ATHLETICS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11828, 9 January 1933, Page 4

ATHLETICS

OGG’S PERFORMANCES ON THE

RESERVE

(To tho Editor.)

Bir, —-With a feeling of intense indignation, 1 read the criticism by -‘Old Timer” in your issue of January 7, of the action of the G.A.A. and H.O, in inviting W. 13. Ogg, Wellington, provincial 880 yards champion and runner-up at that’distance at the national championships, to compete at their New Year meeting on January 2. To my mind the spirit of “Old Timer’s” remarks seems to he prompted either by classical ignorance or elsu by a deliberate attempt to. mislead the public! In two or three lines, he sums rup the performance of cmo of New Zealand’s foremost middle distance runners as unsatisfactory and, instead of attaching the blame to the proper quarter, he castigates one who during his athletic career, has always had the public interest at heart.

Although feeling very strongly about the treatment my brother received during his brief stay in Gisborne, X was prepared to maintain my silence rather , than raise a controversy, until “Old Timer’s ” outrageous Criticism found its way into print. 1 now feel that in fairness to Bill Ogg the public should have the full facts placed before them. Any person who attended the meeting at the Childers Road Reserve on January 2 (even if he did not possess the expenence of athletics which ‘Old Timer” by reason of his nom de jilume would apparently have us believe is his) could see that Bill Ogg was obviously out-handicapped in the principal race the 880 yards event. Racing from scratch, and giving away starts up to 120 yards, he was expected to register linin. 50sec. or better to win the race. I claim that there is no athlete in New Zealand who, at this time of the season, and on so rough a track as the Reserve, could register such a performance. At the New Zealand championships at Auckland last season, on the fastest track in New Zealand, the time recorded for the half-mile wa-s lmin. 50 3-osec. and that was the fastest performance ever registered for that event at a New Zealand championship meeting. Yet- the handicapper expected Ogg t-o run 3-usee. faster on a rough track like the Reserve fully two months before any runner of championship class wishes to be at the top of his form. I might inform ‘‘Old Timer” and the official liandicapper that only a runner who i 5 capable of running lmin. 53sec. at his best, would wish to run lmin. oGsec. at this Umo of the season and. even then, he would hardly be capable oi putting up such a performance on a Poverty Bay track. Even led Jlamp,on. the Olympic champion and SCO metre record holder, would nud it a arduous task registering such a performance as Bill Ogg was called upon to perform on January 2,

in face of so difficult a ta;k, the visitor ran splendidly, hi s effort bong equivalent to 3sec. better than the cxistiug Pofertv Bay record. I am sure supporters of athletics will be able t-o judge for them'selves whether his form wa £ unsatisfactory or not. The handicapper liimself informed me after the meeting that his handicaps were so adjusted that a 2min. 2see. effort- by my brother would be sufficient to win. Instead the race was won in the time of Imm. oGsee! When a handicapper i £ 6see out in his judgment of the capabilities of the athletes who have been performing under his eyes during the season I do not think there is any need to lay the blame elsewhere.

In the quarter-mile, owing to the strain of tho previous effort, the intense heat and also fatigue due to long travelling. Bill Ogg didnot. race up to bis best form but, even then, his time from scratch mark was better than the Poverty Bay record for the distance. I wonder how much experience of major competition “Old Timer” has had to be so carping in his criticism of a first class at-kicte. The next- time the UA.A. and LL.C intend extending an invitation to an auiiete to compete in me Bat, met iiiuuiu consider tile Angel CiUbiiei,

anu, in me process qt miit-ng nun, snouiu not loigeo 10 warn nun to uruig a spare pair 01 wmgs. ii tne hu.uujcaps lrumen are W • B. Ogg iiau to iaee, 1 am sure lie win

ilia mein not oUi% useiui Out ex-

tremely necessary. My sole object in writing this letter is to give the sporting public a knowledge of what Bui Ogg was asked to perform, and to give them the opportunity to judge fur themselves it the task set was a fair one. lo my mind it is almost criminal to allow a person like “Old Timor” the chief charaeterstic of whose writing seems to be sheer ignorance and folly, to place an undeserved stigma upon the record of an athelcte who has broken 2min. for the half-milo or more occasions than any other runner in New Zealand, who has run a 1000 yards in faster time (2min. 17scc.) than any other runner who has competed in New Zealand, and who is the only New Zealand athlete to defeat Don Evans, New Zealand Olympic aspirant 1932, over BSO yards, since he was reinstated to the amateur rank. —*l am Yours, etc, B. 11. OGG