ATHLETICS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2423, 11 February 1909, Page 3

ATHLETICS.

CIVIL SERVICE SPORTS CLUB. A meeting, fully, representative of the different branches of the Civil Service,, was held in the Native Land office last evening. Mr. Macintosh (Receiver of Land Revenue) was voted to the chair. After a little discussion, it was resolved to form a C : -il Service Sports Club, with hockey as the first consideration. As a preliminary, the following officers were elected:—Secretary, Mr. W. H. Payne (Telegraph Branch); general committee, Messrs., Macintosh (Receiver Land Revenue), L. Williams (Native Land), W. Johnston (Deeds), 0. R. Olsen (Schools), and W. Ogilvie (Postal). The committee will meet on Monday ..evening to draft rules,, etc., which will bo submitted to a general meeting to be held on Wednesday week. As clubs of this description are in existence < in several of the towns of the Dominion, great expectations are entertained by!the local Civil servants for the. success of this one. LONGBOAT AND DORANDO. A WELLINGTON CONTEST. About 14,000 spectators attended at the Madison Square Garden on December 16 to witness the DorandoLongboat Marathon Race (26 miles, 385 yards). The Canadian runner started a slight favorite. Dorando led iat the start. His time for cover--5 ing five miles was 28niin. 27sec. Ho was then making the pace. Dorando was still leading at the. completion of 10 miles, 'which distance lie covered _in 58min 57sec. At 15 miles he. maintained the lead.' Time, lhr. 32miri. At 20 miles, covered in 2hr. 3min. •jsßsoc, Longboat led. Longboat won. • Dorando collapsed .and <fell at the last .mile. The “Evening News” has the following special account: —The most

sensational Marathon Race over witnessed here or in any other country, ended last night, in the defeat of Dora ndo, the hero of the Olympic contest from Windsor to tlie Stadium, by Tom Longboat; the Ganadian-Indian runner, who, it will bo recollected, made no show at all in the event to which I have just referred. It was a desperate struggle, which roused tilts 14,000 spectators present to the highest pitch of enthusiasm during the earlier stages of the race. Then, in the fourth lap of the twenty-sixth mile, Dorando, run absolutely to a standstill, collapsed, leaving Longboat to sprint home a winner in 2hr 45min 45 2-ssec amid a tornado of applause. It was the pace and the superior stride of the Indian that beat Dorando. Longboat had spurted five times previously during the race., and on each occasion had run several laps (10 laps to the mile) at a speed of 36sec each. This was la killing pace, so far as Dorando was concerned, and although he secured the lead again after each of these spurts the repeated efforts took all tlie fire out of him. The result of this was that, to use a running term, Longboat "broke —liis heart.” When he had succeeded in doing this and knew that lie had the race in safe •keeping he ran very wide, thus leaving ample room for his opponent to go up on the inside. So the men rail until nearing the end. Then Longboat dashed to the front again, and Dorando staggered, fell, and rolled over on Ins breast. He could not rise unassisted, lmfc with his face covered by his hands, he was led weeping from the track by a physician and his brother, who came to America with him when the m'atch was made with Hayes. As he got on his feet his brother apparently asked Dorando whether he thought lie could continue, for he shook his head. Meanwhile, amid a hurricane, of cheers from the tightly packed ranks of the spectators, Longboat finished the last six laps alone at a tremendous pace. He showed no signs of exhaustion, ana siniplv sprinted home with a broad smile upon his face. Longboat, despite his failure in the Olympic race is a phenomenal runner, and he turned out against Dorando in the pmk of condition, thanks to the admirable training he had undergone at the hands ot Tom Flanagan. Meanwhile the women who had come, prepared to witness another triumph for Dorando had flung their bouquets upon tlie ground in disgust, and many were weeping tears of mortification. The men, however, showed no signs of favoritism. They crowded round the winner, cheered him, shook hands with him, and patted him on the back. Longboat, needless to say. was delighted I secured u. few in mutes’ cliat with bun, and be told mo how he won. “J owe it all to Flanagan.” he explained to me "He gave mo full instructions of how I -was to treat Dorando during tlio race, knowing that 1 possessed the superior pace, and could overtake him at anv timo. ,J Dorando, brokeu-ncaifc-ed at'his defeat, had remained in his dressng room, and it was there. I found him. He was lying, completely exhausted, upon a couch, and his physician was just completing the putting of a band ago upon his loft ankle. i tried to overtake Longboat, ’ lie said to me. "His long legs hit mine, and forced me against the board which guards tlie edge of the track. I fell, severely hurting my ankle, and I found it impossible, much as I desired to do so, to finish the race.” Dorando s physician informed me that the Italian was suffering from a contusion ol the left thigh and ankle, but he. was able to walk to his hotel. I'lie mnch-talked-of meeting between Mulcaby (the Wellington provincial three-mile champion) and Sharpe (Australian and New Zealand chainpi oil ovor the same distance) duly took place at the Wellington A.A.C. evenin<T meeting last week (says a . ninthern paper), and, as was generally expected, resulted in Sharpe beating his opponent. The race took the form of a three-mile handicap, m which mue started, with the two champions, of course, on tlie back mark. V hen a mile had been traversed it became apparent that the scratch men were confining their attentions solely to one another, and taking no notice ot the handicap men. At the mile tlie leadens were Harvey, Thompson, and M'Grath in that order, and m the sixth lap Thompson moved up into the lead, and from then on, was iievei troubled. The interest thenceforth was confined to the scratch men, who, with Mulcaby in the lead bv a yard, had covered the first mile in omiu lOsec. In the seventh lap Sharpe made a determined effort to pass ms man hut the challenge was stalled off. and the positions were unchanged at the two mile. Time, 10mm 36scc. Sharpe was by then hanging out signals of distress, while Mulcaby looked full of running. Thompson at tins stage was pegging along nearly halt a. lap to the good, and the rest of the field had retired. In tlie eleventh jap Sharpe created a sensation by passing Mulcaby after a vigorous sprint and counter sprint, and at the bell vas leading by a couple of yards, but looking very done up. In fact, it appeared that every step would be lus last, and even those who wore accustomed to his deceptive "used-up - appearance felt their confidence shaken . more especially as Mulcaliy was striding out apparently full of vigour. But they reckoned without their Sharpe, When about 100 yards of the last lap had been covered Sharpe crowded on all sail, and put in a run that seemingly broke his opponent s heart, and when half way round had a lead of 20. yards. If anything, he increased this up to the, straight, when Mulcaby showed that he could have accepted Shargo’s earlier challenge by putting in a fast finish that reduced the gap to about 15 yards. Sharpe ran a hard, determined race, and did the journey in lSmin 58 3-ssec. but Mulcahy’s performance in the last lap was disappointing to liis supporters. Meanwhile' Thompson had. won the race by 100 yards in 15min 46sec, but the excellence of his run passed practically unnoticed.