NOVEL ENTERPRISE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26770, 13 May 1948, Page 6

NOVEL ENTERPRISE

Dunedin Athletes to Visit Olympic Games WORKING WAY TO ENGLAND Four young Dunedin athletes—Sam Dawson, John McLaughlan, Fred Shaw, and Ewen Cameron —intend to pool their resources and work their passages to England as a selfsupporting team to see the Olympic Games. It is flitting in centennial year that the adventurous spirit which characterised the early settlers should be found in these young men who will venture across the seas in search of knowledge. They will leave Dunedin on May 22 for Wellington, where an opportunity to work their passages to England has been assured, and as befits the enterprise, which is in the best tradition of the Olympic Games, the team will travel light.

All the luggage that the members of "the party are taking with them is a suitcase, kit bag and attache case each. They will all have the same quantity of gear, and each will take with him one food parcel. They are modest in their financial requirements. They propose to , take with them £ls to £2O each, arid by working their passages this should enable them, when they reach England, to have enough money in hand to cover expenses and enable them to see the Olympic Games, which may be accomplished for about £2 a day. The four young athletes propose to work in England, and also to visit various centres to compete in athletic meetings and make the acquaintance of well-known personalities in the sport. It is their intention to hand on the knowledge they gain to members of the younger generation on their return. The party hopes to have the opportunity of studying the latest methods in physical education at Loughborough College, and will be provided with a

letter of introduction to the authorities there from Mr J. C. Bellwood, of the physical welfare branch of the Department of Internal Affairs, who holds the college’s diploma in physical education. »

Shaw, the oldest member of the quartet, is 23, and a commercial traveller by occupation. He joined the Royal Navy when he was only 18 and served in the war with the Eastern Fleet, stationed at' Durban (South Africa). While there he competed on the Kingsmead ground at army and navy meetings, his special events being the sprints and the high jump. A member of the Leith Club, he was educated at the High Street and Technical High Schools, Dawson, 21 years of age, is a salesman. He was a pupil of the Dunedin North Intermediate School and the Technical School and is a member of the Leith Club. He is secretary of the Otago Track and Field Coaching Panel, and one of New Zealand’s most notable athletes. He is the Otago sprint and broad jump champion, and holder of the best New Zealander's performance in the broad jump of 23ft 9j in. This outstanding effort was accomplished in the season just concluded and displaced figures that had stood since 1906. Dawson is the Leith Club's delegate on the Otago Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association.

McLaughlan, a cooper at Speight's Brewery, is 20, and both he and Cameron, members of the Celtic United Club, are ex-pupils of the Christian Brothers’ High School. Cameron, who is 22, is a postal employee. McLaughlan is a former Otago junior hammer throwing champion, and also runs middle distance, as does Cameron, whe was formerly the Otago junior mile and two-mile champion.

All four turn out with the harriers in the winter season, and they hope during their stay abroad to compete as a relay team, Dawson and Shaw running the sprint distances, McLaughlan the quartermile, and Cameron the half-mile.

Dawson and McLaughlan have leave of absence from their employment The other two have given up their present jobs. While in England, Dawson will probably compete in the A.A.A. championships, in which his best performance in the broad jump would bring him into the reckoning. He may also have the opportunity of taking part in the meeting between the British Empire and American athletes which follows the Olympic Games. The four Dunedin athletes hope to return to New Zealand via America, visiting physical education colleges in California en route.