ATHLETICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2006, 4 August 1892, Page 31

ATHLETICS.

NOTES BY AMATEUR.

The Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club is first in the field for the coming season with a cross-country inter-club three-miles championship, open to teams of five men each from various clubs. It is to be held on the Riccarton racecource on the 24th September. A championship trophy will be given to the winning team, and a silver bar to each of the individual members thereof. Besides the championship, there will be an open handicap steeplechase of two miles, and a consolation one mile. The committee of the Canterbury Club aro to be congratulated on the initiation of cross-country running championships on these Hues in the colony, and ifc is to be hoped their efforts will meet with the success they deserve.

I should very much like to see a team of Dunedin Athletic Club men sent up to Christchurch to take part in the meeting. Even were they unsuccessful, the visit would be beneficial, inasmuch as it would be the means of promoting good feeling between the sister clubs. Probably, too, it might help to bring about a greater interchange of athletes at sports gatherings in different centres.

I see by the report of the committee meeting of the Dunedin Amateur Athletic Club that someone has given notice of his intention to move at the general meeting of the club that the financial year shall end on the 30th Juno instead of the 31st August as at present. I think this is a very necessary reform, as under the present rules there is not sufficient time after tho election of tho new committee (about the middle of September) to prepare a programme and work up a sports meeting for the first week in December — the dato when the sports are usually held. The cross-country run is held in October, and there is an opinion abroad that it should take place earlier still. It must therefore be clear to everyone that the incoming committee cannot do tho justice to their work that they might were their election to take place two months sooner. The secretary, especially if it is his firbt year of office, must find the work rather a severe tax on his time, as pretty nearly the whole year's work has to be got through in the space of about two nionths. Anothejf point in favour of the change is that the incoming committee would have the appointing of delegates to the association for the year in which they hold office. At present the retiring committee elect theso delegates, and it is within the range of possibility, under these circumstances, for the new committee to be quite out of touch with the delegates, who should be their own representatives on the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association.

The Irish championships were decided at Dublin on June 18 and resulted as follows :—: — Putting 161b weight— J. Royce (38ft 6£in) 1, J. Reynolds (37ft 2in) 2. Half Mile— R. H. Moore 1, T. M'Mahon 2 ; time, 2min 3 4-ssec. 100 yds —D. H. Bulger 1, J. T. Magee 2, J. Lavello 3 ; time, 10 2-ssec. One Mile Steoplechase — F. R. Carr 1, J. M'llveney 2 ; time, smin 23 2-ssec. Three-mile Walk— T. Carroll 1, J. C. Quinless 2 ; time 23min 13sec. Throwing 161b hammer — J. Reynolds and D. Carey (dead heat) 105 ft. 220 yds —C. Dickenson 1, J. Lavelle 2, J. T. Magee 3 ; time, 23 4-ssec. Running Long Jump — D. D. Bulger (22ft 9in)l, P. Farrelly 2. 400 yds Race — C. Dickenson 1, J. T. Magee 2 ; time, 51£ sec. 120 yds Hurdles— D. D. Bulger 1, R. Pedlow 2 ; time, 16 2-ssec. One Mile— T. M'Mahon 1, R. H. Moore 2 ; time, 4min 42 2-ssec. In the High Jump, not a championship event, J. M. Ryan cleared sft ll^in.

The West County correspondent of the Athletic News writes that Hempton's conqueror " (C. A. Bradley,) gave us a taste of his quality on Tuesday, and I shall never forget his fine performance of winning the 120 yds Handicap, and Scratch Races at Stroud. It was my first visit to the sports held annually on the small but fine track at Farmhill, and the management cannot be too highly complimented on the fine festival arranged. It was a fine stroke of business to secure the presence of Bradley, who travelled down over-night, and after conceding starts up to 13yds in the Handicap, and having all his men settled at 90yds, then cantered home in 12 l-ssee, hands down. He was then prevailed on to go for the grass record in the scratch event. There were opposed to him — Turner, the Cantab ; Bredin and Grist, London A.C., and Sid Simpson, of Gloucester, and there was more than a little excitement when it was seen that the quintette had |been despatched to a grand start. Half way up tho track Turner seemed to be leading, ' but the Tyko getting down to his work got his head in front, and although hunted bang to tho tape by the Cantab and Bredin, he took the worsted a good 2yds ahead of the pair, who were about the same distance in front of Grist and Simpson. Several watches — my own included — returned it 12sec dead, but Mr C. Herbert, the official timekeeper, made the time a yard outside evens. Even that is a grand performance, and the Yorkshireman got a fine reception on returning to the pavilion."

The following paragraph from the same paper in regard to starting is worth repeating : — " Rather a pretty controversy has taken place over the 120 yds Handicap on Whit Tuesday. In the final Steavenson (Darlington) and Taylor (South Shields), who was receiving 2£yds, ran a dead heat. In the deciler Steavenson beat his opponent by 3yds, but " no race " was declared. A third time they met, and Taylor was put back lyd for going over his mark, Steavenson being also penalised for a similar offence, so that their positions were unchanged when the competitors ran the distance a fourth time, Taylor winning by a few inches. The crux of the matter was, what is meant by being " over the mark ? " Steavenson put his foot over the mark, which is clearly an infringement, while Taylor put his hand over, aul at first, it is said, the starter and other officials refused to penalise him, contending that the rule applied only to the foot, although, as I have said, they eventually did put him back a yard. As Steavenson fiolds, if the hand were allowed to be put over with impunity why not the foot, and the argument that the one is as much an infringement of the rule as the other hceniT to be borne out by the report of a meeting of the A. A. A. in the Athletic News, of May 13, 1889, when the same point was raised and decided in accordance with hib view."'

The gate proceeds at Whitsuntide where this dispute took place exceeded LSOO, although the spoit ir> described as a monotonous beries of fool and wheel handicaps, with never a high jump, a pole jump, or a hurdle race to vary tho programme. How would a gate like this suit, the committee of the D.A.A.C. Jubt for once ?

In a Liter paper, dated the 20lh June, full particulars of the Huddersfield meeting are to hand. The attendance was quite 12,000. A remarkable fact in regard to this club's gatherings is that dui'iilg the last 28 years not one of tho meetings promoted by the club has been attended with wet weather. The News says: — "It was rather disappointing to find that Hemptou, the swell sprintor of the New Zealand party, had made up bin mind not to run at

Huddersfield, preferring to reserve himself for tho championships a fortnight hence. HisTufnell Park conqueror, C. A. Bradley, of Huddersfield, however, turned out and made a very excellent display. The way in which tho local crack went clean away from a. speedy man like Steavenson, of Darlington, in the Scratch 100 yds was a revelation, and it will take a 1 wonder ' to beat him at Stamford Bridge on July 2. His time on Saturday was 10 2-ssec on a grass track, and with a bit of luck ho ought to have been returned the winner of the 120 yds Handicap as well as the level race. Ho got very badly away in the final, and yet was able to finish within a yard of the wiuuer, H. Greenwood, of Huddersfield. Greenwood supplemented his victory in the Sprint by another equally meritorious in the 220 yds, and thus walked off with 20gs worth of prizes. Tho Quarter was remarkable principally for the fact that one or two men who qualified for tho final did not exert themselves too much, and it was left to Siuuott, of London, H. S. Johnson, of Manchester, and P. Wood, of the New Zealand team, to appropriate the prizes." Tho Scratch JHalf-mile only brought out three runners, but the lesult was a lurn-up, the raco beiug considered a good thing for Holmes, of Barrow, the half-mile amateur champion, who has* been running so well this year. Wade's own friends thought that the little Londoner had not much chance of success, especially when they learnt that the L.A.C. man had been travelling all night, and only arrived on tho ground a short time before the race was set for decision. Holmes looked like winning halfway round the last quarter, but Wade, putting his head down at tho 220 yds post, sprinted all the way home, doing lmin 59 3-ssec, a wonderful performance with a strong wind blowing.

The same winner made his second appearance for the day in the Mile Handicap, but only managed to finish fourth, tho handicap proving too much for him. The winners time was 4min. 24sec.

"The hurdle races," the correspondent writes, "were a benefit for Godfrey Shaw, of the London A.C., who has now won the double event at Huddersfield for three years running, which means that he has taken 60gs worth of prizes from this particular Yorkshire meeting. Ho had an easy win in the Sprint Hurdles, in which race the second best was Batgcr, tho New Zealand champion ; but the latter taking matters too easily after clearing the last hurdle was shot on tho post for second place by a club mate, L. A. Cuff ; whilst only a few inches in tho rear was T. M. Donovan, the stalwart Edinburgh University man. Tho Quarter-milo Hurdles was a better race than the other had been, and here Batger fairly throw the iksfc prize away by looking round when near the tape, thus allowing Shaw to come up and win. Batger is undoubtedly a very fine hurdle racer over a quarter of a mile of ground, and he fairly had the iueasuro of Shaw, who also started from the scratch mark. It was a wonderfully fast run race, and I was under the impression thai the time (59 4-ssec) was a record until I remem. bered that Shaw himself had covered the distance in one-fifth of a second faster time in tho same enclosure at Huddersfield two years ago. I may add that the track was re-measured on Saturday after tho sports by Messrs Dransfteld, E. B. Holmes, H. Beadswell, and J. M. Abraham, who found the path to be 3ft over the quarter-mile."

It will be seen from the above that Shaw has turned the tables on his old opponent Batgor, beating him off the same mark in both the 120 yds and 440 yds hurdles.

In the evening a "tea" was given in honour of the visitors by the president of the club, Mr C. Holliday ? and among the toasts proposed was " The visitors," coupled with tide names of Mr Cuff and others. Mr Cuff, who was enthusiastically greeted, remarked that one of the objects of the New Zealand Association in. sending some few athletes to try their powers against their English brothers, was, as Mr Brooke had said, to promote a feeling of good fellowship between the colonies and the mother country. They were all loyal subjects — the sons of English parents — and they wished to be considered as brothers. — (Applause.) They had experienced during the last few days what they had often heard of, and it was a right good Yorkshire welcome. They were, of course, sorry they had not been more successful, but they hoped to do better later on. He added that they had never seen a ground that could compare in any way with that>at Huddersfield, either as regarded the accommodation provided or the perfect way in which the festival had been managed. The sight they had seen that day had astounded them.

Kibblewhite still keeps up his great reputation as a distance runuer, for at the Railway meeting at Kensal Rise he won the Three-mile Scratch Race in 14min524-ssec, but was pretty hard pushed by Strange. Kibblewhite holds a record (14min 29 3-ssec) made in 1889. In looking over the Athletic News I notice that there are over 140 athletic fixtures from the 20th June to the 31st July inclusive. What a graud country England must be for " pothunters ! "

At the Denham (Norfolk) Amateur Athletic meeting to-day Mr L. A. Cuff won the 100 yds Handicap and Hurdle Handicap, and was second from scratch in the 300 yds Handicap.