THE SPORTING WORLD.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 349, 16 January 1912, Page 7

THE SPORTING WORLD.

The sensational running of Dorando Pietri and E. Lunghi at the last Olympic Games brought Italy very much to the fore, and also gave all sports a big fillip m the land of blue sky and sunshine. Walking has lately made much progress there, and the 100 kilometres (62 miles) road walk near Milan last Sunday attracted much attention. England was well represented by H. V. L. "Ross, who is a fine performer on the road, and lie beat all his rivals and created a new record for the distance on the road of lOli 35min Usee. — What of Japan? — Japan has come to the fore m more ways than one m recent years, and it would not surprise many people jf the athletes of the Island Kingdom of the East showed up well at the next Olympiad. If the cable message just received from Tokio can be believed, then European and American stayers will have to "buck up," as three men are said to have beaten, the world's record for the Marathon, course by llmin. This sounds a bit " hot," and particulars will be awaited with interest. In the meanwhile, the writer dares hazard the opinion that Japan will not win the Olympic Marathon Race at Stockholm. — Good News. — English sportsmen are delighted to hear that (according to the New York ' World ') the Yale and Harvard authorities have declined a return athletic contest with Oxford and -Cambridge m America next June. Had the proposed contest taken place, it would have greatly marred the prospects of the British Empire at the Olympic Games. Some of our most likely athletes are at Oxford and Cambridge, and their chances of winning at Stockholm would have been greatly lessened by crossing the Atlantic and competing m June — a very unsuitable month for athletics m America. — Cross-country Cracks. — It commences to look as though the annual intervarsity cross-country race will provide a very fine contest. The Cantabs are stronger than usual, as instanced by the 27 points to 28 victory over the Highgate Harriers' team on Saturday. E. P. Turner, a freshman from Wellington, ran very well, and was only beaten a matter of 10yds for first place, W. H. Fox,- of the Highgate pack, being first home. On this form Turner ought to give the Oxford cracks a good race at Roehampton m the intervarsity match. — Promising Youngsters. — No fewer than 163 young athletes took part m the South of the Thames Junior Cross-country Championship on .Saturday. Determination to finish was a characteristic of tbe youngsters, and few failed to get the five miles journey, m spite of the heavy course and dreary conditions (heavy rain). More will be heard of A. Stoyles, the young Cambridge harrier, who came m a gallant winner, with the watch showing 32min 55sec. PEDESTRIANISM. The further victories of J. Donaldson over A. B. Postle and C. Hoi way m sprints of 110 and 130 yards at Adelaide on Saturday clearly show that the "red streak" stands alone among the world's sprinters. A satisfactory feature of the new pedestrianism, as mainly created by Postle and Donaldson, is the genuine racing, and we do not find one man winning this week and his rival the next. Touching on this, when the writer met Donaldson m London the Australian paid a high tribute to Postle, who, he declared, never entered into a Tace save with the idea of doing his best to win. — Stayers. — Hans Holmer has been gaining new laurels m Sweden, and is now turning his thoughts towards the Edinburgh Marathon early m the new year. He may possibly meet T. Smallwocd m a 12-mile race at Newcastle at Christmas, but his great objective is the Powderhall race. A Canadian runner recently wrote to the writer for some particulars of this event, so that it may not be out of place to mention that the race is over the full Marathon distance of 26 miles 365 yards, and is run on the cinder track at the Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh. Holmer will find strong opposition next time, L. Bouchard, of France, being bent on atoning for his defeat two years age, whilst a brother of A. Kolchmainer, of Finland, winner of the English four-mile amateur championship, is expected to make a bold bid. Nor must one forget H?nri Sieret, of France, who has shown, since his military training was finished, that he still has the speed and stamina which took him to the fore m the professional Marathon from Windsor to Shepherd's Bush m 1908. A FINE SCULLER. Unless tha critics are mistaken, a fine new sculler has come to the fore m the person of L. A. Pattinson. This wellbuilt Australian met R. W. M. Arbuthnot m the final of the Colquhoun Sculls at Cambridge University, and won decisively by two lengths. The men had to scull against a strong head wind, and yet the winner's time of 7min 52sec was only 6sec worse than R. V. Powell's record m 1906. Pattinson was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, before going to Rugby, and then on to Jesus College, Cambridge. Australia has already furnished the- winner of the Diamond Sculls m F. S. Kelly (1902, 1903, and 190S), and may do so again m the person df Pattinson. BOXING. Everyone is awaiting the result of the appeal against the decision of the Birmingham magistrate " that if boxers try to subdue each other with violent blows, a contest becomes a prize fight and is therefore illegal." At present the police officials are acting differently m various districts!, and whilst the Chesterfield Chief Conatable has given notice that he will interfere with contests "under the knockout principle," the police of the A Division m London have recently held a boxing entertainment, m which hard knocks were more m evidence, than scientific boxing. Truly it is a case of chaos, and .sportsmen are anxious to know what will happen next. —Storbeck v. Wells — The officials of the National Sporting Club display no anxiety as to the future, though obviously every boxing contest, amateur or professional, is illegal if the Birmingham decision is upheld. Extensive alterations halve been carried out at Covent Garden establishment, and patrons will find many improvements on the opening night of the season — December 4. Ihe Wells v. Storbeck bout is scheduled for December 16, and it is ' hardly likely the opponents of boxing will attack the headquarters of_ the pastime yet. The writer met SJerbeck on Tuesday, and had an interestinWtchat with the genial South African. TBe is looking the picture of health, and wip m the best of spirits. On being asked how the English climate suited him, Storbeck replied : " First rate : and I like it." This is satisfactory, and his many friends m South Africa and elsewhere will be pleased to hear he is going on nicely. [WeiW won yather hollowly. — Ed,

CHECKING ENTERPRISE. The Jockey Club officials do not view tlie idea of summer steeplechasing with favor, and the Blackpool executive have not been granted permission for meetings during the summer months of 1912. The Blackpool people spent a lot of money en their stands and course solely with the idea of catering for the holiday crowds at the Lancashire watering place during the holiday season, and the attitude of the Jockey Club at this stage is not 'cricket." Quito apart from tliis, one would have thought any attempt to raise the standard of steeplechasing m England would have been welcome, and sportsmen generally will feel sorry that the enterprise of the Blackpool executive has not been better appreciated. BIG MONEY. There is truth m the 6aying " Unto he that hath shall be given," as instanced by the winnings of M. Blanc and W. H. Vanderbilt on the French turf. The former has won £265,990 m eight years, and the American sportsman a matter of £246,880 m seven seasons This is big ' money even for rich men, but of course the expenses are heavy. Mr Vanderbilt won over £52,000 m 1908, but this falls well short of the £73,858 which represented the winnings of the Duke of Portland on the English turf m 1889. Writing about winnings, it is truly remarkable to note how visiting jockeys are showing the': way m different parts of the world. O'Neill, of America, heads the list m France with a record of 163, and Johnny Reiff, also of America-, has accounted for 115 winners m Germany. A Britisher shows the way m England, but one must not forget that he hails from Australia. Reference, of course, is made to F. Wcotton, whose total of winnings will not fall short of 200 when the curtain comes down. FOOTBALL. Last week it was the task to tell of the ; exploits of an Egyptian m the ranks of ] the Fulham F.C., and this, week mention j must be made of the inclusion of A. Mcl- j ville among the Queen's Park Rangers \ team, which made a gallant fight against . Glasgow Rangers last Saturday. Melville is a Canadian, and he showed to considerable advantage at Ibrox Park; and as he has , taken up his residence m Glasgow, the , ex-Hillhurst A.C. player should prove a factor m Scotland's premier amateur, j team. 1 — League Fray. — | See-caw is a game much m evidence among the top league clubs, and it applies to both divisions and also the Southern League. The cup-holders (Bradford City) are making a strong bid for league honors, and Tottenham Hotspur also hold a pro- , minent place m the First Division. j Chelsea made a good stride towards top place m the Second Division when beating Huddersfield on Saturday, and the Stam- j ford Bridge Club appears to have now got going after an indifferent start. j The moral effect of a defeat has Again . been illustrated m the case of the Queen's | Park Rangers. The loss of their unbeaten record when entertaining Swindon m a Southern League match has been followed : by a 5 goals to 1 defeat when visiting Northampton. Thus, after having only i three goals scored against them m nine j matches, their defence has been beaten eight times m the last two games. — Rugby Pars. — A feature of the Swansea v. Cardiff match (drawn) was the reappearance of W. J. Trew, and that he lasted all right points to his taking part m international fray thi6 season. Edinburgh University almost spoilt the three years' unbeaten record of Watsonians on Saturday, their match ending m a draw. The Blackheath v. Richmond match on . Saturday was the 45th annual fixture between the famous clubs, the "Heathens" winning. A victory over Lancashire by 25 points to 3 indicates Yorkshire making a bold bid for county championship honors this season. The Cambridge 'Varsity team gains friends every day, the 24 points to 3 defeat of London Scottish on Saturday being a fine performance. C. N. Lowe was very prominent, and had much to do with the Cantabs scoring four tries m five minutes. Oxford's defeat by Newport was hardly deserved, the place-kicking of F. VV. Bnt turning the scale (13 points to 10) m favor of Newport. Mention of the remarkable scoring m the Northern Union game between Huddersfield and Coventry, the former winning by 71 points to 3, is also m order. IN GENERAL. A. Herd twice holed out his rival's ball when stymied during the course of nis golf match with Tom Williamson, the latter being 2 up at the finish of the 18 holes. H. T. Maddock6 greatly impressed the visitors during the Rugby match between London Welsh and the Maoris, which the former won easily (13 to 0). The Belgians proved no match for the Englishmen m the international hockey match at Brussels, the visitors scoring 19 goals to the 1 of the home side. Though hardly representative, the mixed doubles team of lawn tennis players now en route for Cape Town should prove quite equal to fulfilling their educational mission. Lee showed splendid form m the* lacrosse match against Oxford University on Saturday, the 'Varsity players going under by 15 goals to 31 lir spite of their plucky efforts, the Irish amateurs had to acknowledge defeat (2 — 0) m the international Soccer match against the English^ amateurs at Huddersfield. F. H. -?T. Davidson scored five tries during the Rugby match between Sandhurst and Woolwich, and he was a big factor m the win of the latter.