DON EVANS (TAIHAPE) BEATS RUFUS KISER AND N.Z. RECORD

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 5581, 20 February 1931, Page 7

DON EVANS (TAIHAPE) BEATS RUFUS KISER AND N.Z. RECORD

Thrilling Half Mile WANGANUI WITNESSES EXCELLENT ATHLETICS Per Press Association. WANGANUI, Last Night. Not since the national atfiletlc cnampionsffips has there been such enthusiasm at cook’s Gardens as that shown to-night when Don Evans beat Rufus Kiser, the visiting American, by close on twenty yards in the half mile, to creak tne New Zealand and Australian record for the distance by two seconds. Evans ran his owu race lying last until about three hundred yards from the finish, when ho staged a phenomenal run to gain the lead on tho last curve. The crowd fully appreciated the performances 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 the ground with the ease of a tuned machine. At the first curve, about 80 yards from the start, the Americau was leading Evans by 25 yards. Oa entering tho straight, Kiser had t,Lo field in hand .and a few yards later was in tho lead. Evans was still running his own race, the distance between the two principal men having been increased. There was a big gap boween Evans and the last of tho others. At tho end of tho first quarter Evans was about two chains behind the American. When Kiser entered tho back straight Evans sad him lift slightly, and straight away ho opened up and brought the crowd to its feet as he began to overhaul the field rapidly. In that straight ho passed tho wholo field. Leaving tho last curve, Evans had established a ten yards’ lead on Kiser and the twenty-year-old .Taihapc boy straightened up from tho curve to increase his lead and score a smashing win. It was announced that the time was lmin. 54 4-ssccs., thus beating tho present record put up by Lloyd Hahn, the American, at Hawcra, by two seconds. Kiser also beat the New Zealand and Australian records for tho distance. Kiser’s first lap was run in 54 seconds. Evans intended to run the same lap in 58 seconds. Strange Hangs On _ln tho 229 yards, George Simpson bettered the Australasian record by two-fifths of a second. He left the start with his characteristic bulletlike start and passed the field on the curve to lead into tho straight by a yard. M. Strange, of Palmerston North, off five yards, was hanging on grimly and up tho straight ho lost only a yard. The American received an ovation when tho time, 21 2-sseconds, was announced.

In the hundred yards, Simpson started in the final, to win in 9 4-5 seconds. Harlow Rothert, in an exhibition shot put, following his win in the event, with 90 feet, bettered his previous best in tho Dominion by two and a half inches, with 50ft. GJin. He won tho high jump from scratch, jumping sft. siin. Immediately the meeting concluded, the three Americans left for Wellington with Mr. Amos, delcgato to the New Zealand Council for tho Wauga-nui-Taranaki centre.