DUNEDIN TITLES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 27 February 1939, Page 5

DUNEDIN TITLES

NEW 220 YARDS HURDLES RECORD DUNEDIN, 26th February. Athletic titles were lost and won at the Caledonian Grounds on Saturday afternoon when the Otago track and field championships were decided in hot, sunny weather before a large crowd of spectators. The only feature that tended to mar the meeting was a strong northerly wind which met the runners in the straight and interfered with some of the field events. Numerous excellent contests for the titles and several surprises occurred during the afternoon. One of the outstanding athletes was H. D. Ramsay (Otago University), why established a new Otago record for the 220 yards hurdles, which he won against the wind in 26 3-ssec, two-fifths of a second better than his own Otago record. Ramsay also hurdled in greatly improved style to take the 440 yards hurdle title from J. L. W. Gerken (Civil Service) in the fast time of 59 l-ssec. only a fifth of a second outside W. A. C. Pullar’s retord established in 1934. In calm weather he probably would have clipped more off his own record for the furlong event and established a record for the quarter. The only other record to go by the board was that for the medley relay, | the University team winning the event in 3min 41 4-ssec, 2 3-ssec better than the Anglican club’s record run in 1935.

There were thrilling finishes in the sprint e.vent. C. McGregor, an 18-j'ear-old Anglican junior, ran an outstanding race in the 100 yards to beat the University champion, A. R. Duff, and the

title-holder, R. H. Mottram, in the good time of 10 2-ssec against a strong wind. One of the best performances of the afternoon was that of H. J. Tyrie, the powerful Civil Service and Empire Games runner, in retaining his quartermile title in 51 l-ssec, a second outside his Otago record and fast time in the trying wind. He won easily by eignt yards. The half-mile and mile events produced exciting finishes. T. Allen, Empire Games athlete, did not start in the 880 yards, and' the race resolved itself into a duel between the title-holder, R. McLachlan (Civil Service) and the improved Anglican runner, G. Davie. MoLachlan won by a yard in 2.1. No less exciting was the mile, in which L. J. Logan (Anglican), who had run a welljudged race, beat Dickison (St. Kilda) by inches in 4.35 4-5. Later in the afternoon Dickison won the three miles convincingly in the good time of 15.23 after a slow pace had been set by the field in the early stages of the race. The New Zealand champion walker, R. J. Watson (Civil Service) showed his great fitness in winning both walking titles in good time. He had fairly strong opposition in the mile event from L. F. Gerrie (Caversham), but v/on com-

fortably in 6.55 1-5, almost 4scc better than his winning time at the national meeting last year. He had to walk the three miles alone, but covered the distance in the satisfactory time of 25.39. A feature of the field events was the success of the North Otago athlete, A. A. Cameron, who won three events, and was third in another. He recorded 21ft 7£in in the broad jump, 44ft 11 in in the hop, step and jump, and 122 ft in throwing the discus. A surprising happening was his failure to qualify in the final rounds of the shot putt, in which he recorded 41ft 2in last year, whereas the event was won by J. H. Opie (Otago University), with 38ft 14in. I. L. Vosailagi (Otago University) retained the high jump title after a jumpoff with the brilliant Anglican junior, M. Barnett. P. Souter (Anglican) gained a popular win in the pole vault, in which he cleared 10ft 3in, and M. R. Spillane (North Otago) won the hammer throw against the wind, registering 144 ft lOin. V. Newall (Anglican) encountered unexpected opposition when defending the javelin throw title and retained it by only 2$ inches. The, runner-up was R. McKenzie, a brilliant North Otago junior, who turned 17 years only on the preceding Saturday.