CYCLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 17 August 1893, Page 34

CYCLING.

NOTES BT DEMON.

The annual general meeting of the above club was held in the club room, High street, on Saturday evening. Dr Jeffcoat occupied the chair, and 30 members were present. The report (which has already appeared in these columns) and balance sheet were, 'on the motion of the Chairman, carried unanimously. The following office-bearers were elected for the ensuing year : — President, Mr F. J. Stilling ; vice-presidents— Drs Fulton, Jeffcoat, and Roberts, Messrs Cutten, Myers, and W. Melville ; captain, G. Crow ; deputy-captain, R. Emmerson ; secretary, R. E. King ; treasurer, W. H. Matthews ; committee— A. Marshall, M. Fassmore, R. A. Ewing, J. Stone jun.', J. Wilson, and C. E. Morris; auditors— E. R. Reid and A. G. Melville. Fourteen new

members were balloted for and declared duly

elected. A vote of thanks to the retiring officers was, on .the motion of Mr A. Crow, carried by acclamation. — - At a well attended meeting of the newlyformed Invercargill Cycling Club, by election of some new members the membership roll was increased to about 60. The rules of the old

club were adopted and it was decided that the club be affiliated with the New Zealand Cyclists' Alliance. A number of offers of prizes for a sports meeting were received. The Rangiora Athletic Club have voted £5 towarctfthe expenses of the N. Z. Cycling team visiting Sydney in September. The Timaru Tourists' Cycling Club intend asking permission to have the 50-mile Record Race at Timara. The Melbourne Bicycle Club have written to Zimmerman and other great racing men ai to the of any of them journeying to Australia to compete in the Austral Wheel Race. At Herne Hill, London, on June 17, the first instalment of the National Cyclists' Union championships was decided before a rather small attendance. The American, W. C. San-

ger, won the Mile, beating in the final A. W. Harris (second) and F. Pope (third). Sanger • won by 6yds in 2min 49|sec. The last quarter was covered in2B 4- sseo, a world's record. A. J. Watson won the Five Miles, in 13min 2f sec, Harris finishing second and L. Strand third. F. Bramson was successful in both the tricycle events, winning the Mile in 2min 54f sec, and the Ten Miles in 31min 44 3-sseo. Meintjes, the South African champion, finished second in his heat of the Mile, and was fourth in the Five ' Miles. The One and Twenty-five Miles "championships of Scotland were decided at Glasgow on June 17, when R. A. Vogt, the previous champion at the distances, won both events easily. The timejfor the One Mile was 2min 43§secj and for the Ten Miles, lhr 1 3mm fsee. On June 19, at the Herne Hill track, W. C. Sanger, the American rider, succeeded in lowering the English record for the quartermile flying start to 27 4-ssec. The mile dropped to 2mm 10$8eo, in addition to lowering the three-quarter mile to lmin 36^sec. 1> On Thursday, June 29, L at Herne Hill, Lawrens S. Meintjes beat .the mile record of 2min % OJsec, lately made by W. C SaDger at the sajme grounds, by 3 Ssec, his time for the distanca' being 2min 9 3-ssec. — — 4 It' is estimated that a wheelman can journey round the globe at an expense of £1000,'' — — IJThe London County Club includes the following anaopgst its rules:— "That any member ridiDg ia the name of the club who wins a'^championship or other race considered of sufficient importance by the committee, shall be presented with a racing suit, having the ace x of clt&s in black and white on the centre seam. This costume shall only be worn by members to whomUt is thus granted by the committee, and ' the member shall be said to have been * given his colours.' "" The performance of A. . W. Harrisat the County race meeting on Saturday lastin'the " Auditors " and «• Turner " Cups— in the latter he beat the five miles' record (says the London Sportsman of June 17) — have been considered o*. sufficient importance, and Harris has been given his colours. — -J Zimmerman usached New York on June 24, and won. the two races in which he rode. . — VAn interesting and exciting form of cycle facing is a long-distance relay race between club teams. Eich club is given a packeji to deliver, and members of the club are stationed along the route ready to forward on - their packet, 'when it arrives, to the next member ortheir club up the road. The first packet home j wins. — r Breckinridge, at Minneapolis, June 18, on a Raleigh, won the Quarter-mile Interscholastic Race in 30£iee, standing start, breaking world's record, 31$ sec, for competition or ' with pacemakers. • In 1892 Zimmerman won £1760 worth of prizes— a record unequalled by any other wheelman in the world. . — — The folly of racing in an untrained condition .was fully exemplified lately (says Bicycling News) in the case of a master painter named Hennessey, who, although quite a novica at cycling, and between 40 and 50 years of age, undertook to ride from Preston to Lancaster and back within six hoars for a wager. On the return journey he had several bad attacks of cramp, but, after being rubbed by his pacemakers, continued the ride and eventually finished with about 10 minutes to spare, being welcomed iv by nearly 1000 people. He was quite exhausted, and died on the following day —it is supposed from heart disease. Here are a few of the prizes selected by the fortunate competitors in the great Pullman Road Race: Bicycles, gold watch, case of champagne, revolver, fishing-tod, billiard cue, box of candy, cigars, English cycling journal, World&Fair tickets, basket of fruit. The Irish Cyclist says that the man who races for pure spoit is mentally, morally, and physically benefited. It gives him keen calculating judgment and decision of character, watchfulness, precision, and their development assists in his success in life ; but to the man who races for what he can make and cares nothiog for sport sho pro yes but a very sorry stepmother. This individual grows careless, lives

on the best at other people's expense, and when racing season is over he spends his winter in low excess, nntil at last his physical powers decay and he contracts idle habits. All the benefits which his racing might have done him are nullified by the demoralising life ho has led, and in the majority of cases he either goes to the bad or sinks into a menial position. There is racing and racing. Real amateur raciDg is elevating, but the Ifogus article is demoralising to the last degree.

. The 25-mile Championship of England was won by J. W. Stocks, a well - known rider, whose strong point had been hard pushing rather than sprinting. Stocks won the lap prize, running 25£ laps to W. Howitt's 25. Meintjes, the South African champion, rode well, but the cold wind told on him considerably. At the last lap Stocks was leading, and pkffikily sticking to his work, won from J. J. Green, who just managed to beat A. W. Harris on the tape. Stocks is only 22 years of age, and since the commencement of his racing career in 1889 he has won between £600 and £700 worth of trophies. • At the 25-mile Championship meeting an international five-mile race between Scottish and English riders was rode. The first heat was won by Harris (English) with R. A. Vogt (Scotch) second. The second heat fell to Stroud (English), with his fellow-countryman, P. W. Brown, second. The race resulted finally in Scotland winning by 13 points to 7. The Englishmen wore white caps, with the rose embroidered in colours in front. The Scotchmen wore blue cape, with a golden thistle. White and tartan sashes were also worn. Btephane, the long-distance rider in France, maide an attempt to cover 700 kilometres (437£ miles) in 24 houra on June 24. The attempt was made under favourable conditions, but at the end of the 24 hours Stephane had covered only 620 kilometres. It is the ambition of all loDg-distance riders in France to cover the 700 kilometres in the 24 hours, and Stephane attributes his failure to using a high gear on his bicycle. At Herne Hill '(London) on July 1, E. Dance covered 100 miles in the record time of 4hr 43min sS|sec. In commenting on the performance Bicycling News writes :— " The 100 miles record accomplished by Dance at Herne Hill on Saturday deserves more than passing notice. p We have been speculating as to the doing of five consecutive 20 miles within five consecutive hours, when suddenly a youth, who has done little or no path work, calmly rides over 21 miles per hour for five hours on end. . . . Dance's is one of the finest performances on record, but we think he can easily beat 4hr 40min with a bit better luck with his machines. On Saturday he rode three in all, one of them being J. G. Sames's roadster. Not only did Dance put in a fine performance, but" all the men who finished beat the previous record. Soanes, Ilsley, Bateß; and Nesbitt all improved on their previous performances, whilst U. L. Lambley scored a number of records, wiping the book clear from 25 to 43-miles." In connection with Dance's 100 miles record the following table taken from Bicycling News is of interest :—

* Record. The table gives tho very best idea of the great race. Dance rode with groat judgment, and only lost a lap through tyre mishaps; ho never had a bad time until about 70 miles, and between that and 80 he rode the slowest 10 miles of the series. He/however, nursed himself very carefully, absolutely declined to be bustled, and oame again wonderfully in the last 10 miles. It was a truly splendid performance, and" beats all authenticated records into a cocked hat. The men finished Ss under :— 1. E. Dance, Catford C.C ... 443 58J2. E. V. Soanes, Surrey & L.C. 448 4?= 4 6J behind first 3. R. J. sllsley, North Road & > Stanley ... 4SO 40jJ= 6 42J „ 4. J. E. L. Bates, Surrey & L.C. 463 31f =9 3)J 5. R. C. Nesbitt, BathßoadClub 4 55 SCJ=II 52 Distance in Hours. Previous Record,

A« was to have been expected, the military ride on horseback which took place last year between Berlin and Vienna has stimulated the amour propre of 'Continental cyclists, who have just organised a contest on similar lines, with a view mainly of ascertaining to what extent they can c'aim superiority for their mounts over the equine steed. A large number of competitors started from the Austrian oapital on Thursday, June 29, and among them was Lehr, the German champion, who, on the strength of having a few days previously ridden from Paris tp Frankfort, a distance of 362 miles, ia 41hrs 25miq, was a very warm favourite. On arriving at Kolin, in Bohemia, however, he gave up the contest. During the whole of race the competitors had to ride against a strong head \vipd, and several severe storms burst over them, making the road very bad. The first arrival was Fischer, who covered the 356 miles in 31hrs 22min, and he was followed 55 minutes afterwards by a rider named Sorge, with Anderson third. Ib will thus be Been that, notwithstanding the numerous drawbacks, the cj clists were able to beat the times of the military officers very considerably, the Austrian winner last year having, at the expense of his horse, occupied no loss than 71 hours to ride from one capital to tho other. Sorge gained the first of several special prizes offered to riders who kept to one machine throughout. He rode an English - made machine, a " Triumph," which stood the severe test grandly. - — A five and a-quarter mile road race for

the championship of Malta was run off Sunday, June 4. It was won by C. Webb, a petty officer of H.M.S. Trafalgar, in 14min 303ec. Tho two cyclists' parades held in Liver-> pool last week resulted in £242 17a 3d being handed over to charities.

Toe clips are stroDgly condemned by English and American writers, especially for young riders. For racing men they may -be excellent safeguard?, but to depend upon them solely has a ruinous effect on the ' ankle action of a rider, who otherwise might be a good racer.

mis. yds. .. 23 440 — Lambley !. 45 810 — Danca I. 66 1120 — Dance I. 85 770 - Banco nils. yds. 23 1520 -Edo 44 450 - Eie 63 "49 — Ede 80 310 — Adami

Mis. 2893. 5 Lambley 10 15 20 25 30 35 45 Dance 50 55 „ 60 65 „ 70 75 „ 80 85 90 95 100 „ . Durat'nlOM. Prey. Rec. h. m. s. h. m. b. m. s. 12 57§ - — 12 9 Harris 25 m 25 47J 24- 34- Vogt 38 38 — 37 32£ Ede * - 51 24$ 25 36J 50 13§ „ *1 4- 42| — 15 55| „ *1 17 34-f 26 10J 1 19 7| Osmond *1 31 12j — 1 32 40| „ *1 44- 29? 26 55£ 1 4-7 16£ „ *1 58 45 — 2 2 12J Bde *2 12 38 28 8f 2 17 ii\ „ *2 26 42J — 2 32 20J ■ „ *2 4-1 -16J 28 38J 2 47 ' 9£ *2 55 19 — 3 9 37J Adams *3 9 34-| 28 18| 3 26 8£ „ *3 25 48^ — 3 43 21| „ *3 42 54f 33 19f 3 59 26J *3 58 37* — 416 2S *4 13 51f 30 57 4 33 25§ „ H 28 1| — 4 48 26? - „ *4 43 58£ 30 6% 5 4 18J „ m. s. .1 13§r 1 33 128§ 2 461 3 27J 4 22J 5 38| 7 53 14 18§ 16 33f 17 33 16 32£ 17 25 19 3420 24-f 20 20|