ATHLETICS. NOTES BY AMATEUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2501, 19 February 1902, Page 50

ATHLETICS. NOTES BY AMATEUR.

A lirge number of entries for the Christchurch Pioneer Amateur Bicycle and Athletic Club's go-as-you-please contest, to take place next Saturday, have been received, including the crack runners of Canterbury — Simpson, Pentecost, Malthus, and Harper. The matter of raising funds for the purpose of sending G. W. Smith and W. F. Simpson to England is being taken up with considerable enthusiasm by athletic enthusiasts in Auckland, and it is not anticipated that any great difficulty will be experienced in getting together £150. Mr A. Meliss Stuart, local officer of the N.Z.A.A.A. for the Wellington district, has written to headquarters intimating that if G W. Smith and W. F. Simpson are to be sent to Great Britain and America quite a number of Wellington enthusiasts will be prepared to enter their names on a subscription list if the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association opens one. Mr btuart offers to assist in getting in the subscription in the district he represents. L C. M'Lachlan, "the Auckland professional half-mile crack, has written to the committee of the Christchurch Cycling Club asking that body to arrange «. match with a cyclist over 100 yds for a stake of £50 aside, preference to be given to George Lewis, the Christchurch bike sprinter. An effort is- being made to induce a team of picked English schoolboys to visit America next season, to engage in an international contest with"' the iNew York Inter-, scholastic Association. - It is stated that an enthusiastic and wealthy New Yorker haa agreed to defray all expenses of 30 English lads The proposed programme for the meeting is as" follows : -100yds, 220 yds, Quarter-mile. Half-mile, and One Mile Runs: 120ycU Hurdle Race, Running High and Running Long Jumps, Putting 121b Shot, and Throwing 121b Hammer. S. J. Robinson won the eighteenth annual race for the 10 miles championship of the vSalford Harriers, run at Belle Vue Gardens, Manchester, on December 21. He won by 25yds from W. Ashton in 55min 27«ec. John Flanagan, the amateur champion weight-thrower of the world, established a new record by throwing the 561b weight at the games of the Eighth Regiment, held at the Armoury, Ninety-fourth street and Park Avenue, New York, recently. He hurled the big missile a distance of 28ft 10|in from a stand, and without follow. The former record was 28ft, put up by himself in Ireland away back in 1894. What arrant nonsense is occasionally talked by tho=e who might he expected to know better (says "Sprinter" in Canterbury Times). At last meeting of the Athletic Association Mr Batchelor said it was useless to think of sending Simpson to represent this colony in the English championships, as he would have no possible chance of success. It is true that England is tho home of distance running, and that the mother country at the present time us particularly fortunate in the number of first-class men she possesses, but it is equally true thai not one has in recent years equalled the figures set up by Simpson this season for two and three miles. If Simpson goes to England he may be beaten by some of the formidable opponents he will *>c called upon to meet, but it is safe to say he will be the most dangerous amateur distance runner who has yet invaded the old country, and whoever beats the Maorilander in his bc«t form will run a great race. But apart from the chances of success, something is due to our athletes, who have a right to an opportunity to measure strides with the bett of the outside world.

The annual six mile 3 cross-country race between Dublin University and Edinburgh University was decided at Meadowbrook, Dublin, on December 16. Dublin (19 points) won by 2 points, four men home a-side being counted. G. Horan's (the winner) time was 42min 12sec.

Great rivalry exists, and Las oxisted for many years, between the Blackheath Harriers and South London Harriers. It was to give point to this rivalry that the then ihon. secretary of the former club, E. F. Nieholls, gome six years back, presented a challenge cup for an annual inter-team race. This Beason's competition wa-i decided at West Wickham on December 21. Tho distance of the race was six mileb, and each club could run a3 many men as it chose. The South London H. had 12 representathes and the Blackheath H. 16, the latter including more of their championship team than their rivals were able to command. Alfred Shrubb turned out for the S.L.H., and had no difficulty in finishing first. The course, on account of the fro=t, consisted largely of ioad. Shrtibb stayed with the field until a couple of miles from home, when he came away and won by fully 100 yds in 37inin 59sec. F. F. Judson, Blackheath IT7»3Bmin 27sec ; H. Lackhorn, S.L.H , 39min 47sec ; K. Ratchff, Blackheath H., 39min 52sec ; W. H. Manning, Blackheath H., 40min 7sec ; and T. C. Davi=, Blackhealh, 40mm 17»e^ finished next in the order named. Ten from each club counted, the totals being Blackheath 11. 8\ points, 5.L.11. 144. The blackheath H. thus retained the trophy bj r the substantial lnirajoi of 60 noiiila-

There ia a long correspondence going on between Mr C. Herbert, secretary English A.A.A., and Mr Sullivan, secretary of the A.A.W. of America, with reference to the famous athletes Kraenzlein, Duffy, Baxter, Tewkesbury, Long, and E. Flanagan. A charge has- been made that their amateur status has been violated by their receiving large amounts of money as expenses wligci competing at various meetings "in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The matter is certainly a difficult one in every way to deal with. At present our rules only permit expenses to be given when sanctioned by tho governing body, and no difficulty has arisen here in regard to the question, but in England and America it is fairly well known that certain runners have received expeases for their appearance at meetings, and particularly in regard to the foremost American runners, there has been a ve^ strong feeling that they were not really amateurs in the true sense of the term, and it is to be hoped that the inyestigaticci may lead to a number of what might be called professional amateurs going over to the professional ranks, where they rightly belong. The mortal remains of that world-famous athlete and authority on athletic matters. William B. ("Father Bill") .Curtis, were finally laid at rest in WoodlawJi Cemetery. New York, with .appropriate ceremonies, and in the presence of a large gathering of those to whom he fa life had endeared himself, arid 'who in death respected bis memory. Since his tragic death on Mount .Washington in 1900, the body of Mr Curtis had reposed in -a niche in the receiving, vault in the cemetery, awaiting the completion of the sarcophagus erected in Ids honour by his fello-.v athletes and admirers, and the casket was removed to a hearse headed by a military band, and followed by a precession on foot. Before the casket was lowered into the severely plain sarcophagus, Mr A. G. Mills (chairman of the Memorial Committee) introduced Mr John R. Van Wormer (president of the New York Athletic Club), who rpviewed the busy life- of the deceased, after which the Rev. Dr floughtou read the prayers for the dead, and the Mendelssohn Quartet rendered '"Nearer, my God, to Thee," as the lid was faotoncd down. The sarcophagus is of plain granite : on one side is a slab, with " William B. Curtis," below which 'appears Shakespeare's tribute to Brutus : ' "He was a man, take him all in all. I shall not look upon his like again. On the top is a bronze imitatibh ot a iaurel wreath entwined with a scroll bearing Hie inscription. " A Tribute from the Athletes of America." Members of the Fresh-air Club, the New York Athlefic Club, the Amateur Athletic Union of the^ United StatPs, and many other cluSs of New York and neighbouring cities were present. The ceremonies are said to have bee-v the most impressive ever held over the remains of an amateur athlete in America.

Of all the runners the world has known, Lawrence (Lon.) E. Myers, of, New York, was perhaps the most famous (writes Thomas I' Lee, in Munsey's Magazkie). Time and again he defeated the men called fastest in America, England,- .' Australia, „and Canada. At ona time he held all records from fifty yards to a thousand; and without question he was the 'bestr'man for distances a, quarter to a half-mile that ever put on a running shoe. 'In .build Myers was a. freak. Of medium height and very slender; with long lega all out of proportion to his upper body, thin and aallow -faced he looked anything but an athlete. Stripped ready to race, he had a powerful pair of legs carrying a email trunk of concentrated nerve force, topped off with a wise, quick-thinking head. He ran like a machine, with a big, bounding, space-eating stride that lengthened and quickened without apparent effort. His judgment of pace was astonishing, and he won many wagers by running 440 yds in exactly the number of seccads he chose. What Myers could have done had he trained yroperly will always be a problem, for 1 when fn his prime he never took care of himself. He played poker all one night, and without sleep, rest, or food, except two apples and a cup of coffee, he forth and bioke a world's record. Ho died at the age of 41.