AMATEUR SPORTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22934, 12 January 1938, Page 19

AMATEUR SPORTS

EVENTS AT HAMILTON SCRATCH RACING CONDUCTED SOME GOOD PERFORMANCES TEAMS FOR RELAY MEETING Although two or three of its best members will be absent from Hamilton when the provincial relay championships are decided on Hinemoa Park on Saturday week, the Hamilton Club is expected to give a good account of itself in practically every event. This W as evident from the number of firstclass performances registered at the club's meeting on Saturday, when scratch Tacing was conducted to enable the selectors to finally choose tho teams.

The 100 yards races were run against a fairly strong breeze, but in spite of this the good time of 10 2-5s was returned in the senior A grade event, won bv the South Auckland champion, A. J. Pen/.. As usual Denz was fastest away, but he was pushed all the way bv A. J- Savers, who finished inches behind the winner. The" first two were well clear of'E. H. Elliott, third, P. Gwynne, fourth, and C. G. Goosman, fifth. *

The B grade 100 yards event went to R. B. Joyes, provincial 440 yards hurdles champion, who recorded the good time of 10 l-os. On Joyes' running it was evident that he should )iave been a starter in the A grade contest. In the junior section, G. W. Soper, one of the most .promising runners in the club, scored a decisive victory in lis. Running one of his best races this season, T. R. Kerr finished best of a badly tiring field to capture tho 220 yards A grade contest. Goosman was in front half-way down the straight, but a strong head wind told its tale and he faded near the end to finish in second position, dead-heat with Denz. The time of 24 l-os was satisfactory considering the head wind. Savers, who will not bo in Hamilton for the relay championships, was nsked by tho selectors to stand down from the A grade race and to start in the B grade event, in which lio scored a run-away victory in time under 245. Actually, the first B grade runner to finish was the consistent B. G. Carr, whose 24 2-;">s was a crcditablp effort.

Sopor repented his 100 yards victory b.v easily winning the junior 220 yards in 24 4-ss. This fine young runner has had a great list of successes over the :{ holiday meetings. At s Whntnwhata on New Year's Day lie won the 100 yards junior handicap off scratch - and the 440 yards open event off 23 yards, while he also gained-second place in the 100 yards open from the 6£ yards mark. At the Hamilton Club's open meeting on January 3 he won the junior 440 yards from scratch in 52 2-5s and also finished third in the open 100 yards off six yards. This youth is at present j in brilliant form, but it is apparent that he .is having too many strenuous races for one" so young. He should let senior events alone, especially the 440 yards. THE MIDDLE DISTANCES PROMINENT HARRIER GOOD RUN BY L. D. IRWIN Six started in the A grade 440 yards, : ;t won by A. J. Savers in ol 4-os. The winner was never all out at any stage. Joyes ran \yell into second place, with Carr close up third. The junior event wont to J. Bartlett, with R. Buckingham second. Both these bovs have fine ' builds and will be invaluable to the club in the junior events on Saturday wetik. i One of the best harrier runners in the Waikato is L. JD. Irwin, who this year has been training steadily on the track. He ran a fine race on Saturday in the A grade half-mile, judging his finishing run well and coming home a decisive winner in 2.6 1-5. More will be heard of him in the future. A. YV. Fell, another of the club's best middledistance .runners, finished on gamely to take second place. E. K.' Trow, who made the pace for three-quarters of the journey, faded over the final stages • and was placed third. Making his own pace all the way and' gradually drawing further and further away from his opponents, S. F; Kepple scored a runaway victory in f , the .A grade mile. E. K. Trow was ' second 50 yards behind the winner. Irwin also started in this event, but retired in the final lap. The Hamilton Club is particularly . strong in the field events, its outstanding performers being A. E. Graham, A. E. Sutton. G. Tait, O. Bogun, D. Martin and J. Alker. Graham won the shot putt on Saturday with 34ft lOJin, / while Sutton captured the discus throw with 99ft. lOin. Jumping against the wind, B. G. Carr wdn • the broad jump with an effort of 20ft. The same athlete also

won the hop, step and jump With 40ft. Carr is an ad<)pt jumper; nt the Hamilton Club's .open meeting he cleared >• the bar /it sft 4in to win the high jump event, t.nd he has several times improved upon this height. The Auckland secondary schools champion, N, W. Thorn, was in Hamilton and competed in the broad jump, ih which he cleared 10ft Bin, and this with n ='fcore" heel. The best performance of the winning Hnnlilton junior. J. Bartlett, was 17ft Bin. Both the ladies' events, the 50 yards, and the 100 yards, were nicely won by Miss D. Buckingham in 7s and 12 4-5s respectivelv. Miss P. Trenbeth was second and Miss S. Page third in both •vents.