of the second stage of the King's Prize, with a total of 201 points, only four short of the possible. Three Australians follow, one point behind. In the Grace Bros, match, of ten shots at 600 yards. Parkinson, who was fourth with a possible 50, won £3; Jeune 50, Bowes, Soler, and Nicholls 49. won £1 each. tn the Dick Simmons match, ten hsots at 600 and 700 yards. Jeune. 98, won £2: Nichols 97, Donald. Russell. Soler. Parkinson 96. James, Smith. Bowes. 95, Nix 94, Oliver 93, won £1 each. TABLE OF POINTS. The unofficial table of points for all Empire Games events is as follows: — Australia. 367, Canada 248, England 202, South Africa 125, New Zealand 110, Scotland 26. Wales has gained points for athletics. boxing, and swimming; British Guiana for swimming; Ceylon for athletics and boxing: Rhodesia for bowls and boxing; Northern Ireland for bowls: and Fiji for bowls. New Zealand, which scored most points in bowls, is fourth on the athletic and wrestling tables, but scored very few points in swimming, boxing, and cycling. "CHAMPION OF STAMINA." SYDNEY. April 11. The "Herald" says: The six miles was a sensational race, in which Matthews repeated his triumph in the three mile event, and Coleman, winner of the marathon, was disqualified. Jostling and hard tactics during the 'first half of the race marred the event as a. sporting spectacle, but. Matthews lovely even action and grand performance made the spectators forget the earlier unpleasant incidents. Matthews, indeed, seems of the Nurmi school—one of those indomitable men who know not the ravages of human strain or the difficulties of distance. Against a man of such mould, no other ■ competitor had a chance. Matthews thoroughly earned the title of the Bri- ' tish Empire’s champion of stamina. ! The manager of the Canadian team. ■ Mr. Robinson, described Matthews as "another Nurmi." The "Daily Telegraph" says: Mat- • thews yesterday ran his first six miles track race, and probably his last. The "Telegraph" ([notes Matthews as saying, “ft is a silly distance. 1 ; don’t mean that it is an exhausting i race; in fact, it is much (easier than • two or three miles. It is the monotony htat gets you—just running round i and round a little track, with nothing ■ to see but a long line of faces on the fence. At times, yesterday. I got so bored that I began to wish someone would scoot out and set up a big lead, just to make it a mile more interesting. Over the last mile, it was l not so bad. I was putting all I knew ' into it then, and seeing how many j of the stragglers I could lap. The ’ cheers of the crowd helped a. lot, at ' this stage."

The referee, Mr Langford, said that he had not investigated any suggestion of elbowing by Coleman. Stanford (Trinidad), who dropped out of the race after one and a-half miles, alleged that he was so badly elbowed by Coleman that it. was impossible lor him to continue. It is understood that the manager of the Trinidad team lias lodged a protest, in writing, against certain incidents in the race. N.Z. CONGRATULATIONS. WELLINGTON. February 11. On behalf of his colleagues and himself. Mr. Savage has conveyed the warmest congratulations to Matthews, on his magnificent performance in the six miles race.