A RECORD BREAKER.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 February 1931, Page 8

A RECORD BREAKER.

! EVANS OP TAIHAPE BEATS KISER [ IN HALF-MILE. ' WANGANUI WITNESSES : EXCELLENT ATHLETICS | WANGANUI, Last Night. Not since the national athletic . championships has there been such enthusiasm at cook’s Gardens as > that shown to-night when Don : Evans beat Rufus Kiser, the visit--1 mg American, by close on twenty yards in the half mile, to oreak the ' New Lcaiand and Australian re- ; cord for the distance by two ; seconds. ’ Evans ran his own race lying last -■ until about three hundred yards from [ the finish, when he staged a phenom--1 cnal run to gain the lead on the last , curve. 1 The crowd fully appreciated the per- : formances of the American visitors, Harlow Rothert in the shot-put, long | jump and broad jump; Rufus Kiser in ’ the half mile; and George Simpson in the 100 and 220 yards. At the start of the record-making half mile, Kiser, running off scratch with Evans, set a fast clip. Evans was not to be bustled. He ran steadily and his tremendous stride covered tin; ground with the ease of a tuned machine. At the first curve, about SO yards from the start, the American was leading Evans by 25 yards. On entering the straight, Kiser had the field in hand and a few yards later was in the lead. Evans was still running his own race, the distance between the two principal men having been increased. There was a big gap bewceu Evans and the last of the others. At the end of the first quarter Evans was about two chains behind the American. When Kiser entered the back straight Evans saw him lift slightly, and straight away lie opened up and brought the crowd to 1 its feet as he began to overhaul the field rapidly. In that straight he passed the whole field. Leaving the last curve, Evans had established a ten yards’ lead on Kiser and the twenty-year-old Taihape boy straightened up from the curve to increase his lead and * score a smashing win. It was announced that the time was Imin. 54 4-ssecs., thus beating tne ; present record put up by Lloyd Hahn, , the American, at Hawera, by two . seconds. ] Kiser also beat the New Zealand 1 and Australian records for the dis- 1 tance. Kiser’s first lap was run in 54 seconds. Evans intended to. run j the same lap in 58 seconds. j Strange Hangs On In the 220 yards, George Simpson ] bettered the Australasian record by u two-fifths of a second. lie left the 1 start with his characteristic bullet- 1 like start and passed the field on tde - 1 curve to lead into the straight bj r a yard. M. Strange, of Palmerston j North, off five yards, was hanging oa grimly and up the straight he lost only a yard. The American received an ovation when the time, 21 2-sseconds, was announced. In the hundred yards, Simpson start- I ed in the final, to win in, 9 4-5 seconds. Harlow Rothert, in an exhibition 1 shot put, following his win in the event, with 90 feet, bettered his previ- j ous best in the Dominion by two and a half inches, with 50ft. 6sin. He Avon the high jump from scratch, jumping sft. sJin. Immediately the meeting concluded, the three Americans left for Welling- t ton with Mr. Amos, delegate to the New Zealand Council for the Wanga-nui-Taranaki centre.