ATHLETICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22136, 14 December 1933, Page 4

ATHLETICS

By Amateur,

COMING EVENTS December .16,—Otago Centre’s interclub scratch meeting at Caledonian Ground. January IL—Otago Centre’s evening meeting at Caledonian'Ground. ; January 13, and 27. —Otago - Centre’s interclub scratch meetings at Caledonian Ground. January 20.- L -Southland Sub-centre championships at Invercargill. February 3. —Otago championships, at Caledonian Ground. , February 16 and 17. —New Zealand championships at Wellington. CENTRAL OTAGO FIXTURES Amateur meetings are to be held at Cromwell and Alexandra during Christmas Week, and already entries for both fixtures have come in freely from all parts of the district. Teams from Anglican and Civil Service will make the trip, and will compete at both meetings, While Mr R. Dimick, of Oamaru, has intir mated that he is taking a large team from Oamaru; including the field champion uhd record-breaker, A. A. Cameron. Interest in amateur athletics is becoming keener and keener every year in Central Otago, and the presence of visiting teams at the Cromwell and Alexandra meetings should do much towards making them the success they deserve to be. ■ , V ..SATURDAY’S MEETING

The value of the .interclub scratch meetings now being , conducted by the Otago Centre ‘as a guide towards the form of the various competitors, is now becoming evident, and the facing at last Saturday’s fixture brought to light a number of performers who, by the time the track season closes, should be registering very fair times, while the field events revealed tnat Otago 'has some , field athletes of distinct promise. A noteworthy and satisfactory feature of the meeting was the excellent showing in both grades of the representatives of St.’.Patrick’s Club, who amassed 43 points—the second highest aggregate for .the afternoon—-in thej B Grade competition; thus bringing the’club into third position in this section. A. L. Price, who took the 1 A Grade Quarter-mile, gave a taste of his - quality by romping home an easy winner in 52 3-ssec. He appeared to be running well within himself throughout the journey, and his performance indicated that he will make better time still later in the season.

; It was pleasing to see L. C. M'Lachlan again in action, and the manner in which he snatched victory in the A Grade Mile .was assign;'that--very little work will be required’ to bring him to the top of. his form. The'Anglican man, E. A. Taylor, acted as pacemaker practically over the whole distance, and coming up the straight he looked as if he might get home. About 50 yards from home, however, M'Lachlan came with a rattle and just headed Taylor off as they reached the tape. Taylor went particularly well, but he faded a little towards the finish. I. Craig won the A Grade, second section . Mile in impressive fashion. , ' He cleared out from his field soon after the start, and, running beautifully, drew away to win by a couple of hundred yards. His time was not particularly fast, but, when it is considered that he, was never extended, there is no doubt that he could do very much better than 4min 39sec with solid opposition to push him along. Another good mile .was that of B. C. Browndn ,the,-first section of the B Grade. Asjwas the case with Craig, Brown had matters pretty well his own way, and won he he liked by. 40 yards. Some of the hurdling was fairly good, but with one or two exceptions none of the competitors seemed to strike an even gait between the hurdles. Perhaps the best of them all was W. Pettet, who gave a good exhibition in the 220 Yards A Grade event. Unfortunately, no time was taken in this race, but by the clean manner in which the winner took his sticks he must have turned in good figures. B. H. Ramsay also hurdled well in the 120 Yards B Grade race, and put np-the fastest time of any section. Arthur Harrod had the worst of bad luck in the B Grade 220 Yards Hurdles.; He struck the first stick , and came down heavily, but he* made a great rally, caught his field, and was leading until the second last hurdle,-'where he had to give it best. The Lovelocks (F. C., G. W., and A, GO were well to the. fore in all events, and they collected quite a useful lot of points for St. Patrick’s. In section II of the A Grade, F. C. Lovelock got a third in the, 10.0 Yards, won the 440 Yards and the Shot Putt; G. W.’s contribution was . a 'third in the Mile, first in the Javelin. Throw, and second in the Shot Putt: , while A. G.lwas third, in the Javelin Throw and- second in .the' Broad Jump—a very .useful day’s work for one family. -7 - T V. Newall' continues to show'improvement with:the javelin, and on,Saturday he added a foot' and.a-half to bis distance of, the previous Saturday (150 ft). His performance was an impressive one, the next best throw being 121 feet. On hia present form, Newall would appear to have ’ a chance of annexing one dr two titles this season. '

D. Morgan, although acting as a steward', found time to doff his coat and 'have a go at the A Grade Shot Putt, which he won with 33ft Sin—a good performance for a man stripped for the work, let alone fully dressed. ‘ , AUSTRALIAN TEAM A cable message from Sydney last month raised a little doubt whether J. P. Metcalfe would be given permission for the New Zealand tour, but that has rather been dispelled by the receipt from Mr E. S. Marks, the N.Z.A.A.A.’s Australian representative, of advice stating that the Australian Amateur Athletic Union is prepared to sanction the visit of the team. As anticipated, it has been decided to invite T. E. Hampson, the New South Wales sprinter, to take the place of J. Horsfall (Victoria), who is proceeding to Cambridge University in January. Hampson is the successor to J. A. Carlton, well remembered in Wellington, and with Metcalfe and the distance man, E. W. Barwick, of Tasmania, the team should be quite a good combination. Writing under date of November 16, the Wellington Post’s Sydney correspondent stated that Metcalfe is the greatest draw card in the field of Australian athletes to-day. He now has to his credit the best Australian figures in four events: Standing and Running Hop, Step, and Jump, High Jump, and Decathlon. The itinerary for the tour was approved at this week’s meeting of the athletic council. The team is due to arrive at Wellington on February 19, and provision is made for the appearance of the visitors in both, islands —at 11 meetings in all. March 10 is the date of the Wellington meeting.