WOMEN ATHLETES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 10 September 1927, Page 17

WOMEN ATHLETES.

SOME AMAZING RECORDS. 'Women and girls who, during the week, are engaged in shops and offices, are to be found on Saturday afternoons indulging in those vigorous sports which only a few years ago were regarded as the exclusive realm of men athletes, says an English writer. Some of them are girls who have only just entered their teens; others axe women of more mature years. Many of them took part in the championship meeting organised by the Women's Amateur Athletic Association, at Reading, recently, and created some amazing records. Miss Phyllis Green, of the Olympiades, who broke her own world’s record in the high jump, clearing sft 2Jin, is a girl with a pigtail dangling down her back, and she is studying for the ministry. Miss E. W. Edwards, of the Middlesex L.A.C., who beat the world’s record in the 220 yards sprint, has an answer to those who look askance on women indulging in such sports, alleging that it is harmful.

“When 1 was at school/' she said, “I was supxjosed to have a weak heart, and was debarred from takingpart in any of the school sports. A friend of mine took up sprinting in 1023, and I joined her club. “The doctor agrees that my heart is now quite normal, and I feel not the slightest strain after a race. To my mind, everything depends upon proper training. The girl who trains systematically, and does not go in for intensive physical culture, will find no illeffects from this form of sport."

Major W. B. Merchant, treasurer of the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, said this class of sport for women now received practically universal medical approval. The average of those who took part in the contests would be twenty-seven or twenty-eight.