ATHLETICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22100, 2 November 1933, Page 4

ATHLETICS

By Amateur. COMING EVENTS November 2,9, 16, 23, and 27. —Otago Centre’s interclub scratch meetings, at Caledonian Ground. December 2,9, and 16.—Otago Centre’s interclub scratch meetings at Caledonian Ground. January 11.—Otago Centre’s evening meeting at Caledonian Ground, January 13, and 27. —Otago Centre's interclub scratch meetings at Caledonian Ground. January 20.—Southland Sub-centre championships at Invercargill. February 3.—Otago championships, at Caledonian Ground. February 16 and 17.—New Zealand championships at Wellington. March 3. —Representative meeting, Otago v. Canterbury, at Dunedin. March 10 (tentative'.—Otago and Southland secondary schools’ championships at Dunedin. March 17. —Otago University interfaculty championships at Logan Park.

LOVELOCK MEMORIAL MEETING The University Club was more fortunate in the matter of the weather for its' Lovelock Memorial meeting last Thursday evening than at the initial attempt to hold it. Nevertheless, with a cold southerly wind sweeping across the ground, the conditions were none too pleasant, and this had the effect of slowing up the runners in the back straight. The tracks, however, were in perfect order, and competition, in most cases, was keen. The short sprint event of 75 Yards went to K. J. Talbot, who had a fairly convincing win in the final off two yards in 7 3-ssec, assisted to some extent by the wind. Second place went to D. L. Cropp, off three yards, who filled a similar position in the 220. J. N. Watt, another University sprinter, took first place in the 220, off 4yds, besides third in the 75 Yards, and is likely to prove one of the club’s strongest men later in the season.

There was a good field in the BSO, which was won by L. H l . Donovan. He made good use of his handicap of 55 yards, and lasted well at the finish to head off F. G. Garland. The latter’s effort in taking second place off 15 yards represented another fine run, and it will be interesting to see how he fares against the local crack half-milers when they are in action later in the season.

Something in the nature of a “ comeback” was staged by J. J. Morris, who won both the One and Three Miles in convincing fashion. Morris has been off form for the past two seasons, and now that he appears to be in good shape again, added interest will be given to his appearances at future meetings. In the Mile, in which there were only four competitors, he ran a well-judged race off; 15 yards, and came away with, a great effort to win by a clear 40 yards in 4tnin 43sec. W. A. Stewart, off 30 yards, is a steady and reliable runner, although more at liorne over longer distances, and stayed well for second place. lan Drew, who was fourth, is to be complimented on his sportsmanlike action in taking'part in the event, even, though badly out of training and strange to the grass track. There were seven competitors in the Three Miles Handicap, in which Morris, running from scratch, opened oufliis lead two laps from the finish and won by over 100 yards. Some thought he had made his big effort too soon, but he surprised them by lasting in great style, and even, to leave nothing to chance, took the precaution of passing a man he had lapped. Stewart, who was Morris’s attendant for the greater part of the race, again took second place, and third went to L. K. M'Millau, one of the longer handicap men. Rackley, who was a co-marker of M'Millan, might have done better if he had gone out off. his own in the earlier stages of the race instead of being content to run in .behind the latter. D. S. Nicholson ,is a very consistent walker, with a good, easy style, and scored his second win of the season in the Halfmile event. G. S. Cabot, wdio was giving Nicholson 35 yards, went hard over the first part of the distance, hut pulled out halfwgy through. Some good competition took place in the secondary school events. All, three places in the 220 Yiirda went to the Otago Roys’ High School, R. G. Mahony winning off four yards from J. N. Macasscy and C. ,M. Forrester, both of whom were on six yards. The,time in this event, 24 4-ssec, was very creditable, in the High Jump it was noticeable that the performances of the secondary school boys, even though it was nearly dark at the time, were of a higher standard than those in the senior event. • Forrester (scr), Macassey (lin), and Scanlon (3in) tied for first place at sft lin, while J. Anderson won the Open High Jump at sft 2in, having a handicap of 6in. R. O. Johnson (Sin) .was second with sft lin. and S. Longworth, a promising member of the Civil Service Club, was third with sft on a 2in handicap. The standard in the Hop, Step, and Jump was fairly high, the best actual effort being that of J. M'Donald, with 42ft Sin, off scratch. The winner was R. Pilling, who did 43ft llin with a 2ft 6in handicap. . • Y. Newall, who came into prominence during the latter part of last season as a javelin thrower, took second place off scratch in this events with 137 ft, sin. E. R. Wilkins (35ft) winning with 138 ft. A VISITOR'S OPINIONS In the opinion of Mr lan C. Drew, of the Manchester Athletic Club, who gaie a talk to athletes at the conclusion of the Lovelock commemoration meeting last week, the breaking of records in all directions that'the past two or three years has seen is due to the improved methods of training that have now been evolved. To-day training is .more scientific and more sensible than’it was previously, and athletes have learned to run to an even time. Mr Drew advocates the carrying of a stop-watch during practice and training, and it was noticeable that he did so himself when he ran in .the mile. He emphasised the fact that there was no need to worry about the other competitors: runners should be able to rely on themselves, and half the battle, when they were out to break records, was won when they could judge their pace. In answer to a question as to whar schedule should be adopted in training for the mile, Mr Drew said that as the composition and capabilities of no two athletes were the same, the answer was a difficult one. Every man should really have his own schedule, and he was at a great advantage who could secure the services of a .good coach.' The main thing was to build up strength, gradually and systematically, but'.it was difficult for a man to carry out his training properly when he was working in an office. Mr Drew was asked what was a suitable age for an athlete to take up the

sport. He should start as early as possible, the visitor said, but he did not advocate the running of juniors, however good, in strenuous events, until they were considered to be physically' ready to undertake them. It frequently happened at school sports that one boy won a good number of events, but it was noticeable that just as often he was never heard of again. In his opinion, no runner should: be to compete seriously until he was over 21 years- of agei Mr Drew has very definite ideas on the subject of handicap racing. Too often, he said, it was found that a runner did not try very hard if he was put on a good mark for fear of havin" his handicap reduced. That sort ox thing was not in the best interests of club discipline and spirit. Scratch running was almost general in England, and scratch relay races, involving club trials about every fortnight, were very popular. Questioned on the subject of specialisation, Mr Drew said that this was not only advisable, but necessary. The competition nowadays was so keen and the standard so high that to keep or attain a place an athlete must specialise. He instanced the case of the schoolboy winning the cup for the best all-rounder, who imagines that he is a performer of considerable consequence, only to be discouraged later when he finds that in some, if not all of his events, there are others who can beat him. . i

i-A matter of considerable interest locally that Mr Drew touched on was that of coaching. He'considered that the idea of importing a coach from overseas. was a good one, and that the standard of performance in the Dominion could be improved considerably if such a step were taken. In this connection it is interesting to note that C. Jenkins, writing in the New Zealand Reieree on the subject of the j Otago Centre’s resolution regarding the advisability of- having a coach, says: “ I fancy the council will be sympathetic, though probably nothing will come of the proposal. I have not changed ray original opinion regarding the desirability of a coach, but realise it is one of those visions which will not materialise in this country for many years to come.” In Mr Drew’s opinion a man who intends to specialise dn track work should do no hard racing in winter. A little harrier work would do no harm so long as he took things easily, and if he was going to have a complete rest over the winter season it would take him two months at the beginning of the new season to get to the stage of development he would have reached had he indulged in some light harrier running. Speaking on the subject of the relative advantages of grass and cinder tracks,_Mr Drew explained that the latter required more attention than the former, and, he concluded, “a good grass track is much better than a bad cinder track.”

WORLD’S CHAMPION SCHOOLBOY A remarkable coincidence occurred at the Timaru Boys’ High School sports on Saturday when V. E. Boot won the cup for the mile —presented to commemorate the performance of J. E. : Lovelock in breaking the world’s record for that distance— arid in doing so created a world’s record for secondary school runners of, 4min 26 4-ssec. His, sectional quarters were 67sec, 71sec, 68sec, 60 4-ssec, and he had so much in reserve at the finish (says the Timaru Herald) that it was obvious that he could have done better in the second stage. The previous schoolboy Em’pire record was 4niin 29aec, held by W. Matthews,, of the ; Ghrist- , church .Technical • . School, who reduced the times of an Irish lad, M. Sullivan, by l-ssec. The best in Aus- ( tralia is 4min 35 3-ssec by C. Maguire, of Sydney. In the half-mile last week, Boot ran 2min flat, reducing Lovelock’s school record by 5 l-ssec, and at the same time setting a new mark for a. New Zealand secondary school. The best school time in Australia is train 59 3-ssec, made two years ago by C. Stuart at the G.P.S. sports in Sydney. The world’s best school time is Imin 58 2-ssec, by W. Muirson, in England. Boot covered his first .quarter in 55sec and his second in 65seq, and had he maintained a more even pace it is probable that he would have made world record figures. Boot set a new mark of 52 1-ssee in the quarter, and while'this is not outstanding, his three times taken together place him on a pedestal for allround- greatness attained by no other schoolboy in the Empire, Further to demonstrate his versatility, Boot won the 120 Yards Championship and was second in; the 100 and: 220. : . _ ’ All the records were established under' most stringent conditions, and in every, case the performances would comply with the record requirements of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association. FINNISH ATHLETES Harold .Abrahams, the 1924 Olympic 100 metres champion, considers that Laun Lehtinen, of Finland, winner of the ,6000 metres at Los Angeles last year, and who won the British Three-mile Championship this year in .record *time, is a better runner than his world-famous compatriot, Paavo Nurmi. Naturally Abrahams’s opinion has caused considerable surprise, but the former English sprinter ,is no mean authority,, and anything so controversial as the above would not be voiced unless he had given the matter mature thought. Abrahams, too. thinks that the long ski-ing expeditions which most Finnish athletes make during the winter months keep them in constant training, strengthen their muscles, and thus develop the capabilities which have made them supreme in the long-distance world. ; This but strengthens the opinion (writes C. H. Jenkins in the New; Zealand Referee) that the natural conditions, of Finland are largely responsible for the emergence of so many great athletes. The Finns use an especial style of ski-ing which differs from that employed by the Norwegians and Swedes.,

Finnish athletic spectators evince the greatest interest in _ field events which in most countries fail to evoke' any enthusiasm. The reason is given by Harold Abrahams, who accompanied the British team on its recent visit to Finlas where it engaged in a contest with representatives of the latter country,' In the javelin, of which the Finns are easily the most outstanding exponents, three competitors beat 200 feet, three more 195 feet, and two more 186. feet. Pentilla (a former world’s record holder) and Toivpnen (until this meeting unknown in first class competition) both exceeded 220 feet. Eoutoiien threw the hammer 172 ft sJin..