ATHLETICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22212, 15 March 1934, Page 5

ATHLETICS

•" ■ By Amateur. ■ .;.•.; \ / COMING EVENTS'' . March 17.—University jnterfacuity chari- ':.] pionships;, St, Patrick's Club sporty THE INTERPROVINCIAL : CONTEST Perhaps the mo6t striking feature of the . mterproviricial contest at Qaniaru last Saturday between Otago and Canterbury, was the superiority.,of the home team in the field events, only one of Which went to Canterbury. This event was the shot putt, which has beefiinoticcable here for a Jong time by its weakness, and won by M. Dawson at 36ft sin. The standard of performance . in the field events aa a whole, was fairly good. C Even though Macfarlane, the crack Canterbury . sprinter, did. not make the trip, . the second string, Fitzsimmons, was good enough to account for both the 100." and 220 Yards, although he had to go all out over the shorter distance to beat Tapley, the promising young Otago champion.: '•'•'..' : One of the - best performances of the day was' that of M'Caskey (Canterbury) in winning'the 440 in 51 2-osec. He took the lead on the home bend, and won easily from his team-mate, Newburgh. Fish, the Otago man, tfho was third, did not get away too well at the start. The Half-mile lacked a certain amount of interest owing to the absence of Broadway, but it was nevertheless a good race, providing further proof of the ability of Craig. He took the lead at the bell, and it looked as though Harley would catch him coining into the straight, but the Otago man hung on well to win by about half a yard in 2min 2sec. Morris performed up to expectations to win the Mile,, which was the result to some extent, of the good team work of the winner. and , Barnes, who went out and made the pace for three laps. It was unfortunate that the Canterbury boy, Matthews, was not able to travel, as a duel between him and Craig would without doubt have aroused the greatest interest..''. ■ • , 1 One of the.features of the day was the fine race run by Johnston to win the Three. M9e event in the exceedingly smart time of 14min, 47eec. At the commencement of the race-Pearson and Pope soon caught the limit men, and during the first mile, the others could, make no impression oh them- Johnson, however, caught the leaders with .five laps to go. and going, to the front, ran the rest of the way on his own to win comfortably. '•A great deal of interest was taken in the meeting of Anderson and Pullar in the 440 Yards Hurdles, in which the young Otago runner defeated the former in the New Zealand championships, but on this occasion the Canterbury man's greater experience gave him an. advantage, .and it was • this more than anything else that enabled him to-win. In the, 120 Yards Hurdles Milner romped home an easy winner, but on account of having struck three hurdles he was disqualified. •. i ; H -THE EMPIRE GAMES The;' nominations by the various centres of athetes for inclusion in the Empire, Games »tcain was considered by the Council of : the New i Zealand Amateur Athletic Association last week. The council is tp < meet again on March 26, when' it will decide on its recommendation to the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association, with which body the final selection of the team rests. ■}'■'!. .:. i'. i '-

The Ganies are to be held in England from August 4 to August 11, the athletic .events, at the White City Stadium, London, the swimming, boxing, and wrestling at the; Empire Sports Arena, Wembley, .arid the cycling at'Fallowfield, Manchester. = The staging, of the Games in England (a recent British Olympic Journal states) will make August .the gre'atest> sporting month England has known, since the fourth.. Olympic Gaines tpok place at the. White. City, London, in 1008. The first '. Empire Games in Canada ; were regarded in, England,.as a great success. The forthcoming celebration, it is anticipated, will be even more distinguished, as .there is likely, to be .a '■greater number of competitors taking part. • ,■ ■ -. • • . • ■ • .■;, The 'New Zealand team will probably leave! about the "middle of June and return ib.New Zealand towards the end of September- An invitation has been . extended f by, the South African Amateur Athletic and Cycling Association'for the athletes in the New Zealand team to compete in South Africa on their way home. This, matter is to be considered by the Olympic and British Empire Games!-Association, but it appears there are some • difficulties in the way, and it jdoes,not seem likely that the invitation can be accepted.

UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS j "T,he annual interfaculty athletic championships will be S held at'the'University Oval on Saturday afternoon under the control "of the University Amateur Athletic Club, and. as even larger entries %0e been received than last year, it is confidently anticipated that the meeting will .prove a success," Among the competito/s, >who . will be iah unusually distinguished .company, will be.such wellknown, athletes-/as"' J; ; ,M. Watt, who was runner-up'to Broadway this year in'the New Zealand 440 Yards Championship at Wellington; E.' G. Young, former Canterbury provincial 120 Yards Hurdles champion; and R. 0., whose record' as;, an : all-round 'field athlete is so Well known; in addition to many others. L; C; M'Lachlan and I."D; Craig will attempt to breiak Lovelock's Otago mile record, and W. A, Pullar' (the New Zealand 440 Yards Hurdles/champion) will attack .the record recently established by. A. T. Anderson, of Canterbury. There will..': be, provision for other, than university, athletes in several 'open events — vizi, 120 Yards, 1000 Yards, High Jump, and. Pole Vault Handicaps. 'VICTORIAN CHAMPIONS The feats of Howard Yates and Fred WoodhOuse in the second''section 1 of the Victorian Amateur Athletic Association's annual-track arid field games championships will; cause new figures to appear in the Australian record book (says a writer in the Referee). By; winning the. final of .: the 220 Yards ■ Championship in 21£seci, Yates not Only lowered by onetenth of' a second the previous best figures by an Australian—-21 3-ssec, made on two occasions by Norman Grehan (Queensland) and by' Jimmy Carlton in Melbourne —but, he equalled the record for a furlong oh a straight track made by'.E, v W> Carr in Adelaide 12 years ago. Yates's- performance was full of merit. In the final he .. defeated Ray Moffatt (Melbourne),, who is without doubt a really, great 1 runner over 220 yards by a yard and a-half, and in the finishing sprint from :the straight entrance had to run right into the teeth of a breeze. What advantage, if any, Yates derived from the breeze on the run from the start to the long, straight was nullified by the head wind over the last 50.. yards and the cross wind along the straight. It,.is obvious that the furlong is Yates's best distance at present. He is not a fast beginner in the 100 Yards, but gathers speed quickly* and has a gre4t finish., The 220 Yards gives him full opportunity to develop a stride, which, for his medium height, is particularly long and smooth, ana ,he finishes full of running. i WoOdhouse certainly • was out after height, and be got it with a vault of 13ft,' which eclipsed his previous Australian record by. lft 2ii?. Topping 12ft 2|iij,' Woodhouse retained his championship. Then, he went after records. The 12ft 10in with which he created new Australian figures in. Sydney two years ago was.bettered by'Sin at the first try amid r the excited yells of the spectators. Then there was a hush -as he faced the baryi which had been raised to 13ft. Aloft sailed the slim figure. He cleared the; bar, but,.grazed it with . his w chest coming down. A rest of a; few minutes, and he was on bis way. again. This time he', soared beautifully, 'cleared the bar with something, to , spare,, and .landed lightly while the crowd roared its delight and praise. -By their feats Yate a arid Woodhouse have strengthened their claims to a place in/the' team which will represent •Australia, at the /Empire Games in London riext August. Yates's only serious rival for the position of . first string sprinter in .the team couid.be, Jack Horsfall, the Victorian, who has been making a big name for himself at Cambridge,, and we may take it: that one thing that would weigh in Horsfall's favour would. be the fact, that' he could be included at little expensed But on? his running this season Yates >,is a faster sprinter than Ilorsfall, over the furlong especially, Horsfall's ,best time Saving been 21 3-10 sec. Anything

oyer 12ft would have won the British Pole Vault Championship, and there is no Dominion other than Australia with a vaulter who can touch or better 13ft. The world's record, held by au American, is 14ft IJin. AUSTRALIANS* POPULAR The Australian athletes, Metcalfe, Hampson, and Barwick, continue to make a favourable impression wherever they go. and are always willing to offer helpful advice to those they meet in competition. Metcalfe has promised to let the N.Z.A.A.A. take copies of slow motion films of hiniself which were recorded when he established records in Australia, and last week a film was taken at the Basin Reserve of the three visitors at practice. These films' should prove of value to New Zealand athletes if proper use is made of them. From Wellington the Australians go to Wanganui, Marton, Eltham, Auckland, and Rotorua,