ATHLETICS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14684, 18 November 1909, Page 10

ATHLETICS.

By Amateob,

Nnd' uillT ° f 11,0 Ncw ..nd Athletic Council, returns from his holiday trip to the Lake* this week ami g\>ce tnrcush to Wellington. Bv tho way, the ex-Dmiedin onthusisst has somewhat changed his views sinco sojourning in tho Umpire City. For instance there was no man in JJew Zealand more opposed to \\ heatley ar.d Vidmcr totwin" New Zealand at the same timo as ghrubE and Duffoy. Now we hud our old friend not on.y sujjeitmg; tho invasion of Wheatley and Davis to tour Now Zealand this season, but pushing tho idea for all lie is worth. When Marryatt seizes liold of an idc-a he goes through with it. Much of the enthusiasm in amateur athletics to-day is due to his energy and foresight. But it i 3 mdesd strango to fmd the ex-president of tho Olajo Centre fathering the Australian invasion.

In this ooniicction I had something to say last week advocating strongly the dropping of tho WhaatJey-Davis tour this season for the proposition of securing a tour of a small team of star athletes from America, ling-land, or South Africa next year during the run of tho Australasian championships. It cannot require any great measure of intelligence to digest tho possibilities of the latter proposition over that of the Australian invasion. As beforo stated, I yield to no ono in admiration of Wiieat.lsy as a middle-distance runner, and of Davis as a hurdler, but wo nau'l something more than this. Wo want a team which will aloiig distinctive style, methods in training and racing, and who in themselves carry that which, no matter how good the Australians may bo they can never supply, atmosphere..

Atmosphere may not break any rccords, but you uro'jitsfc going to make all kinds of provision that your star athlete who brmg's the atmosphere comes also with the reputation of a. record-breaker or as near to it as possible. At latest advice neither Whcatley nor Di;vis had been consulted as to touring New Zealand, and there is just the possibility that one or other could not make the trip. I had hoped to have heard something from my friend " Mercury" this week, but ho is strangely silent. A correspondent writes ''Sprinter" as follows: " Amateur athletics, as has boon the ease for a few seawms now, are still 011 the dead side in Cliristchurch, and tho most surprising thing to mo is ltow tho largo number'of individual- championships each vear io.ll to Canterbury's lot, for with the small number of open meetings lasl season and without a.' sign of anything definite for the future it is .remarkable what little encouragement there is for anybody to go into training. The now clutthe Canterbury A.A. Club—made a big spiai'li |cn paper) about the end of last seaeon. The members had big ideas for tho season of IMB-10, and this is how it ended. I attended one of the meetings, and I fancy I filled in a membership form, but so far I have heard nothing of the club since. There k quite a large number .'of runners from Dnnediii now resident m Gtrristoftureh, and from what I can leant their hopes of having a season equal to the sport of tho harrier city have been dashed to the ground. I also learn tint Lancaster Tark is likely to fall from Ino public as u, sports ground. Perhaps when such is the case, those in control of amateur athletics will wako up to their responsibilities. I do not see any reason.why lour meetings should not bo successfully run in Chris'.church during a season." Comment on the sprint events at t-no rcent Wellington amateur sports must bo prefaced with the fact th,it Wcodgcr did not tee the mark. Everyone wan.cd to see HlO Australasian champion in action, and many voiced their disappointment when it was known that lie was not able to ccme to town to compete. The strong wind provented anything like decent times being registered, Hubbard's 10 2-5350 , off four yards being about tho best. Ibis runner has improve;! a lot. He just failed to head Dawson in ('ho final, but made amends by winning the 303yd> Bracelet. The field events produced nothing sensational (remarks a Wellington writer), the best performance being in the hop, step, and jump, whero SI 'Kay <iid 44ft pm —only Sin below Rosingravc's Australasian roeord There is no entry of o. New 'Zealand vecord for this event, so M'Kay should apply to have his put (m record. Seeing the number of entries this event attracted. 110 doubt we shall see it figuring in programmes in future. In the initial " put " 111 the shot event M'Nanwa. with 7ft handicap, did over 31ft, which appeared to sot the 6cralch man too hard a, task. M'Kay managed, about 44ft, which of course is several feet more than his previous best. It appears that the weight was not up to regulation standard.

PROFESSIONAL ATHLETICS.

By Stout. The performance of Donaldson at Pretoria on Saturday Inst, when he is said to have i.ufc up t'lie record-breaking tinio ot for 120 yards, stamps him «3 a wonder over the distanoo. The previous best was the lljsco of Tom Malone at Staweil (Vie.), in 1884, and Georgo Seward in England in 1847. The best amateur reCord tor tho distanoo is 114-sseo, by J. W. Morton, Arthur Duffey, and B. J, Wefem. The No.v Zoaland Athletic Union championships will be decided at Greymoulh on tiic 16th and 17th March in connection with the Greymoulh Hibernian Society's cporls, A provisional programme ha 6 been mapped out, and sets forth an excellent list of events repleto with gold medals and prizemoney. C. 13, Holway, the American sprinter who beat Pdstle tho other day, was born at Attle'ooro, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on April 19, 1885, arid has inly been running four years, having gone on steadily improving. Opportunities for tho professional runner are comparatively rare in the United States, and' after running a few matches over there Holvay realised that he must go to England.

At tho Stadium, Johannesburg, on Saturday, September 4, fully COOO people assembled to witness tho mile race for £400 between Chas. liolTeron, of South African fame, and Norman Conway, of Australia. It was llolt'cron's first race as •! professional. The men kept together until tho last lap, when Conway drew ahead and won by over nine yards amid deafening chccrs The time was returned as 4min 37kscc. At the Wanderers 'HefTcron has done the distance in imin olsec. In Australia Conway has done 4min 22sec. The lap times wcro as follows; 37sec, linin 16scc, lmin 57sec, 2min 36see. and 3miu 20scc. Hefferon immediately cluillongcd Conway to run four miles; while Geo. Truckler, who in tho Staweil i\lilc (Melbourne) last April is Credited with doing the distance in 4min 23wc, is anxious to meet Hofforoii over a mile for £50 a-side.

N. J. G'artinell, the Amorican sprinter and 200 yards champion of Englwid, bus thrown in his lot with tile professional runner;, and lias announced his willingness to run Arthur Postlc, the world's profoasional sprint champion, a series of either three or four matches over distances from 130 yards to 440 yards. Ho is props red to run [lio fir.-fc maloh over ■4'lo vm-ds on any good cinder track of four laps" to tlio mile; tho c-ther three distances, which arc lo be run not less than two weeks apart, to be over .300, 220, and either 160 or 130 Yards. In a letter announcing his intention to turn professional. Cart-moll says: " I realise that i «ill be criticised severely for lowing; the amateur ranks, but I am taking this step with the full understanding that I will never oe allowed lo compete as an amateur again and with the satisfaction of having reached the height of my ambition as an ttif.afeur aihlete Unfortunately tho rules of the English Amateur Athletic Apsoeiation and tlio American Amateur Athletic union do not allow amateurs to compote against professionals, and aa I nm anxious to run this great speed marvel, who has been enjoying the reputation of being yards luster than l.ie best of our amateur sprin-