WARRNAMBOOL TO MELBOURNE

Otago Witness, Issue 2691, 11 October 1905, Page 56

WARRNAMBOOL TO MELBOURNE

BOAD RACE. What is now the most important event in the Australasian cycling world was decided last Saturday week, when W. B. Hawley, of Elsternwick, from a handicap of 25niin, won the Dunlop Road Race ovor the course from Warrnaxnbool to Melbourne, his actual riding time being 7hr s'^min 26seo for 165 miles. These figures are outside the record established' by J. Arnst (New Zealand) in ISO 3, when, from, scratch, he covered the course in 7hr 43min. It ranks, however, as the third fastest time registered, being eclipsed by T. Larco-nbe in last year s contest, who occupied 7hr 48min 7sec. Hawley, it will be- remembered, secured champioiship honours on the Saturday previous, when he wor the 25-mile Road Championship of Australasia from an array of talent that had never before competed here on the road. In this event he met all. or nearly all, the cracks who had been selected in the several States and New Zea-la-nd, and 1 who had been sent hither to represent their respective place 3in the WarrnamDool event. A conspicuous feature of the race was the comparative failure of the scratch and back divisions, which, this year, were considered particularly strong. There were five men each on the scratch and Smin marks, but ov>ing to several mishaps the bunches became disorganized. The scratch men were particularly unfortunate- At Par.mure, 16 miies, H. Arnst (Nk3W Zealand) fell heavily, bruising and" lacerating his arm to such an. extent that he had to desist for a while, and have it dressed. At Garvoo, 22 miles where there is an awkward clip in the road, an-J which was in a very greasy state, K. W. Morgan, Chappeli, and two others fell heavily, leaving J. Arnst alone, and taking every advantage, he kept on his way at a grsat pace, reaching- Qamperdowu. 43 miles, ;n lhr 57min. Morg m and- Chappell quickly remounted, and although the former was out and bruised about the head, they 1-aeed afcout, and were but two minutes Taehind Arr st at Camperdown. Six miles beyond, .at Weerite, a roadside station, Morgan was forced to give in, the shaking and wounds sustained by his fall having overcome him. Ohappell still pursued the flying New Zealander, but in reaching Colac. V 3 miles, had lost another minute, and thence sse-ms io hays died away. Arnst, however, made very., fast time through Winclielsea and Geelong, but this forced solitary ride made great inroads on bis form, and this, combined with trouble in the shape of a couple of punctures, placed him well back in the list of finishers. An ■enormous crowd, estimated at 20,000, collected 1 at the Melbourne Haymarket to witness the final. The last half mile of the road was barricaded to prevent the crowd closing in on the riders as they finishedi Interest was high as the expected time for the finish drew nigh, and all eyes were turned along; the road eagerly watching for the first glimpse of the approaching riders. At 2.27 a great shout ran along the dense crowd extending over a mile along the road. "Here he comes 1 ' was the cry taken up ac a black batch of cyclists hove in sight escorting; the leader. Entering ihe barriers, a cyclist singled himself out from the bunch of cyclists, and, finishing in great style, crossed the line an easy winner. A close scrutiny through a heavy coating of mud revealed that the winner was W. E. Hawley (Victoria). Ten minutes later Finlay (Victoria, 50min) finished second after a great struggle, beating E. Turner (50min) for second place by three lengths. The winner also established fastest time, and was invested with the Australasian Road Blue Riband. Of the New Zealand riders, Neilson did best, finishing ninth in Bhr 13min. 58sec. Hurnm was twentieth in Bhr 28min 35sec. Walsh's time was Bhr 43min 35see, and Staples, who was thirty-first, finished in 9hr 9min 52seo. J. Arnst's riding; time was 9hr 9min 12sec, and H. Arnst's was 9hr Smin 24see. No very various accidents were reported, although falls, punctures. an d broken chains were numerous. *Many of the riders, carried spare chains aiv.l tyre^, as ona oi the conditions was that the same machine had to be used throughout. To ensure this each cycle -\a& sealed by the officials at Warrnambool.

The contestants had food supplied to them at six different places along the route. The first station was at Camperdown, 43 miles, when the road rises over a 6pur of Mount Lcura, and here each man secured a. satchel containing three bananas, four oranges, :Ub each of chocolate, muscatel raisins, and specially prepared beef sausages, a quantity of celery, and a pint tin of warm milk and bread sweetened. At Mount Gellibrand, 86 miles, milk was served out; at Winchelsea, egg flip (half a pint) or plain milk was obtainable. At Geelong North, 122 miles, another satchel and warm bread and milk, as at Camperdown, was picked up, while more milk was dispensed at Little River, 135 miles, and 1 bovril and bananas at Werribee, 145 miles, upon which they; covered the last twenty miles. The total quantities of food supplied by the Dunlop Company were a? follows : — 90gal milk, 20 loaves bread, 211b sugar, 101b bovril, 651b specially-prepared beef sausages, 20 dozen, bananas, 160 dozen mandarins, 661b muscatel raisins, 661b chocolate, 12 dozen eggs, 20 bunches celery, and half a gallon port wine. In addition to this a quantity of edibles was provided' at Colac, "for owing to the cold and hard ride from Camperdown many of the riders had eaten all supplied to them at the latter place, and were hungering for more. No less than 40 checkers and food-distributers were engaged along the route. Hawlei is 22 y_ears of a^e, and j§ enj-

ployed in the office of the Brighton Gas- ■« orks. He has been riding ior about five years, with varying success, and it was not until the present reason that he attracted attention as a road rider of the nrst rank. Since lie commenced training' three months ago' he has carried olf the East Melbourne Cup tor 25 miles, and his sensational win m the 25 miles road championship at Cpmpbellfield a week previously led to his chances being strongly favouied for the big Handicap, wherein he had a start of 25 minutes. " I want a drink," remarked Hawley. as at last he broke free from the photographeis. " I have eaten only six banana* since starling, but I drank everything I could get hold of. All, that's better!" he added, setting down his glass, and removing a sufficient quantity of mud from his mouth to enable him to speak with eaoc. "I thought I might have broken the record," he s>aid, with a shade of sadness. " I felt satisfied when 1 passed ihe leading man the other side ot Little River that none of the back-markers would ever catch me; but I went at it all I knew for the record I was feeling pretty conlidcnt about that, too. till 1 came up to the clock down the road here, and saw that I was too late. Arnst turned off the distance in 7 hours 43 minutes a couple of voars ago, and my time to-day was 7 hours 52 minutes 26 seconds, so I was nearly 10 minutes longer than he was." Among a class so worldly and material as racing cyclists, Hawley stands out as a believer in signs and omens and a mysticism almost Celtic. "This is the fourth Warrnambool road race I've been in," he said. "The first time I ran twelfth, the second I ran eighth, and the third nineteenth. Well, twelve and eight's twenty, nineteen from twenty leaves one, so I said to myself my place '11 be one this year. Then I was No. 165 on the programme, and it's 165 miles from Warrnambool. That was something, too. Why, I couldn't help winning." Loud cheers were given when W. H. Oikes made his appearance. Oakes, who comes from the mallee, has only one arm (the left). Nevertheless, he guided his machine safely through intricate patches on the journey, and on one occasion he sat down with his machine between his knees and deftly mended a puncture. He certainly deserved a prize for his tenacious hardihood.

The following riders have been successful in the Warrnambool to Melbourne Road Race : — H. jr. s. 1895 A. OaMer, 120min .. « 11 44 30 1896 J. Carpenter, scr 8 40 5 1897 W. C. Jackson, lOfciin .. 9 51 9 1898 W. Collins, 90min .. .. 9 50 50 1901 A. Nioa, 40rnin .. .. 9 20 40 1902 *vf. Chappell, '55mni . . ..903 1903 J. Amis!, scr (world's record) 7 43 0 1904 J. Wright, 38min .. .. 7 53 57 1905 W. E. Hawley, 25nrin .. 7 52 27 Carpenter's xace was paced. LIST OF PRIZES.

First prize, cheque, £30, and £5 5s gold medal, by the Dunlop Tyre. Co. ; sec.->vl i-rize, Speedwell cycle, donated by Messrs Beimett, Wood, and 'Roche; third' prize, i£e";w-Em-pire cycle, donated! by Mr C. 3. Kellow; fourth prize, Charleston cycle, donated l\v Mi D. Charleston ; fifth prize, cheque, £3 Ss, donated by Messrs Endean and Wilson, Ballarat;- sixth prize, cheque, £2 23, donated ky the A'crne Cycle Co. ; seventh prize, cheque, £2 2s, donated by Mr Syd. Day. Special Prizes — Fastest time, Massey-Harris 1 bicycle, donated by the llasscy-Harri^ Co., and c. ampiou road blue ribbon and badge of Aivsitra.lasia., by the Dunlop Tyre Co.; fastest competitor over lOmin start, not winning any other bicycle), Hartley "Special" bicycle, donated by Messrs Hartley Bros., Bendigo ; fastest unplaced 1 competitor (not winning any other cycle) receiving over 35min start, snid residing oiitside a radius of _60 miles from Melbourne, Davies-Franklin "bicycle, model "II.," donated by Messrs Davies and Franklin, Ballarat.

LIST OF PRIZE-WINNERS

H. M. S. Ist— "W. E. Hawley (Vie), 25mia .. 7 52 26 2nd— R. Finlay (Vie), SOmin .. 8 27 37 3rd— E. J. Turner (Vie), 50min .. 8 27 38 4th— W. J. M'L?ocl (Vie), 38niin .. 8 16 37 sth— R. Hird (N.S.W.), 35imn .. 8 20 50 6th— H. W. Sargent (Vie), 45inin .. 8 30 53 7th— C. Reynolds (Vie), 42min .. 8 28 50

SPECIAL PRIZES,

Fastest Time and Australasian Road Blue Riband for 1905.— W. E. Hawley (Vie), 25min, riding time, 7hr 52min 26sec. Fastest Competitor Reeeivi-'i-? over 10 Minutes' Start (not winning any other cycle). — H. W. Viney (Tas.), 12jrtin, rating iirue, Shr 6rnin 2sec.

Fastest Competitor Receiving over 20 Minutes' Start (not winning any other cycle). — R. Hird! (N.S.W.), 35mm, licJing time Bhr 20min 50sec.

Fastest Unplaced Competitor (mot winning any other cycle) Receiving over 35 Minutes' Start, and Residing Ouisdde a Radius of 60 Miles from Melbourne.— J. C. Lloyd (Camperdown), 52niin, riding time, Bhr 46min 20sec.