EVENING ATHLETICS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6867, 23 March 1929, Page 8

EVENING ATHLETICS

Frank Grose in Action MISS BARRON WINS LADIES’ EVENT The sports meeting staged by tho Manawatu Athletic club at the Sportsground last evening was quite a sue* cess, a large attendance being attracted by the appearance. of Prank Grose, the all-round amateur cycling champion and Miss Barron (Foxton), Manawatu’s promising young lady sprinter. Miss Barron won the 100 yards event, while Grose left the field standing in the one lap cycle race. Unfortunately, the two miles race was run in semidarkness and he was unable to keep the limit men in view. This, and the fact that the intermediate riders did not compete, upset Grose’s calculations, and he was not able to secure a place. Results of the various events are as follow: —

One lap cycle.—First heat: N. Dixon (35yds) 1, F. Grose (scr.) 2. G. Cooksley (20yds) 3. Time, 43 4-ssecs. Second heat: B. O’Keefe (55yds) 1, W. Collins (65yds) 2, J. Benton (65yds) 3. Time, 42 2-ssecs. Final: F. Grose 1, N. Dixon 2, W. Collins 3. Time, 43 2-ssccs. Two mile cycle. —G. Cooksley (160yds) 1, I. McKenzie (230yds) 2, W. Collins (245yds) 3. Time, 4.46 3-5. 100 yards handicap.—J. Turnbull (11yds) 1, M. Strange (2}yds) 2, A. "Weston (svds) 3. Time, 9 4-ssecs. Ladies’ 75 yards.—Miss M. Gulliver '(44yds) 1. Miss M. Bailey (44yds) 2, Miss G. Matthews (64yds) 3. Time, 8 3-ssecs.

Ladies’ 100 yards—Miss M._Barron (scr.) 1, Miss ‘M. Gulliver (54yds) 2, Miss J. Adamson (64yds) 3. Time, 11 4-ssecs. 100 yards schoolboys.—E. Miller '(Central) 1, A. Johnston (West End) 2. Mclvor (Central) 3. Time, 12 4-ssecs. Throwing .javelin.—J. Weston (20ft.) 1. A. Weston (scr.) 2, Kerrigan (35ft) 3. Distance 140 feet including handicap. The throw of the scratch man was 139 ft. Sin. Boomerang Cup. The Boomerang cup which is competed for over the season by the cyclists, has been won by O. Prouse, with 33 points. W. Collins (19 points) was next, followed by N. Dixon and G. King (15 points). E. Bloomfield and I. Taylor (9 points.) . A Bom Eider. There is no more popular athletic visitor to the North Island than Frank Grose, the unassuming, likeable, allround amateur cycling champion, and those who have met him have nothing but praise for him, for on and off the track he is as fine a sportsman as one could wish to meet, writes “Sprinter.” He has competed very consistently in this Island since he first won the New Zealand three mile championship in Dunedin in 1926, when he had only been competing a few months. Grose started cycling when he was barely sixteen, his father having been a professional rider some twenty years ago. The youngster’s first ride was in a twenty-mile road race at Halswell about three years ago, and this marked his first win. Grose’s first notable win was in tho fourteen-mile Derby road race (under eighteen) at Halswell, then he won the Canterbury mile and three-mile championships, and went down to Dunedin for the New Zealand amateur championships in 1926, and won the three-mile event and was second in the mile, also winning the half-mile handicap. He Tode in the Canterbury and New Zealand fifty-mile road championship ,Ashburton to Christchurch) and got fastest time in this race. He also secured fastest! time in tho Canterbury thirty-mile championship from Christchurch to Amberley. In 1927 Grose won the Auckland two and three-mile championships, and in the New Zealand championships finished second to the Australian champion, R. W. Lamb, in tho half-mile. The first time he met Lamb at Wellington Grose beat him ovqr a mile on a grass track, to which neither of them ■were accustomed, and Grose finished second to the Victorian in the threemile. In Wellington last year Grose established a New Zealand grass track record for the half-mile of G4sec. On the hard Christchurch track Grose has done the half-mile in 60sec., and from a standing start he did the quarter in 30sec.

As showing the Christchurch rider's popularity, it may bo mentioned that last year bg travelled nearly 5000 miles for the purpose of competing at meetings. In speaking of his training for cycling, Grose said that he believed in plenty of road riding, though it was not necessary always to have the pace on. He also does plenty of fast walking, which he considers beneficial to cyclists. In a track season plenty of walking and plenty of riding on the track are necessary. A cyclist in training should always endeavour to get with a faster man if possible, for it is bound to improve tho slower man’s riding. A group of riders should get together and give one another a lead out. The more practice the pair will do, the better they will get. On’ an average night, Grose will cover sometimes as much as fifteen or twenty miles on the track. Ho doe 3 about five mile 3 fairly fast, sprinting at the finish over tho last lap, and thr a lot of short sprints. A common mistake among cyclists, Grose avers, is that training is too often carried out on an empty stomach. Cyclists should always have something to cat before they do their training.