ATHLETICS KEEN COMPETITION A FEATURE OF SPORTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 March 1946, Page 9

ATHLETICS KEEN COMPETITION A FEATURE OF SPORTS

The outstanding, success of the spoils meeting held at Victoria Park on Saturday in conjunction with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations is another indication of the increasing public interest in such combined meetings and a movement, rapidly gaining support in .Greymouth, advocating a central sports organisation to stage similar. meetings regularly throughout the year, may receive a fillip from this interest. The athletic gramme held on Saturday was one of the day’s highlights, and some of the events, more particularly the long jump and the high jump, attracted very large crowds. The evenness of the competition in the other events resulted in exciting finishes, ■but it was apparent that the distance races were appreciated more than the sprints. The reason for this might be that with the many attractions claiming spectators’ interests, they found, when the starter’s gun drew them to the rails, that the sprints were almost over, whereas the distance races had, comparatively, only commenced. New Dominion Record.

Interest in D. Dephoff’s attempt to set a new figure for the New Zealand junior long jump was high and hundreds of onlookers crowded around the pit as he made the attempt. His first leap carried him 21ft 3in, 7 l-Bin off the record, which he had set at the championships at Dunedin in the previous week. The next was nearer, 21ft and the third an inch better, but still fiveeighths of an inch below the record. His fourth attempt was a splendid effort, however, and he landed 22ft 0-|in from the point of the takeoff— 2 l-Bin better than the previous record.

A Better Jump.

Dephoff’s jump in his attempt on the New Zealand junior record was not the best of the day, however, for M. Carr, another Canterbury athlete well known to Greymouth enthusiasts, established a new West Coast record with a leap of 22ft 4in. This earned him third place in the handicap jump. This is the third time Carr has broken the West Coast long jump record. He established it at 20ft Ilin in 1942; set a new figure of 21ft Ilin at the championships in January, and bettered this jump on Saturday. Incidentally, some of the people around the take-oft boaid, when Carr made his record jump, were surprised when the referee found no fault. Carr capped his performance in the broad jump when he made a special attempt on the discus record. He had recorded 111 ft when he won the Coast championship, but conditions were far from favourable then. The throw of 120 ft 2in on Saturday clearly bettered the existing record, 116 ft 2in, established by A. Lohrey, of Canterbury, in 1940. NOT A HIGH-JUMPER! Those who saw D. Dephoff break the West Coast high jump record on Saturday thought they were seeing one of Canterbury s best high jumpers in action. After he had retired undefeated after clearing sft Sin, half an inch better than the. record of the New Zealand champion, H. Wilkins, Dephoff surprised West Coast officials by stating that he had not bettered sft 4in before in his life. His action throughoLit —he is a western roll exponent—was perfect and only at sft Sin did he meet with trouble. Both he and M. Carr, also a western roll expert, gave excellent exhibitions, and local athletes thinking of taking on this event should try to become familiar with the roll. The three new field event records bear out the opinion of visiting athletes that the track at Victoria Park is one of the best in New Zealand for these events. Sprinters also appreciate the spring of the track, and Saturday’s times were fast considering the head wind.

Inheritance, . An unknown runner caused a majoi surprise on Saturday when he won the mile race in splendid fashion from a front mark. He was J. Shivas, a Hokitika youth, who was running at Greymouth for the first time. His performance caused less surprise, however, when after the race it transnired that he was the son of J. Shivas, one of the most prominent professional sprinters to compete on the West Coast in the days when professional athletics were practically at their peak. Shivas showed he is endowed with some of his parent s bu - liant speed when after leading a lthe way with B. Eder, he overtook and ran away from his co-marker after the latter made a spurt yards from the tape. He judged his burst perfectly and finished full of running to win by almost 50 yards. The second man, B. Eder, who also gave a good performance, was a considerable distance ahead of the third to finish, and the time was 4.26 4-5, so that the back-markers wpuld have had to go close to the time in which the New Zealand mile championship was won this year. The time was also four seconds faster than that in which the Canterbury mile championship was won. Shivas raced from the front in a 220 yds. heat and was second equal, but, unlike his fathei, he seems to be suited to longei distances.

Well Deserved. Congratulations are due to Miss D. Perrin, one of the outstanding women sprinters ever to run with the Grey Club, who equalled the West Coast record over 75yds on Saturday. This seems to be her favourite distance and it was unfortunate that she had dismissed all opposition after 50 yards as she had no one to make her extend heiselt over the last 20 yards; otherwise she ■may have set new figures. Competing at the Technical School sports Miss Perrin set new records ovei ‘ and 120 yards, breaking the old records by convincing mar §L n % trained by the Greymouth Athletic Club performed well at the rechnical School sports. Miss V. Nelson equalled the junior record for 75 ana 120 yards, A. Blackie broke a highjump record established some yeais ago by G. Henderson, who was captain of the New Zealand Services Rugby team in England last season, and B. Eder won the mile. These

three also did well on Saturday, Miss Nelson winning the 100yds and A. Blackie being second in the high jump. Eder was a meritorious second in the mile, and third in the half-mile.

Outstanding. There were a number of fine athletic ■ performances on Saturday at Victoria Park, but one of the best was that of J. Oakley, last year’s Canterbury champion and West Coast mile champion, who won the half-mile in 1.59 2-5. This time was the best recorded at Greymouth for many years and slightly better than the Coast record time. Oakley ran from the 10-yard mark and received the benefit of the fast pace set by two junior runners, B. Eder and A. McPhie, who opened a gap on the field early and were overtaken just on the tape. C. S. Kernahan, winner of the 440yds, just beat J. Fitzgerald for third in the mile, and he gave an impressive performance. C. M. Atkinson won the 220yds well, while B. Hayton did not look like being beaten in the 220yds hurdles. T. Harker, whose race in the 100yds at Te Kinga was commented upon in these columns recently, reproduced this form to win the 100yds on Saturday. V. Hahn, a junior, who put the shot nearly 33ft, was another to impress. SCRATCH MEETING HELD AT PARK Smart-times were recorded at Victoria Park last evening when the Greymouth Amateur Athletic Club held a scratch meeting. P. Conaghan returned to form to win the senior 100 yards in 10 3-5. B. Hayton won the junior A. sprint easing up and caused a surprise by scoring an effortless win in the half-mile. The senior half-mile was a better race, J. Fitzgerald just failing by inches to catch D. Stewart, who had led throughout. Results were as follow: —

Senior: 100 yards.—P. Conaghan 1; T. Harker 2; J. Fitzgerald 3. Time, 10 3-ssec. Hammer throw. —J. Perrin 1; N. Sutton 2; V. Hahn 3. Distance 71ft 2in. Half mile.—D. Stewart 1; J. Fitzgerald 2; N. McGuire 3. Time, 2min. 14sec.

Junior: A. Grade, 100yds.—B. Hayton 1; J. McKenzie 2; S. Stewart 3. Time, llsec. B Grade, 100yds.—W. Kelly 1; J. Whitta,2;M. Eder 3. Time, 11 l-ssec. Half mile. —W. Hayton 1; M. Eder 2; S. Stewart 3. Time, 2min 22sec.

Women: Hop, step and jump.—D. Perrin 1; L. Acker 2: P. Crooks 3. Distance, 29ft Bins. A grade 75yds.— . D. Perrin 1; L. Acker 2; L. Williams i 3. Time, 9 2-ssec. B grade 75yds.— IP. Crooks 1; V. Nelson 2; M. Malloy 3. ITime, 10 2-ssec. Girls’ 75yds.—Interman 1; M. Gardyne 2; E. Gardyne 3,