ATHLETICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2059, 10 August 1893, Page 33

ATHLETICS.

NOTES BY AMATEUR. Donald Dinnie, the well-known athlete, is at present in Dunedin running a variety company. Dinnie gives some exhibitions of strength. At the first entertainment he held out at arm's length for 20 seconds a dumb-bell weighing 401b. - He then offered anyone in the audience £1 for every second they could hold the same weight in a similar fashion ; two or three attempted the feat without success. Dinnie also held a dumb-bell weighing over 200 ib above his head with one hand. , During the evening heexpressed his disappointment at the small attendance ; seeine that he had won something like 8862 contests, he thought that he should have been able to draw a crowded house himself, especially in Dunedin, where there were so many of his countrymen. At a committee meeting of the Kurow Amateur Athletic Club held a few days ago it was decided to hold the usual gathering on September 15— a three-mile cross-country handicap to take place in the afternoon, and the evening to be devoted to a social and ball. The sum of one guinea was voted towards the expenses of the New, Zealand team to compete at the Australasian championship meeting to be held in Melbourne. <• The Auckland Amateur Athletio Club has decided to donate £W to tta ftmds for eroding

a- team to the Australasian championship meeting, and to support the alterations in the association's rules proposed by the Wellington Club. The Wairarapa Amateur Athletic and Cyoling Club cannot, owicg to infancy, financially assist in sending ateam to the Australasian championship meeting. , „ The committee of the Wellington Amateur Athletic and Cycling Club report that there is a large .number of outstanding subscriptions due to that club, and point out the necessity for a change in the present mode of On good authority I am told that such a state of affairs as this is quite unknown >to the committee of the Dunedin Amateur, Athletic Club —at any rate not for the last four or five years. > "Onlooker" writes from Wellington:— The annual meeting of the .Wblwjktos Amateur Athletic and Cyclin^Cmb^wafSeld o^.Tburgday evening, there being a fair, attendance, presided over by the prldidentj (Mi H. D. Bell); In his address upon the , report and balance sheet, which showed the olub to be in a sound condition, the President refefled to tho championship meeting in Wellington in February, and said he thought the club could congratulate itself on the success of, the gathering, which was conceded to have been the bekh yet; held in the colony, and upon, the manner m which it had been managed. Mr Bell made a feeling reference to the death of the late secretary, Mr J. B. Tringham, whose loss has been greatly deplored^ and he Went on to congratulate Mr Ross Gore and Mr O. M'Cormack upon having made records for the long jump and .putting the weight respectively. Speaking upoh, the subject of the Australian team,' Mr Bell, said he hoped .the club would be representedin stioh, and concluded a capital speech amid' applause, and his motion of adoption was carried; A new rule, to the effect that the olub should be affiliated to the New' Zealand .Athletic Association, and that its. meetings should be conducted under the rules ptthat body, was added. The election of Officers, resulted as follows :— President, Mr H. D. Bell (re-elected on the motion of Messrs Tripp and Hempton) ; vice-presidents — Messrs A. de B' Brandon, J. W. Davis, C. W. Benbow, C. .A, Knapp ; (secretary, Mr H. JVVCardell ; treasurer, , Mr. O. W. Tringham; auditors, Messrs F. Fahrenß&ch.and J. R. Gibbons ; commifctee-^Messrs LJ-O. Tripp, C. J. Cooper, R. Gore, J..H. -Hempton, J. W. Marchbanks, L. Harley, A. O. Kreeft, and J. M. King. • ■ . -, '*, '. A proposition by Mr C. W^Tnngham relative to an alteration in the System of paying -the subscriptions was referred to t,he committee for consideration. A vote of thanks was passed to Messrs A. O. Kreeft ancj fl Jtt'Cardell, handicappers,- for compiling a- register of the performances of every competitor at the club meetings, also to Mr J. W. Davis, for laying off the track, and to the retiring" committee for its services. The usual thanks, to the chnir terminated a_pleasant meeting. '• , ' „ , The .action of the committee .of, the Wellington Amateur Athletic and Cycling Club in abandoning the Autumn sports after it had been decided by a general meeting to hold .them, was strongly condemned by Messrs G. F. Wooldridge and G. S. Hill at the annual meeting. Mr J. M. King admitted that the committee had adopted a course which seemed extraordinary, but contended that they were justified in cancelling the fixture, because the Basin Reserve was thoroughly soaked, and no fewer than 36 out of 60 intending competitors, had forwarded a petition praying* that on account of the wet weather and the approaching football season the meeting* should be abandoned. 'Mr King's, explanation was considered satisfactory^ and the subjedt was allowed to drop. At the annual meeting of the Wellington A. A. and C. Club on Thursday) writes " Onlooker," the President's Challenge ,Cup was presented to Messrs S. R. Murray, and P. J. Nathan, who' had tied, and club's standards to Messrs J. H. Hempton (100 yds, 10 lfcfec) and C. Gore (high jump, sft sin).- With reference to the President's Cup, it is good to make mention of Mr Bell's liberality to the club, the trophy bring handsome and valued at a good sum, besides which he gave last year to the winner of the cross-country face (Mr N. L Gurr) a cup valued at 30gs, and at Thursday's meeting promised to give another trophy for a similar event. The delegates to our championship meeting will also remember the handsome , manner in which Mr Bell entertained them at his country residence. . There was some little discussion at the W.A.A. and CO. meeting on Thursday upon Mr J. M. King's motion to separate the cyclists from the athletes. The mover explained that , complications hod occurred between the club and the New Zealand Cycling Alliance, and that for that reason, and also because a bicycle club had been established in- Wellington, it was thought the cycling branch sb.oul.d~be abandoned. Mr C. J. Cooper supported Mr King, and as there appeared to be a general feeling in favour of separation, and no opposition, the motion was agreed to. The club now reverts to its old title of W.A.A.O. On the motion of Mr L. Tripp, seconded by Mr C. J. Cooper, the W.A.A. and C,C decided that the club should subscribe £10 10s to the expenses of the New Zealand team to Australia, and that the committee should submit to. the association the names of /the Wellington candidates. It is probable, writes " Onlooker," that the club will recommend the names of Messrs Hempton, M'Cormack, and Ro3B Gore. Mr Gurr would be* named, but he is now in the Hawke's Bay district, aqd will probably represent that district, whioh Hempbon at one time ran for. At a meeting of the Victorian Amateur Ath'etic Association held on the 19 cb. July it was decided to revise the rules relating to records so that in each case the colonial record should be held to mean the best performance by a born or naturalised citizen of the colony in* wh'ch the record was put up or for which it was claimed. Some amendments in the conditions proposed by New Zealand were referred to Messrs Shappere and Parkinson, with power to cable result to New Zealand. The M.C.C. ground was definitely secured for November 9 and 11," and the .prices to be charged for admisf ion gn each day will be 6d and Is 6d to ground and stand respectively. . It was decided that a levy should be made on the five metropolitan harrier clubs to the amount of 5s per head on all their members and a special subscription obtained from each of the other associated bodies, the same to be represented by tickets for the meeting, to be issued shortly, the unanimous opinion being that the charts pionship meeting, brilliant as it will undoubtedly be, could not be undertaken unless the management were provided with the sinews in" advance. v Professor William Miller, manager and secretary of the late Melbourne Athletic Club (says the Melbourne Sportsman), received by last mail from Mr Astley Cooper the following lttter :— " I was very pleased to see your letter of April 14 last in the Australian newspapers. We shall soon get to details now, and you may take it that the contest will take, place in July 1894. Mr L. A. Cuff, hon. lecretary New Zealand A.A.A., writes me under date April 17 :— 1 1 notice that the Australians are making a move in the direction of sending a' team of athletes to the first meeting- It. is almost certain thftt we |n New JZeaJand. wilY join bands and

help to make the team an Australasian one: At anyrate I intend moving to this effect at the ■ ' next meeting of the association j tied, ib, is ' almost certain that the motion will be.c*rrjed.! vi , The chief South African and Canadian athletic/ clubs are pledged to send repreeentatives tothe\u>; gathering. .You kDow, of course,- thafc^ Si*if Frederick Sargood, the Hon. Janjes^Seryice,^ Sir William Clarke, and Mr Deakin are deeply" interested in the pan-Britannic 'idea, and I.■ .think they ought to be consulted in the progress of the matter." ■ The recent walking match fcom Paris toi ' Rheims (says the St. James's -.Gazette) was., sufficiently original to have notice drawn tb4t. . Each of the walkers, Cochard acd/ Certeaux, - carried upon his shoulders a sack so well filled .that it weighed 100 kilogrammes, more thans ■ 200 English pounds. The> distance between. Fans and Rheims is 172 • kilometres— about 108miles. The two men got over the ground ia< eight days, and one was only a little behind ' the other when the match was concluded. They are both workmen of Rheims ; bub ' the ' elder, . *ho was beaten apparently because in the. early part of the contest he did not take advantage of his ability to do with le3s sleep thin the pther, > is a weaver, and therefore it could not have been his occupation that developed his muscles. - Strange to say it was not the fatigue of-the.-shoulders that tired them moat, bub the swelling > and soreness of the feet . Ib will"- be allowed, . even in athletic Australia, that to walk 13 miles • a day for eight consecutive days, with' a 'weight : of over 2001b upon their shoulders .is a .rather severe trial of human strength and «ndvir,anoe. > The French are certainly showing .-what they can do in the way of athletic performances, and - the results have astonished a good manypedple ; lately. • „ . - . There was an enormous entry for the London ,• and North-western sports, upwards of 600 names .- appearing on the programme, and darkness was coming on before it was got through. > Accord- : ing to the Athletic News the only -event .which \ calls for notice was the Four Miles, which brought out 19 starters, including Eibblewhite, Pearce, S. Thomas, Willers, and,;C. Wl'Davis, ■> of Birmingham. One of the "fittest races ever . witnessed for ■ such a distance 1 -- took place. Kibble white had enough at the end of ! the first > mile. Willers beat Pearce by, 10yds/ ; The ten- : mile champion, who was! in/f ront ' a lap f rom home, was fairly run .oflE-histleg^ and finished third, apparently ,dead< beatsn. . •, The time was -> 19min 33sec— a best on record for' the' distance, • and eclipses Thomas's four miles' record made at : Stamford Bridge last May^by no 'less 'than • 6fcsec. _ ( '•:'?.<->* At the Civil Service sports, held on June 10, • the chief event was the 600^ds Invitation, Race, in which Bredin from the scratch- mark ran • fairly away from the rest ofhia opponents, and - passed the tape in lmin llf sec tia^fi,; which ties Myers's long-standing American record and : beats the English previous best, Bredin's own, made at Stamford Bridgejast autumn, ,by two- < fifths of a second. It was a magniflcent.perfor-. - mance, and possibly, it was. thougnt, had he had a man to pull him alongifor the last 100 yds ' a world's record might have been , created, ' although he appeared to be fairly spun out at the finish. The other big feat was that of Godfrey - Shaw, who got third in the 120 yds Hurdle from scratch, barely a foot behind the .winner, R, P. Lowe, Guy's Hospital, 13yds start; in-154-53ec. On this running he must have beaten an existing - record by a good yard, bub' he will-not of course . be credited with the performance on the Record : books, although no reasonable doubt can exist that he is entitled to it. ' Bar accidents,' the ; championship is considered to be a certainty for V him. .. ',•,(■. . The Scottish athletio standard, times are as, ; follow ; — Quarter-mile, 52seo ; half-mile, 2mjn - 33ec ; mile, 4min 34sec ; four miles,. 21min ; „ three miles walk, 23min 30sec ; high jump,- sft : 6in; 'broad jump, 20ft 6in; hammer, 90ft; weight, 39ft. , ■ " , , From the Melbourne Sportsman I take the . following :— "Dr Sargent writes s ; 'The - greatest disturbance is . caused in -the shortest : time by a continuous muscular strain;- as in ' doing slow strength work on gymnastic appara- > tvs, in lifting heavy weights, attempting -to -. elevate heavy dumb-bells, Sustaining the weight - of two or three men, on the shoulders 'as in pos- i turing, and the practice of the tug-of-war, as ib - is called. The next exercises ia the order of ' severity on the cardiac muscle and the circula- ■ tion are boxing, the one-fourth and -one-half mile runs, short swimming -contests at full , speed, high jumping, and three-mile bpat races. Football, wrestling, weight-throwing, • the twomile bicycle and walking contests; four-mile - . boat racing, the one-mile, and even the threemile, running races are not so severe on the I heart as the exercises I have mentioned. Run- , ning and walking are natural forms of exercise, and the alternative movements of the arms and legs, when not too, rapid, tend to facilitate the circulation of the blood. The strain on' the heart and bload/ vessels is greatly relieved. in - Violent exercises through getting into -a profuse , perspiration. The great test of condition is . ability to do a good athletio performancs en a cold, rainy, or windy day.V ' ; " >