AMATEUR ATHLETICS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22353, 26 February 1936, Page 21

AMATEUR ATHLETICS

CARNIVAL AT OTAHUHU EXCELLENT TIMES RECORDED TRACK RECORD LOWERED The most successful carnival yet held jj{, Sturges Park was conducted by the Otahuhu Club on Thursday evening, when » particularly large attendance 1 Mjoyed thrilling racing. The entire proceeds from the meeting were handed to the Auckland Centre, and so substantia! was the amount that'members e f the representative team will now have all expenses paid. " The annual medley relay championship f° r *he Sturges Park Cup, won last year by the Otahuhu Club, was the feature of the evening. The first 440 ?ards was covered at a fast pace, with J?. Munro, of Papatoetoe, finishing fast 'to g a ' n a ' eac * ve . vai 'ds from Old grammarians', with Technical third. A pplen.did 220 yards run by W. Roberts, yho raced past C. Dawson on the inside, placed Old Grammarians' in the lead, and when the 880 yards men took pver for the final run, the city club was still fife yards in front. The quartermile was covered by A. J. Sayers, Old Grammarians', in the fast time of 575, jjut at this stage the leader was passed Jjy A. Bellingham, Papatoetoe, with S. Wade, Technical, close up. A great tussle ensued, and after Sayers and ' Bellingham had raced together round the heme bend, the former drew away / |b the straight to give Old Grammarians' the decision by three yards, with Technical twelve yards further Jjaek." An attempt, on the track quarterjnile record was made by M. C- Baker, the Thames champion, who defeated a high-class field at the recent championships. The tall Maori runner quickly gathered in the field and, entering the straight with a six yards' lead, went on to win by ten yards from H. D. Ball, who ran well for second. In view of the greasy nature of the ground the time of B0 2-os, was arf excellent effort, and is •evidence of Baker's present splendid form. His chance in the New Zealand 440 yards event is exceedingly bright, but he will not again find W. S. Bainbridge easy to defeat. At present Bainbridge is moving better than ever and, jf the day is fine and the track hard, the Dominion record of 48 4-ss, held by g. A. Black, appears certain to be | lowered. I ' A lirge field, which set a hard pace •all the way, contested the half-mile, in wh ch A. Bellingham, from the three yards mark, registered the soundest performance. He threaded his way through a field of 11 but was enable to catch J. Valder, who ran a well-judged race from the 20 yards |v mark to win by seven yards. I * A field of 19, the largest yet to con--1 test a distance event at Sturges Park, set a very solid pace in the mile run. A. D'Ath Weston, 130 yards, led 200 I ?; yards from home, but he was robbed • of victory by F. E. Watt, who produced i characteristically fast and determined finish to stay on and win by two feet. It was a fine finish and drew merited applause from the large crowd. . a The provincial champion, W. Roberts, started in the 100 yards handicap, but finished only fourth in his heat. He recorded a fast time, however, as he was iStat a:<yard--away in the time of 10 l-ss. iiJße was unfortunate in stumbling soon the Start, : thus losing valuable Jgrogßii. - CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS "P FINLAYSON SUFFERS INJURY ' The annual championship meeting of the 0!; d Grammarians' Club, held at the Grammar grounds, did not attract many spectators owing to a number of counter-attractions. Splendid racing was witnessed, however, although times were aot good. The surprise of the meeting was the Sefeai; of W. Roberts, provincial 100 yds ' champion, in the 220 yds championship At the hands of A. Browne. Roberts, who was leading at the half-way mark, was unable to hold his advantage in a Stirring finish, Browne gaining the decision by 2ft. The cause of the champion's • defeat may have been the fact that the race was run into a steady head wind, this favouring Browne, who js a most powerful runner. The 100 yds saw the placings reversed, Roberts revealing real speed to win slowing up in 10 3-ss. A creditable performance was that of L, : B„. Johnston, ex-provincial half-mile champion, who won the . 440 yds and 880vds events, besides gaining second place in the 440 yds hurdles contest. Johnston ha;s' run consistently this season, but does not appear to have attained the fine form which carried ( him to a brilliant lm 58 2-5s half-mile victory last year. An unfortunate accident occurred in the 440 yds hurdles championship, when F. A. Finlayson, Dominion record-holder for the 220 yds and 440vds hurdles and one of Auckland's main hopes at the New Zealand championships, struck the first obstacle and Buffered a bad fall. ■The race was stopped to afford Finlay- - son another chance of competing, but it was seen that his right knee was badly swollen. It is hoped that the injurv will not prejudice his chances in the South* Outstanding in the field events section was W. J. Coxhead, New Zealand 1934 secondary schoolboy representative, who won the throwing the javelin, throwing the discus and putting the shot championships with 142 ft, 100 ft 9in, nnd 33ft Sin, respectively. These are remarkable -performances for a 20-year-old athlete, the more so considering that the ex-Mount Albert champion has, as yet, little style in any of his movements. He intends to concentrate on style alone next season and his throws should greatly increase in „ length. _ LYNNDALE EVENTS McCOMBIE WINS POINTS CUP Being inches under water in places, the New Lynn, clay track was in very poor condition for the Lynndale Club's sixth points meeting. The runners were > forced to run two yards wide on the bends, and, as a result, times were slow. The cup awarded to the competitor gaining the 'most points went to W 7 . McCombie, by far the most versatile . performer in the club. McCombie won the 100 yds, 440 yds and 880 yds handiv* caps and gained second place in the lonj; jump event. _ The runner-up in the points competition was J. Bifldon, who gained even more placings than McCombie. He was first in the putting the shot and hop. step and jump handicaps, second in the throwing the discus handicap, and third in the long jump and 100 yds handicaps. The points contest for lady members of the cluh was concluded and resulted §•• in a win for Miss H. Foray the, who performed consistently well at all seven meetings. Miss G/Lorrigan was runnerup, and Miss E. Smith, who performed well on Saturday to win the 50yds, gp throwing the discus and throwing the iavelin handicaps, was third.