athletics;

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 61

athletics;

FIXTURES. | April 22 to May 2 — Olympian Games at Athens. i NOTES BY AMATEUR. | W. Lopdell, who, it will be remembered, ran such a good race behind Shrubb in (he Four-mile Handicap, in the 1905 New Zealand Championship meeting in Christchurch, is at present residing in Invercargill, whore he is an active supporter of amateur athletics. Owing to the nature of Mr Lopdell's business he is i;nable to take part in most of the club races, but, nevertheless, keeps fit. and hopes during the winter season to take part in some of the long-distance races in Dunedin. Although possessed of no great speed, he is a great plodder, and would show to advantage over a long crosscountry course. The Gore Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club had a large and enthusiastic annual general meeting, M # r B. J. Faitt presiding. The annual roport made special mention of the fact that the c'.ub had been represented in the international championship, while C. L. Smithhad boon chosen to represent the province at the New Zealand Championship meeting. The balance sheet showed a satisfactory credit balance, despite the fact that the club is run on a very low subscription. It was resolved to support the formation of a Centre for Southland, and Mr R. E. Bust was chosen to represent the club at the meeting in Invercargill. A strong list of office-bearers was elected, Mr C. L. Smith being re-elected secretary. Ten • new members were elected at the meeting, among them being two runners of note from J other districts. In recognition of, his many { services to the club Mr R. E. Bust was j fleeter) a life member, those present payinjj»i tribute to the valuable services that Mr Bust ' had rendered to the club. Several trophies : were promised, among thorn being a gold medal presented by Mr O. R. Buchanan for '. the member attending most runs during the ; season. The official opening of the season , • will take p'.ace on the 25th, when a run will i bo held from Mr Martin's residence. | At th-9 time of the last championship '. meeting in Dunedin Mr J. li. Nicol, an old- ' time sprinter and hurdler of note, suggested J to the writer the advisability of allowing . three men in each heat of the sprint events to qualify in the final, and the idea has ' i lertainly a good deal to recomend it. As ' Mr Nicol pointed out, it is possible under 1 the present arrangement for the third-best I runner in a race to run third in his heat 1 jehind the ultimate winner and second man, f md so be debarred from competing in the 3 final and scoring a point for his province. 1 [f the fields in these events are kept down, « 13 they should bo, there would be no ; obstacle in the way of the idea being tried, s The combined harrier run at Port on I Saturday was largely attended b> Dunedin i unners, despite the inclement weather, and * -he run was keenly* enjoyed by all. Owing I 0 the slippery state of the ste3p_parts of I he journey spills were numerous, and many 1 1 spick and span uniform came home much :h© worse for contact with the soil. The -"Lsitors were entertained by the Port Club I n their usual hospitable fashion at the eon- £ :lusion of the run. a The St. Joseph Harriers are again showng great vitality, and had a capital muster J >n Saturday, when they ran from the resi- * lence of Mr J. B. Callan. That gentleman I s a keen supporter of harrierism, and shows 2 lis interest in the sport in a practical ( ashion that is much appreciated. 1 The Anglican, Harriers were the guests of t Hr James Allen on Saturday, when the 1 >fiicial opening of the club's season took 2

place. Among the new members of this club^axe some who strike one, as likely aspirants for -cross-country honours during the coming season. . The Civil Service Club run on Saturday from Sfc. Clair Baths. ' This club holds the first race of the season -on. Forbury Park on May 26, when the Novice Race of one and a-half miles will be decided. This event has in the past produced some good runners, and already a number of new men axe training. Harriers and all amateur athletes will hear with pleasure that Ned Parata. is making a good rec'ovory from his illness, and one and all will wish him a speedy return to his best form. A determined attempt is to be made to establish harrier clubs in the various towns in Southland, and a proposal is on foot for the Invcrcargill clubs to hold runs at each of the outlying towns with this object in view. Winton will be made the subject of an early onslaught, and it is hoped to establish a strong club there. The meeting called at Invercaxgill on Easter Saturday to consider the advisability of forming a separate centre for Southland; discussed several other matters, among , them being the Inte-rprovincial Cross-coun-try Race, which usually takes place on June !3. The meeting was unanimously in favour of continuing the fixture, and the hope was expressed that Southland would be able to send a much stronger team that ..hitherto to represent the province. "The matter" of "handicapping seems also 'to 'be a burning one in the southern city, and several speakers expressed themselves in favour of a tria-l of three handicappers instead of one. ' It is ' "questionable, however, if this scheme will work, as three mon are just aa likely to - make mistakes as one. If a suitable person can be found it is always preferable to throw • all the responsibility on his shoulders, . and there is a much greater chance of all round ' satisfaction buing given. At the stftne meeting Mr W. Lopdell .voiced the grievances 'of country members who through their employ-jn-ent are debarred from attending a sufficient number of club runs to qualify 'for • club races, A way of partly getting over the difficulty was suggested by tho Dunedin,representatives present, who urged the IrfvorcargiU clubs to continue throughout tho summer as amateur athletic clubs, including 1 in their programme distance races for which, no club run qualification would be necessary. This idea seemed to find fo-vour with those present, and will in all probability bo. given effect to. The great topic of conversation at presenr, among amateur athletes is the proposal mooted by the executive of the New Zea- , land Amateur Athletic Association that a ■ reciprocal arrangement should be entered ■ into hy that body with the newly-forrae'd New Zealand Athletic Union — the governing body of professional runners in the colony. ' The meeting of representative amateurs in " Invercargill discussed* the proposal and carried a resolution unanimously condemning' the. idea as being against the interests of amateurism. Local feeling is entirely in the - same .direction., and a resolution will p«>- _ bably bo submitted to the. Otago Centre at its first meeting ament'the matter. A cable from Athena advises that the Olympia Games have opened in the pre- " sence of 50,000 spectators. The games will be continued -until May 2. The Otago University athletic team'"" has - brought back to Dunedin the shield awa'rdef? foi the most points gained-in.the athletic contests of the annual university tourna* • ment.' To gain first place in the Half-'mila • Championship, the Long Jump,- Putting th« - Weight. Throwing the Hammer, the 12(h Yards Hurdles and the 4*o Yards Hurdtes, to come second also in both the hurdle" events, the Mile, and the 440 Yards? tca-i on top of that to pull off the Relay Race is a feat which our University athletes may well be proud of. The .sports helq at Lancaster Paik, in Christchurch were undoubtedly an unqualified success — the day was perfect, the traclt in tip-top order, events were got off up to time, and were all keenly contested. The one unfortunate incident was the running of the 220 Yards Championship. , The Taee was run twice. In the first attempt Seddon (Victoria College) beat Bass by about a yard, but the latter entered a pro- . test against Seddon for jostling, and the judges ordered the race to be run again. In the second trial Bass and O'Kane went , to the front at the start, and Seddon dropped out after about 100 yards. Bass had no difficulty in annexing the race, and Ryder (also of Canterbury) coming up very fast at the finish just heat O'Kane for second place. As a hurdler O'Kane proved far too good for the northern representatives, and in both the hurdle races he and Gilray had something to spare at the finish. •In doing the 120 Yards Hurdles in 17 2-ssep O'Kane , equalled the best previous performance, and there is hardly any doubt that if pressed at the finish he could have taken a second off that time. The only record established was due to Cook's efforts in the High Jump. Ino Canterbury man was left a winner at sft si'm. but, sticking to it, with a fine jump he managed to clear sft 6iin, beating the previous record by ljin. Gilray, in the Long Jump, just missed the record by lin, his 20ft lOin being nearly 2ft better than the next best jump. I>avie, ivho has 'on previous occasions don© yeoman service for his University, won both the Half-mile and Throwing the Hammer as he liked, but his finest effort was in the Relay Race. Withers, who took a place at the last moment, was Otago's first man, and ran gamely, but was about 20 yards behind at the finish of his quarter. Thomson ran next, and lost another 10 yards to Bass (Canterbury). Patrick made good part of this loss, and Davie, running last for Otago. started between 20 and 25 yards behind Ryder (Canterbury). Getting off the mark like a shot, the Otago man let himself go at a »ace more usual in a 100 yards dash, and had caught Ryder almost before the spectators could realise what had happened. Even then it was thought he could not last the lap after such a burst but sticking to Ryder, until the corner of the ground he gradually came away, and finally breasted the tape fully 20 yards in front ov his Canterbury opponent. Milroy and Patrick, of whom big things were anticipated, did not come up to expectations. Patrick, however, was not m good health, and Mikoy in the 440 Yards 3howed signs of over-training. The counoil of the New Zealand Amateurathletic Association at a recent meeting revised the standards on the championship, programme. The 100 Yards (10 l-ssec),, 220 Yards (22, 4-ssec), and the 440 Yards . (52sec) remain unaltered. The Half-mile/ has been reduced from 2min 2sec to 2min;J the Mile from 4min 32sec to 4min- 30sec;-' [Three-mile from 15min 30sec to 15mi«j 20sec; One-mile Walk, 7min to 6min 50sec;i>

Chree-mile Walk, 23min 20seo to 23min 120 Yards- Hurdles, 16 .3-ssec to 16 l-ssec 140 Yards' Hurdles, 63sec to 61sec ; the Lon< Jump has been increased from 20ft 6in t* lilt. Tfie High Jump (sft 7in), Pole (10ft) Putting the Weight (38ft 6in). and the Ham mer (130 ft) remain unaltered. It' is proposed to lay down a track som< 600 yds m circumference- in connection witl the- Exhibition at "Christchurch. The Nev Zealand Amateur Athletic championship will probably- he held on the sports grount of the Exhibition next year. Apropos o the foregoing, the secretary of the Exhibi tion has advised the council of the N.Z A.A.A. that the Exhibition authorities ar< prepared to bear the expense- of the 190' championship meeting, and to allow the association £50. February 21 and 23 wer< suggested' as suitaßle dates on which to hole tlie meeting, The offer has been acoeptec by the N.Z. A. A^ A. on condition that th< proposed" track is suitable. The star performer at the athletic meet in^* of the Stanford University was or athlete named' Munn, who won the Higf Jump with sft lOin. the Shot Put witl 47ft- sJin. and the Pole "Vault with ilfl 2|in: Oommentingr 'on what it is pleased to cc.l] "The Duffey Incident," London Field says. amongst other things:— "Mr Sullivan, whr seems to be a kind of 'benevolent dicta-l-dr'' in amateur oihlefcics, proposes to tak* m,new way in dealing with offenders of the JCHiffcy type. - Bufc since the past " is imto'utable/ no stroke of Mr Sullivan's "j:cn catf- taKe- from/ Mr. Duffey, should he be . sdjivicte'd; the credit of 'having run 100 yds , W9"'3-ssee." Arthur" Duffey is still busy ex> 'Dofcirip/amateur athletics andi-the Amateur ' Si'thle'tie Association of -America. In a.rerecent article Duffey states: "Outside of tEe 1 legislative' looseness of the- A.A-U. in general. the> total text of my articles has been tjiat that organisation cannot or will not recognise the- conditions which are known to exist to> every amateur athlete who- is worthy of the name of such, this condition being that the* money element does-enter more or less into amateur athletics; and' that the stupid- ignoring of tnie £mot is -responsible for much _of the current evil* of amateur sport." Duffov states that be* has not yet received a notification trom J-he A-.ATJ. of the charges brought against The most interesting event at the first meeting cf the recently-formed Amateur Athletic Association of South" Australia vas the Hii*h Jump, in which "SI. H. Moy*>s. efter- beating-, other three -competitors, essayed an exhibition iump in which r-« cleared sft 7*in. The New Zealand record 'asnft Biin. by* R. of. Dtmedin. and the. Australasian best, J. English's sft Another Australasian record is alleged to Aave .been broken. This time the 161b /hammer. P. Kvrne, the crack amateur field Vsxnorient of Western Australia, threw tl-e h6lb hammer from a 9ft circle at Kalsroorlte fcrecentlv- 157 ft lOin : W. O'Reilly's 151 ft ]in (was the previous, best. {- Tho Mile Race ut the Cambridge XJniver"nit£ sr-oris was won by R. P. Crabbe in the •^t-'astc/tinie of '<Biin '21see. Dh* Harvey. Sutton." one of the Victorian LRbcdes scholars, esema to 'lie reeaining Vis .fcl#'form,.jand thouah not successful in wn"2oih% at the pxford- sports,,. he 'finished" infei'de- 2min ift the h«ilf-mile""evenfc" and waspl&ced 'tlii'd, iiv'.frho Mile: -woiV by 'W. E. fech'uffr. in 4miri'2B 3-ssec, about 3Qy,ds_away a 'from she winner. • . . Some" eocd performances- were registered ai 1^ the Oxford. TJniversity sporte, held recently. K. CoTnwalHs, who will be one of /Wheatley's opponents at the Olympia Gamos.. won the Halt in lmin- 56 3-Eeec i nextended. The best lonsr jump was P. M. Young's 2?.ffc. Cbrnwallis won the Quarter 5n 50sec, *which is record'-tinn* for theeports. The Mile was annexed by W. E. Schutt in ♦mm 28sec. With a throw of 142 ft 6in at the inter- ' Varsity sports meeting. University College v. Trinity., A. F. Fyffe (University) beat all Oxford and Cambridge records. At the Cambridge University sports R. P. Crabbe nut 1 up a fine performance, winning the half in Imin 55 A^sec. j A.fine performance in the Long Jumpwas put up by P. M. Young, who at a recent sports meeting in connection wiih Oxford University cleaned 23ft. or 3£in short of C. B. Fi-y's Oxford record. j Harriers will probably be interested in i the result of the big cross-country championship in England known as the National Championship, decided at Haydock Park on Saturday, March 3. This was won by C. J. Straw, of. the Sutlon Harriers, in 61min 12sec. The course was 10 miles 290 yards. I There were four laps, each measuring 2 miles J9O yards, with the addition cf £50 yards down the straight at the start. In each circuit the country outside the raeesourse included over half a mile of ploughed land, which had been newly turned, and proved heavy' going. The exclusion of Shrubb .and Aldridge, the two past cham- j pions, left the event more open than it had | oeen for several years. The following: are . she winners of the championship aud the ;hampionß bince 1900:— 1900: Finchley H. ; 2. Bennett, Finchley. 1901: Essex Beagles; A. A. Shrubb, S.L.H. 1902: ! Highgate H. ; A. Shrubb, S.L.H. 1903:; Birchfield H. ; A. Shrubb, S.L.H. 19C4: ! Highgate H. ; A. Shrubb. S.L.H. 1905: Hiqhgate H. ; A. Aldridge. Highgate. 1906: Sutton H. and A.C. ; C. J. Straw, Sutton. If all the athletes in England. Ireland, Scotland, and Wales who have been making Inquiries about the choice of athletes for Athens really go (says an English writer), GJreat Britain will be strongly represented. Unfortunately, owing to stress of military Juties in Ireland, Lieutenant Hawtr?y jannofc g-o ; bufc there is every reason for believing that another lieutenant— viz., IVyndham Halswell. the English and Scottish quarter-mile champion— will. So will W. D. Anderson, the Seottieh half-mile champion. Others whose visit to _ Gi'eece may be regarded as almost a certainty include K. Cornwalli3, R. W. Somers Smith, and S. H. Carnellv. Oxford; A. H. Churchill. R. P. Crabbe. F. M. Edwards, arid S. Abrahams, Cambridge; and L. J, de B. Reed (L.A.C.). Then J. MGoue:h, ; R. Wilkinson. Liverpool ; D. W. Walters. Cardiff; R. G. Macnherson and E -B. Healey, Blackheath; and G. E. Lamer and W. Martindale, the two crack English walkers, have been expressing a hope that they can manage the trip. England will need to~ be at her best to cope with the talent to be put into the field by other countries, especially by America. W. Schicfc (Harvard) and C. Parsons (San Francisco) are goinar for the 100 metres. We know what a flyer Schick proved himieTi lo be vt Queen's Club, and Parsons is F.-iid to bo two yards better. Anyway, he is credited with winuintr the 100 yar-ls championship of America in 9 4-Ssce. Waller (Chicago),

; who won the American quarter-mile cham- ; pionship in 49 3-ssec; Valentine, who won » the Canadian half-mile championship in 0 Imin 57 3-ssec; Kerrigan, who won the , American high jump championship at 6ft - lin; Lightbody, the American mile and half-mile champion and Verner, the fivea miles champion of America, have all been j nominated to represent America. Whether 7 or not John Flanagan and J. S. Mitchell s are going is not quite certain, but as they 1 will compete in the English championships f next July it is only reasonable to suppose . | that they will put in a fortnight or so at . Athens first. j The International Cross-country Chamj pionship, decided at Newport on Saturj day, March 10, was won by C. J. Straw i (England) in 57min 32sec. The race is thus 1 described in the Field : — The course proved 1 to be a very heavy one, though there was ; no ploughed land. A circuit of about , three miles of the country outside the in- - closure was of an exceptionally hilly and i trying nature, and with several laps of the j racecourse, covered at the start and " the i finish, made the distance fully nine miles. t After a false break away the men were sent on their journey, Butterfield, Stevenson, I Daly, Dunderley, and Straw being in clo-.e , company in going over the first hurdle oppo- > site the stand. Ud to about a mile Butter- ■ field led Daly, with Straw and Poarca near s at hand. Before a mile and a-half had been ! covered Butterfield had dropped away, and ■ Straw joined Daly. Taking the hurdle the f next time round (lOmin 4sec), Straw, Daly, ' and'Pearce were almost ebreast, followed by i Deakin and Welding. Hereabouts Bcale retired. At the end of two miles Daly fell • back. and" Pearce drew away from Straw; - but the iatter was soon on ' terms again, ; end, passing the back' of the stand for the circuit of the open country (time, 18min ' 17sec), the pair were level. Going through the hedge Straw blundered, and across the field Pearce again led by eight or ten yards. ■ Daly, 40 yards in the rear, was third, followed by Deakin, Welding, Nelson, Hughes, Greenall, and Kelly. At this point Day gave up. Passing through Caerleon village Straw rejoined Pearce. Up the mountain ous road and over the meadows to the crest of the hill the pair placed a greater gap between themselves and tbe rest cf the field. Daly at this period gave way to Nelson, whose running at the most difficult part of the race was a great surprise. Straw soon afterwards began to leave Pearce, and though the southern champion for a short distance lessened the space between - ! them there was a difference of '60 jards • with two laps to go (Straw, 40min lSsec). Nelson, 120 yards away, third, was fully . 50 yards in front of Daly, with Hughes, I Welding, and Dunkerley next in order, j When the bell rang for. the last lap Straw had increased his advantage to 150 yards, which he maintained to the- end. The team placings were as follows : — England (Straw 1, Pearce 2, Nelson 3, Deakin 5, Price 6, Welding 7), total 24 points, 1 ; Ireland (Daly 4> Hayes 11, Harris 14, Joyce 18, Kelly 19, Meruagh 20), total 86 points, 2 ; Scotland (Stevenson 10, Cuther 13, Russell 15, Hughes 16, Hanken 25, Robertson '27), total 106 points, 3; Wales (Hughes 9, 'Arthur ,17,, Ace- 23, Price 24, Thomas 26; Horton. 23), total 128 points, 4. With seven men in the first eight and a score of only 24 points England's- win was the- easiest co faafacccrmplished, the previous: scores being r25, 27, and 28 points in 1903,, 1904, and 1905 ,-, respectively. lir 1903, at; Glasgow; Ireland , beat Scotland for second place by 78 points .to 107, Wales being- fourth with 140. In 1904, at Haydoclr Park, Wales took honours with 103, Scotland having 11*4, and Ireland }20. Last -year, at E-aldoyle, Scot- 1 land was placed second with 82, Ireland 97 third, and" Wales 125 fourth.