TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 6 October 1922, Page 6

TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL.

ANNUAL STEEPLECHASE.

The Technical High School boys had a fine, breezy day on Wednesday tor their J annual steeplechase. Unfortunately, ■ owing to unforseen circumstances, the ; course which had been chosen was not - available, and a different course of approximately the same iength had to be arranged. The school is grateful to Mr. White for allowing the boys to cross his property. Prior to the run. the group of'con- [ testants was photographed by memI bers of the school camera club. , Shortly before three o'clock the limit men oi the junior section got away, and were quickly out of sight, going straight along Waihi Road. As their turn came, each group lined up and went off. Allowing five minutes for the youngsters to get clear away, the starters sent off the limit -senior men at 2.56J p.m., the scratch runners leaving with a good swing at half a minute past three. By this time a good number of spectators had ; arrived. Among these were girls of ' the school, who, looking very smart and neat in the school costume, had turned out to cheer the returning, champions. j A surprisingly short time had elapsed when a cry of "Here comes the first, boy,'' drew all hands to the vicinity I of the finishing post. The arrival | turned out to be Lendrum, a diminu- j tive junior who, starting off the threeminute mark had made a fine race, j He was followed seven seconds later by' Millan (4min), who was closely follow- j ed by Moloney (4min), Jordan (3min), and Shaw (4min). These five all ar-j rived within a ispace of 1% minutes. By, this time the scratch men began to | arirve, the first man (Spragg) having] put up a fine performance in covering the. distance in 21 minutes 40 seconds:, Then came Dowdle and Coleman, who took 22min 32sec, and were followed by ODea and Buckeridge in 23min and 23min 1 sec, respectively. These fin- ■■ ishes were very close, and the way the boys sprinted at the end showed them to be in the pink of condition. The senior handicap men now began to arrive, the first being Clarke, who | won from the two-minute mark and finished very strongly. He was followed a minute later by Walker (3 mm), and then close together came , Harrison (2min), Burrow* (_min) and Hammond (_min). The first senior scratch man to appear was Loretz, who had made the fast time of 20 minutes 48 seconds. The senior championship candidates then came in sight, Gray and Bell racing strongly together up the straight, the former just managing to last long enough to stave off a game finishing effort by Bell, whom he beat by a yard. It is very rarely that a steeplechase sees so many fast and close finishes, and the whole of the boys are to be' heartily congratulated on their fine plucky running. Tn particular the leading men in both the junior and senior championships finished as if it were the end of a two-twenty sprint instead of a three-mile run. The arrangements were in the hands of the school staff, and the whole performance reflected very great credit indeed on the school as a whole. Detailed results are as, follows :— Junior Handicap—Lendrum 1, Millan 2; Moloney 3. Jordan 4, Shaw 5. Best Junior Times—Spraeg 21.40, Dowdle and Coleman 22.32 ODea and Lendrum 23.0, Buckeridge 23.1. S- ■

Junior Championship—Cblemah and Dowdle 22.32, ODea 23.0, Buckeridge 23.1. " Senior Handicaps—G. Clarke 1, A. Walker 2, Harrison 3, Burrows 4, Hammond 5. Best Senior Times—Loretz 20.48, Clarke 21.2, Burrows 21.13, Hammond 21.16. Senior Championship—Gray 1, 21.42; Bell 2, 21.43.