ATHLETICS

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 January 1926, Page 10

ATHLETICS

(Notes by “Spike.”) Entries close to-da.v for Caledonian Sports at- Wanganui on February G. Wednesday next is to be a memorable day of athletics in Hawera. ‘ It is almost difficult to realise that two such wonder athletes as Jackson Seholz and Llovd Hahn are to be seen in action on the Hawera track. These two athletes are not “has-beens,” but are at. the top of their athletic career, and although it- is early in their tour of the Dominion they have established some eye-opening times in Auckland and Hamilton. To-day they compete in Gisborne, and then their next events are at- Hawera.

The committee is making complete arrangements for Wednesday niglit next. The track will be mowed, holes filled, and the steam roller is to finalise matters. Len Hunt, I understand, is left, to see that the ground is properly attended to.

Messrs Weir, Alarter and Clapliam have been appointed to select the team for the. West Coast Championships. The team will be picked after Wednesday night next, so that members are reminded of tlio necessity to show off their best, even if they cannot head off the winners in the respective events. Those who are likely to be selected are Gil liver, S. Lav, Hunt, Rumba!!, Shore Bros., Griffin, T. Lay, H. Stoning, T 7. Wells. I?. Tippett. AT. Cray, Clark. Philip, Collins. D. Wills. Kerr, Fal-l-'iner. Newall, Knotman, Hall, Hulbert, Carroll. Fitzgerald and Fobt. Hooper. If Wanganui, Patea or New Plymouth can. beat that lot they are some good. Gerry Weir is not so optimistic about holding the banner this year, but thinks Hawera has a show if some of the runners improve a bit. Leo. Ataiter has collected £4O worth of trophies and about £lO of advertising - for the meeting on Wednesday noxt. New members to the Hawera Club are F. E. Seager and L. A. Barnes, distance men. President Athol Grant will be at the head of affairs on Wednesday night, and in particularly keen for every detail to be arranged and attended to so that the meeting may go off without a hit eh. The committee is printing a souvenir programme for Wednesday night. Those will be sold at sixpence each. Events will bo run according to a time-table on Wednesday. G. AT. AlcCnskill. who played for Athletic football seniors, is now on the committee.

.Tack Goodwin. Athol Grant and Mick Jones have to decide the winners on Wednesday. Just quietly, they are going to have some job. The leaders in the several annual points competitions of the Hawera Club are: —-Burdekin Challenge Cup and gold medal for running, hurdling and walking: G. Collins 9, D. F. AYills 8. Af. Clark 8. L. Hulbert 8. T. Fichnrds 74. Barnet Glass Co.’s Challenge Cup and gold medal for eve,ling: O. Griffin 15. T. Lay 11. J. Mulhallv 7. G. L. Nicholas 7. W. Stening 5. Athol Grant Challenge Cup and gold medal for field events: A. Newall 9. S. Lay 7. A'. E. Gilliver 5. L. Hunt 4. S. Shore 4. Mr George Collins’ silver medal for running events from 880 vards upward: Af. Clark 8. W. Philip 7, F. Sage 4. In connection with these competitions, points are awarded 1 throughout the season, counting three for first, two for second and one for third. The committee has decided that where points prizes are concerned three competitors must take part before points can be awarded. This liiti® Len Hunt rather hard, as some of his events are not popular, so that his own sterling performances have not alwavs counted for points. It came a* a great surprise to the Wellington Centre to know that the Headmasters’ Association bad tabooed the orimarv schools annual sports o-athering this year (says the New Zealand Times'). The reason given is that the schools lost time during the onidemie. and not even one day can he spared for the ore event of the year which brings the whole of the schools together. If is a great opportunity for"' all the Wellington youngsters to meet and vie with each other on the field of snort. If the mental test is in the school, surely the moral and hodilv test »is on the playing fields, esneffiallv in athletics. Is the Headmasters’ Association comprised of greyheaded veterans whose sympathies with and understanding of the youth of to-dav have gone astray? The centre has asked them to reconsider their ntttiude. The children have been training for the events. Are they to he disappointed? At the third annual European intersehonl athletic championships, held at the Calcutta, football ground recentlv. no fewer than 1.2 school records were broken, whilst two others were eoualerl. Tn J. Anthony. St. Xavier’s mrst hav° a smart sprinter, as he won ,s *fhe under 18 years” 160 vards in TO i-ffseo and 440 yards in 53 2-sseo. F Russell. of the same school, captured the 120 yards hurdles (under 18 rpn.rO ip 16 2-ssec. which is smart travelling.

SCHOLZ AT AUCKLAND. A report from Auckland gives the time recorded by the American sprinter, Seliolz, for the 100 yards ns 9 4-5 sec. He is recorded as easing up when he caught the limit man, indicating that if he is pushed he will he able to do better. It was a great effort. In the 220 yards also he put up a great performance, doing the distance in 21 2-ssec, one-fiftli of a second better than Grehan’s Australasian record. It is quite evident that if conditions are favourable, and there is someone to push the sprinter, the people of Hawera are going to see something quite exceptionally good next Wednesday at the show grounds. While training on the Auckland Domain Seliolz was informed that the New Zealand record for 250 yards (24 3-ssec) was nut up on that ground, and he expressed a desire to better the figures. It is quite possible that he will be given the opportunity at the second meeting at Auckland, which is the last meeting of the tour. The record was established bv W. T. Macpherson (New South Wales), on February 6. 1891. Races are never run over this distance now, but prior to 1901. it was a standard distance for New Zealand championships.

DYKE SEAS ATHLETES COMBINE. Writing on the formation of “The Dominion Students’ Athletic Union,” fuller details of its genesis aud aims have been received by a Loudon correspondent from Messrs. Arthur E. Porritt and Y. B. Powell, the two New Zealanders on the executive. The Dominion Students’ Athletic Union is actually the child of the conference of the

Imperial Students’ held under the auspices of the English N.U.S., in London and Cambridge, July, 1924. At that conference the project of having matches in various sports between Home and Overseas Universities was discussed and shown to be almost untenable from a practical point of view owing to excessive expense. Air. Porritt then suggested that it might bo possible to use the Overseas’ talent actually at the Home Universities and lie consequently, in his own word, got let in for the job of investigating the possibility of developing such a scheme.

The result is the Dominion Students’ Athletic Union, which was actuallyfounded towards the end of last year, but has really only now found its feet and been put on a sound basis. The Union, of which the members have high hopes H.R.H. the Prince of Wales will be patron, has Mr. Porritt as presidenr, all the Dominion High Commissioners as Hou. V.P. ’s, and number among its officials V.B.Y. Powell and W. E. Tucker (of Bermudas, the Cambridge Rugger captain) and many other prominent Colonial athletes, including Dr. L. G. Bonner (the Australian and English Rugger international and member of the Rugby Council) aud Mr. Clarke (of South Africa—their official tenuis Olympic representative) and P.D.B. Spence (of tenuis and Rugger fame from South Africa). The Rhodes Trust is also very much behind the Union and they hope shortly to organise some important and interesting games, probably chiefly in Rugger, tennis and athletics. The club made its first appearance at the Civil Service Sports Meeting last summer, when they had the good luck to inflict upon the Achilles trtub their only defeat of the year. The only other fixture definitely arranged at present is a Rugger match with a team of South African students just after Christinas. The aims and objects are to arrange contests in various sports between British Empire University teams drawn from students at the universities in Great Britain and Ireland, and thereby to encourage the idea of Imperial sport; to enable Dominion and Colonial men to become better acquainted with each other and with men of Home Universities; to secure public attention for tlio British Empire overseas, such as might be expected to result from the publicity obtained in connection with important sports meetings; to provide •some central organisation through which the Olympic Association of the British Empire overseas may work at Home, and generally to encourage the true spirit of university sport. Any student from any part of the Empire other than the British Isles, doing post or undergraduate work in any recognised university or university college in the British Isles shall be eligible for membership.