ATHLETICS AUSTRALIANS WIN IMPRESSIVELY AT AUCKLAND CARNIVAL

Grey River Argus, 21 February 1949, Page 5

ATHLETICS AUSTRALIANS WIN IMPRESSIVELY AT AUCKLAND CARNIVAL

P.A. AUCKLAND, Feb. 20 Nine members of the Australian amateur athletic team now touring tne Dominion performed with great distinction in their appearance at the Auckland centre carnival on Saturday.’ In sixteen events in which they competed they won 11 first places, six seconds, and one third. Four New Zealand champions, J. C. Grierson, J. D. Sinclair, R. McKenzie, and W. Heron, were among those defeated. M. Curotta, Miss Shirley Strickland, and P. Mullins (who himself won four events). proved outstanamg among the Australians, —. W. Carr ran in beautiful style in defeating. Grierson in the quarter mile, and D. S. Marks beat Sinclair in the outstanding race of the day in the one mile event.

Others of the team, G. G, Avery, G. Goodacre, D. A. White and E. :■>■ klancl, all performed well in various events. White and Stticxiand v, me the only members not to win a first pm.

The Olympic 400 metres finalist, M. Curotta. showed brilliant form to annex the sprint double. He dominated the 100 yards, leading from the gun to the tape, to beat Strickland by one yard. The time of 10 seconds was good, considering the slow state of the track. Curotta also registered fast time in the 220 yards invitation race, which he won in easy fashion, by two yards from Carr, who headed of R. S. Agate by 3 yards in 22.1 seconds. A short runner, of nuggety build, Curotta ran with a quick driving stride, which got him under way in a '-my short distance from the start. The national junior 880 yards record holder, N. T. O. Wilson, added another record to his credit in a successful attempt on the New Zealand junior record of 3min 15sec for the 1320 yards distance, held by W. H. Nelson. Wilson’s time of 3 minutes 10 seconds was an exceptionally good run, and of especial merit in view of the fact that he had outpaced the rest of the field at the end of the first lap. and he ran the greater part of the race unpaced. The results (competitors arc from Auckland unless otherwise stated) were: —

100 yards.—M. Curotta (Australia) 1; E. Strickland (Australia) 2; W. B. Hough 3. Time lOsec. 221) vards invitation.—Curotta 1, E. Carr (Australia) 2; R. Agate 3. 'lime 221.1 secs. ‘x-rn yards.—E. Carr 1, J. C. Grierson 2, J. Pring 3. Time 50.2 secs. SBO yards.—J. C. Grierson 1, D. A. White (Australia) 2, J. Mahoney 3. Dime lmin 58.6 sec. . One mile.—D. S. Marks (Australia) 1; G. Hoskins 2, J. Sinclair (Otago) 3. Time 4min 28.8 sec. 120 yards hurdles.—P. Mullins ('Australia') 1, L. R. Harris, syds, 2; J. Devcich scr 3. Time 15:6secs. . 220 yards hurdles. —G. Goodacre (Australia) scr, 1; D. Steward scr 2; L. Mcllwraith, Byds 3. Time 25.5 secs. 440 yards hurdles. —Steward, scr, 1; Goodacre, scr, 2; V. R. Amoretti, 20yds 3. Time 56.45ec. Hop, step and jump.—B. G. Avery (Australia) 1; J. C. Blewett 2; Hough 3. Distance 46ft 01-in. Broad jump.—Hough 1, Avery 2, Blewett 3. Distance 21ft Ilan. High jump.—Mullins 1, R. McKenzie (Otago) 2, M. Kelliher (Hamilton) 3. Height 6ft ffilin. Pole vault.' —Mullins 1, Heron D. Bryant 3. Height, lift lin Shot put.—Mullins 1, D. Culav 2, G. Gilmour 3. Distance 43ft sm. Discus throw.—A E. Redmond 1, GUmour 2, Mullins 3. Distance l-Ptt lOO yards.-S. Strickland (Australia) 1; R- Dowman 2; J. Han o Timp 11 4sec. ‘ 80 metres hurdles. —B. Lusby (Wester Suburbs) 4iyds, 1; S. sti :\ c U^ n o d scr, 2; J. White (Owairaka), 4 2 yds 3. Time 11.6 sec. Thirteen New Records at Gisborne Meeting p A GISBORNE, February 20. ’Thirteen records were bettered at the junior and womens track ana field championships of the Hawke s Bav-Poverty Bay Amateur Athletic Centre on Saturday. R 99 (Gisborne) in winning the 220 yards junior hurdles in 26.5 seconds, clipped two-fifths of a second orf the centre record and equalled the New Zealand standard time. He also won the 2-U yards flat in one tenth of a seconc. outside the New Zealand record.. Miss C. Newrick (Hastings) improved her existing record of sec for the 80 metres hurales by o-iu of n seo. In Hie junior hammer throw, G. McCormack (Hastings) extended the record by 29ft sin, in a throw of 120 feet 71 ■’inches. ■Miss D. Birks (Napier) putt the shot 33ft 31in to establish a centre record and an open record. Throwing the women’s javelin, Miss C. RivettCarnac (Napier) put lift lOin on. the record set in 1948 by Miss N. Cantwell (Hastings). R. Johnson (Napier) lowered his own record of 55 2-ssec for the 440 yards flat race to 01.9 sec In the junior discus, W. Robinson, threw 122 ft lin to beat the previous centre record of 90ft 31in-. . In the high jump, M. Pope (Napier) and li. Meban (Gisborne) both cleaved sft Slins, Pope winning on the count back. The previous record was sft Gin. Miss H. Clough (Napier) improved the womens discus throw with 100 ft 71in, against the previous record of 96ft 22-in. Miss R. Roberts (Hastings) improved her own high jump record of 4ft 9)ins, with a leap of 4ft lOlins. W. Robinson bettered his own javelin record of 136 ft Ulins with a throw of 161 ft 31 in.