ATHLETICS. NOTES BY AMATEUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2056, 20 July 1893, Page 34

ATHLETICS.

NOTES BY AMATEUR.

AttheWalthamston Harriers' sports, held on May 22, the Two ; mile Level Race resulted, to the surprise of most people, in a win for C. E. Willers, who beat Sid. Thomas in great style. The race is described, as follows":— Thomas dashed off with the lead and made the running, with Willers in close attendance until close upon finishing the first mile. The Essex champion then spurted to the front, but was soon repassed. Thomas, however, could not get away, | and Willers again dashed to the front at a mile and a-quarter, but only to be repassed further on. "Thomas then showed the way until entering upon the last lap, when Willers came out full of running, and going at racing speed he opened up »wide gap between himself and his opponent, and won by just over lOsec. The following are the times for each quarter : — Miles. mm. sec. . £ ... Thomas ... 1 41-5 | ... Thomas ... 213 | ... Thomas ... 324 1 ... Willers ... 4 352-5 v ... Willers ... 547 4-5 1J ... Thomas ... 7 1 if ... Thomas ... 8 153-5 2 ... Willers ... 920 2-5

Thomas's full time was 9min 30.} sec.

The folldwing interesting letter from a correspondent appeared in the London Sportsman of May 25 :—

Having always taken a great interest in athletics I invariably read your ™ Athletic Notes" with pleasure, but in last week's contribution "Veteran" is not. quite correct with regard to a trial of W. 6. George. You state that before he ran his mile in 4min 12|sec he did a trial of 4min 14sec at Surbiton. It was not just previous to his race that he ran the trial referred to, but before he had his first race with Oummings. I may also tell you now that it was far better than you state. It was very difficult to run a trial at Surbiton without letting everyone know as much about it as one's self, so it was arranged that he should run 20yds over the distance, which he did in 4mm Msec, much to the astonishment of everybody "in the know." That George, with everything in his favour, could run a mile in 4min lOsec I am perfectly convinced. No one . but those intimately connected with him could tell what he was capable of when well, for he waß a most difficult man to catch right on his day. He was most delicate and sensitive when training, and could not be kept long at his best. Of course he could always run well, but he seldom showed in public his really best form. That he could run 12 miles in the hour he always believed, and on two occasions he covered 10 miles at practice in 50min 6sec and 50min 13sec, and without much difficulty. He waß always most unfortunate when he really wanted to do something big, as it was nearly always wet or windy. My experience has always been Just the reverse of your correspondent's with regard to trials and races ; I always found George could run much faster in a trial than in a race, and it is very easy of explanation. If wanted to run a trial it would be under the most favourable circumstances, and he would wait a week till he had a fine evening, without a breath of wind ; whereas, if a race was set for a certain day lie had of course to put up with whatever weather it happened to be. George was always much too fond of running trials and showing himself off ; indeed his second race at Preston with Cummings was Bimply thrown away by his being enticed into running a trial (although he had only just run his mile in 4min 12fsec) when he beat a really ] good quarter-mile man in the last quarter. Such I a certainty did this race appear that George lost | £600 on it and the writer £75, yet he was beaten boforehegothalf way. W. G. George, in a recent letter to the English sporting press, refers as follows to his past performances :— "I was not a difficult man to catch at my best, for the simple reason I seldom tried or troubled to be at my best— in fact, I only trained for about six races in my life as an amateur, and on each of these occasions I accomplished the task I had set myself to do, with one exception — viz , when I failed to beat Deerfoot's record of 11 miles 970 yds in the hour. This I failed to do by 38yds, for I covered 11 miles 933 yds only. My failure was partly due to the fact that the official timekeeper made a mistake of 32sec. When I had run 10£ miles I was told that I had 16sec in hand, and at 11 miles that I was 16sec behind. Then I at once set about making up my lost time, and only failed, as before stated ,*by 38yds. This was very hard lines, especially as the performance was done in a handicap, and through a fine rain which fell nearly the whole of the time." , The long-distance walk from Berlin to Vienna was started on Monday morning, May 29, and concluded on Sunday afternoon, June 24. Herr Peitly, the winner, finished in a very exhausted condition at 35min past 4. THe only other competitorVho finished the distance arrived at 50min past 5. It is worthy of mention that these two men are said to be- vegeterians. At the Southport meeting on the 3rd ult., the One-mile Northern Counties' Championship was won by W. H. Morton by 4yds from another Salford Harrier in F. Johnson, the time being 4min 37.4-ssec, and the hammerthrowing — another northern counties'* championship event— was won by P. A. Robbie, also ef the Salford Harriers, whose winning effort was 122 ft 2in. ' . The best feature of the meeting was, however, the running of E. C. Bredin, of the London Athletic Club, who romped away with the Half-mile Scratch Race, for which his time was lmin 59£ sec, after which in the 440 yds Handicap he was only beaten by a foot by W. H. Bowen, 32yds, the time being 50£ sec. The Athletic News says that Holmes, of Barrow, the amateur champion, will have to improve a lot to have any chance with Bredin up to 1000 yds. Godfrey Shaw was another 'competitor at the Southport sports, and be was called upon to owe 15yd8 in the 120 yds Hurdles. H. Webster, owing 6yds, looked all over the winner, but in a close finißh Shaw succeeded in obtaining the

verdict— "a few inches"— his time being 18fsec. On the same day, at Halifax, the Three-quarter-mile Steeplechase (northern counties' championship) was won by F. E. Bacon, of the Ashton Harriers, with G. H. Morris, Salford Harriers, second. The time was 3min 42f sec. Sid. Thomas established a new record on June 3, when he was first home in the Three-mile Inter-club Race at the Ranelagh Harriers' sports, beating C. E. Willers, of the Essex Beagles, by 4yds. His time was 14min 24sec, which beats the previous best by 5 3-ssec, Kibblewhite having held the record with 14min 29 3-ssec, which was made on August 31, 1891. At Armley sports, on May 27, Godfrey Shaw had a virtual walk-over for the Northern Counties' 120 yds Hurdles Championship, the only other competitor who finished being 10yds behind him, and yet Shaw's timß was 18 3-saec. At Lancaster, R. A. Robbie won the N.C.A.A. 161b Shot-putting championship with a put of 37ft 2£in, and F. E. Bacon won the Half-mile in a virtual walk-over ; while at Dalton-on-Furness, in the High Jump, R. Williams and W. Whittaker tied at sft 4£in for the Counties' medal.

C. A. Bradley, the amateur sprint champion, accomplished two splendid performances afr Birmingham on May 23, winning the 100 yds and 120 yds races both in even time ; while on May 27, at Manningham, he ,won the -100 yds Scratch Race easily by 3yds in lO^sec. At the latter sports Sid. Thomas ran W. H. Morton (the holder) to a standstill in the Two-mile Scratch Race, and finished alone in splendid style, the first mile being run by him in 4min 35sec and the second in smin 3 3-ssec.

Talk about the New Zealand clubs offering valuable prizes ! The Challenge Vase, offered for the 100 yds Scratch Race at Manningham, which C. A. Bradley won for the second time on May 27, is valued at £65, and the cup, offered at the same sports for the Two-mile Race, which W. H. Morton, having two " legs " in, only required to win once more to make it his absolute property, is valued at £45. A. R. Downer broke the Scottish 120 yds record at the Edinburgh Pharmacy Sports, at Powderhall, on May 31. His time was 12£ sec, which makes him one of the fastest sprinters Scotland ever had. The old record was 12f sec on grass, which, relatively, is a better .performance than Downer's, seeing the latter was running on cinders.