NOTES BY AMATEUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2735, 15 August 1906, Page 52

NOTES BY AMATEUR.

Messrs Melville, Stephens, French Fe*» gusson, and one or two' other members of the Civil Service Harriers intend competing in the "Marathon" Race promoted bj tbe South Canterbury Harriers, to be hell on Labour Day. Mr C. G. Camp, a welkknown member of a S Service Club, left yesterday fo« San Francisco as assistant mail agent. Entries for the Civil Service Crosscountry Cup Handicap will be received up* to Saturday next. The Cup, which hasbeen on exhibition for the past week, has aroused great admiration, while the prized for placed men and foi fastest time and] fastest novice are on the most liberal scale* The -club is indebted for the first prise t» Mr M. Coughlan, a thorottffh-Koinfc snort. Mr C. R. Andrews donates the prize ivy the fastest novice. After the way in wlrcft' runners finished in- last Saturday's r<M«. the idea of running an additional four niilvi * should not frighten Any<3fte. The Civil Service Club in Weltimrtotr hopes to be in commission in time to fornish a team for the Inter-club Championship " Race in that city. The team of four nea wfll likely be composed of Reynolds, Turvey, ' and Miller, all er-Dunedin C.S.H., with Wilton, our recent visitor and present captain of the Wellington Harriers.

Hugh M < Corkinda4e met with a nasty accident on Saturday when playing football at Montecillo. He sustained a severe kick on the arm, which resulted in some small ' bones being broken. "Amateur" wishes the popular sprinter a quick Teturn to health.

In extending a welcome to the South' Canterbury Harriers on their arrival in Dunediß last week, to take part in tho Cross-country Championship, Mr S. Jacobs president of tbe Otago Centre, referred tt*, the necessity ©f Canterbury and Otago w«--k-ing hand in hand in the interests ot nma» teanszn. Mr Malthus, in replying 011 be* half of the visitors, spoke of the stridet cross-cotmtry" running was making in Hovtfif Canterbury. During their stay the Soaill Canterbury Harriers were taken to Waitati, where an -enjoyable day wa9 put in. Thejf left again at midday on Monday on ths Teturn to Timaru.

News is to hand from Mr R. Reynolds, late of tbe C.S.H. and A.A.C. of this city, and now of Wellington, that a preliminary! meeting has been held in t-he latter city, at which most of the Government depart* ments were represented, -when it was resolved to form c. Civil Service Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club. Mr F. Wilton, our late visitor and present captain of the Wellington Harriers, was in the chair, and an old and well-known Otago boy, Mr <5i - S. JficoH, «lso present. Mx E. M_ " Isaacs, another well-known Otagoite, ««< • unable to be present, but was accounted fon A canvass is being made of all the departments, and a general meeting will bar held, probably on the 23rd inst. This club, along with that so successfully formed iw Ghristohurch, is the outcome from the local Civil Service Club, and it is proposed t<X further extend operations to Auckland^, where another club is almost certain to ba formed. It will be remembered that when! the last championship meeting was Dem« held in Dunedin, the idea was moated ofi ' forming clubs in tho Civil Service m all the centres, with tho view of holding an annual inter-club tourney, the first to tafcei place at Cbaistchuroh during the Inhibition, So far success has attended the movement, which should, in addition to doing *roo«f to the Civil Service, materially benefit tbe cause of amateur athletics throughout tna colony. The balance sheet of tho championship meeting was recently returned to the local centre by tho N.Z. Council for alteration, objection being taken to the cost of standard caps and badges being debited to tn« council and deducted from tbe governing body's -share of the profits of the meeting. As the rules stand at present, when a championship is awarded to any centr« by the council the former bears all the loss, if any, but takes only half the profit, the other half being taken by the councilThat -being so, it would 6eem -equitable thafi the cost of standard caps and badgee -should[ be borne by the governing body. When thq matter was first discussed at the local centre meeting this view was taken, more especially as no trace could be found oS payment having been mad© for the sama purpose when the championship was held in Dunedin some years ago. It will b«j remembered that on that occasion a Uxa( was made. At the last meeting, however^ a fair profit accrued, and the local centra is naturally anxious to retain as much as possible. Although some of those whoj were connected with the centre when tha( loss was m&de affirmed that the caps an<f badges were then paid for by the centres a search of the books disclosed no auoi

payment. The iccal cei^re iii<:^.'j^ <". - coded to a."!: • lYcllirj, \•• • ' • -.- -_ a when ths t-liamjjlri-.sl .\> jut:. .r .. • . -. j .. this que;ticn a vop'y ].»<. • .. • i.c.-n-i to the effect that iho ccun-j'l ;ju.'' ••'••■ tos..of the standaid boik-i-s ;u . v, -. r.i<» Otago Centre has nt»v <]■■_ .. • u> ,-i •« (the balance bh<iz\.. c'^ci ning au> i..t.->j.uy for items mcmi-oiiec". Saturday last <-aw the oulm:naH<-n of .he progress '>f cross-country running in Uta^c, jrhen 12 clubs, represented ni the iieki by 70 runners, met at Wingaiui to t'ocid? t!t !l <; Inter-club Cr^ss-eountry Ch-imp:en=h:p. The harrier movement, which p'ogro'sed bat slowly at first, tizs, under favoy •?.b!o > circumstances, advanced by leaps and bcur.-Js during the past year or two, and may be said at present to have reached its zenith. Saturday's r,ace, the second of the interclub championships inauguiated^ by the Otago Centre, was held under perfect conditions. * Thanks to the foresight of these on the Otago Centre %\ho in the oprJier stages ofr that body's existence fought for cross-country running over real cross-country the race was decided under proper conditions. In this connection credit is duo to the.CSvil Service Club, who led the way in » - selecting Wingatui as the deciding ground -for harrier championships.

'A ' feature pf the race was the splendid way in which the runnera finished. Only one, whovhad a bad' attack of "stitch" early in the race retired, the rest finishing the journey, . and all pulling up in excellent condition, considering the distance that had' b&sn traversed. Another very pleasing feature of the race was the prominent position occupied by new runners. Apart from Oroker, whose performance in defeating the acknowledged cracks, deserves a special «ote, Frew (fifth), Bone (sixth), French -(seventh), Scott (eleventh), and Harkness . {twelfth) showed »ip prominently. Frew, at will be remembered, won the Port Road ■Race from a big start some years ago, but has not been heard of since until this 6ea«on. Bone, whose position was not surprising to the members of his club, will l» heard of again. French, another winner of the Port Road Race, put up the best

{performance he bae so far registered. He is a tower of strength to his club. Scott IV.M.C.A.) ran well, as did Harkness (Port). The disappointments of the race were Sharp avnd Malfchue, both of whom were supposed to have a winning chance ; the former was, ibowever, obviously short of work, while fthe Canterbury rep. was attacked by stitch tearly in the race, and could not show his jfcfue form. The banner went to the Dunedin Harrier No. 1 team, who scored 51 points, as against %he Civil Service No. 1, who scored 60.

-The St. Andrew dub filled third place, jail excellent performance, with 99 points. rlpaa is the second year that the coveted has fallen to the DJI., who are jfc» be heartily congratulated on their sterling performance. On paper the teem looked pretty hard .to beat, . and so it prored. Nevertheless, the Civil Service «cam, suffering under the disadvantage of /having lost two of their reps, in Turvey jahd Reynolds, and with Stephens on the «k>k list, made a great fight. .. The second man to score for this team, was French. The others to register points, with the exception, of Stephens, are practically this " ar ff t "^ Coneidering that the members of the St. Andrew's team rarely have the opportunity of measuring strides with Satur. W runners, and are practically debarred worn taking part in most of the open racinjr. the- club a performance in scoring third place in the Cross-country Race was most ■oerrtoriouß. Bone, Struthers, Bain, Svutherford, and Poster deserve the greatest credit for placing the club so far up. In connection iwith the St. Andrew's Harriers, the thanks of the Otago Centre should be awarded to those employers who, at great inconvenience, granted the members of this team the necessary leave to take part in Saturday's race. Coming as it did at a busy time of the year for most of the employers, the courtesy extended shows a ieelingxof interest and a desire to help ■aonj amateur athletics which is worthy of the gratitude, of every lover of the sport. -The Qavereham team ran we'll, although AfXnight did not come up to last year's tslaodard. For a young club like Caversham to occupy, the fourth position gives every encouragement for future efforts. Another junior club in Port made a good showing, Harkness and Love being mainly responsible for their club's forward position. Port has, I understand, been training consistently. .The South Canterbury team performed* inuoh below what was expected of them. The members of the team seen after the race frankly admitted that they were under so disadvantage, over non^cquaintance with the country, and all declared that the course •was excellent. One or two of the team had been suffering from colds, but the explanation of their failure was probably due to the fact ihat the men were over-trained, the older members of the St. Joseph's zan well, considering their youth. The experience gained will be invaluable to them in future years. On difc that some of the older members of the St. Joseph's intend putting on the uniform next year. Significant. One of the leading drapery establishments was -visited on Saturday night by the members of a successful barrier club in search of new hats. Croker, who won the Cross-country Race, •effected a great surprise. Certainly great tales had been heard of his work during training, but most of the cognoscenti preferred to pin their faith to tried performers in public. I understand, however, that Croker registered some good performances when at the' High School, and also at the last Bible Class encampment at Tahuna Park, when he ran away with the Mile. T,o come out for the first time in open company and beat all the cracks from the scratch mark is a performance of the

greatest merit. Burk ran well, and although tiring for the latter part of the journey was carried through by sheer Rameness. He tells mo that although he pained from Croker at each fence, the latter never

left him .alone during the journey, and, when he took the pace, clapped on steam in • way which fairly amazed the champion. Melville, too, ran the race of his life. He looked the -picture of condition, and was quietly reckoned by his club as a certainty for first place. He was responsible for the solid pace set during the later stages of the journey, and was very little behind Burk when the latter collapsed. 'The D.H. can thank Murray for their nrin, as but for that veteran's appearance on the track their place would have been second. I understand that Murray took a lot of persuading to consent to run, as his business did not permit of any consistent training. That he is always in good condition is demonstrated by his securing fourth plane in the race. Murray made all (

- « .- ;>.." V ■' ,- ~?~', <-,ages of ihe journey. » •■■ ■ ■'-. w • >r.nng- well in hand, - . s.' . ■:r Icmd occurred. The • • -'! =".■." — .— ; ;a.sk. iii getting the 1 . i - ..c-, ..» ue finished, which u'\". t .'- .. i ■>. -_v .i»} ■lijht-sr by the fact -hrt .he '.:c ,n ::ivaacj the irack, and to i n.--- ■ \ .jv.. .mo fereti with the runners. In las a'Uo-.ce of Air S. Jacobs (president of t. -c centre) \li- A. Clothier acted as referee The thank-* cf the cenrre are due to the ianicfs over whese proP^rtv the trail ay. I am given to understand that none ol the laDu-owners object to the crosscountry runners going over their property, but each -would Kke notice beforehand of the inter tion to hold a race or run. This very reasonable wish I commend to the attention of all club secretaries.

Mr H. L. James, secrotiry Dunedin Jockey Club, for whose kindness in allowing the use of Forbnry course the centre is indebted, was present at tl-e race on Saturday. and was highly interested. Aeked how he would like a field or similar size on a race day, Mr James smiled significantly.

A special meeting of the Otago Centre will be held this week to discuss the terms of reciprocity between the N.Z.A.A.A. and the recently-formed New Zealand Athletic Union. In order to raise funds to send a team to compete at the New Zealand championship meeting, to be held in Christchurch in February next, it haß been proposed by the Otago Centre to hold a sports meeting in Dunedin in December or January next. In the Three-mile Railway Handicap decided recently that promising distance runner, A. Melville, of the Civil Service Club, is credited with winning- from scratch in 16min— a record for the course. The time appears to be unreasonably fast for Forbury, which is by no means a Stamford Bridge cinder path. It is reported that L. B. Webster, the New Zealand sprinter, who recently returned to the colony after a two-years sojourn in Sydney, will again turn out on the athletic track, and more unlikely things may happen than his appearance at the N.Z.A.A.A. championship meeting to be held at Christchurch. There were several fine performances put up at recent inter-collegiate meetings in America. For - instance, 6ft O^in in the High Jump, by one Patterson (of Detroit), and 23ft sin in the Broad Jump by an athlete named Cook. This same Cook in addition to his performance in the Broad Jump, was first in the Pole Vault, and won the final of the 100 Yards in lOsec. There were two records broken at the Harvard-Yale athletic meeting on May 19, the two miles and the running broad jump. Stone (Harvard) won the Two-mile Run in 9min 53 3-sseo. Sheffield (of Yale) broadjumped 23ft 7iin. The new- records are "dual records," or Harvard-Yale records, and. not world's records. Torrey (of Yale) won the 100 Yards Dash in lOsee flat. tHarvard ms.de a runaway race of the Halfmile, Whitman winning in 2min lsee. For a brief hour or two an American athlete, one John Garrels, of Michigan University, enjoyed the honour of equalling Kranztein's world's record in the 120 Yards Hurdles. At the inter-collegiate conference meet held at Chicago on June 2 Garrels covered the distance and the obstacles in 15 l-ssec, but the Managing Committee of the conference subsequently disallowed the record, stating that, although the time had been officially anounced at 15 l-ssec, it had been learned that two of three times made it 15 2-ssec.

Quite recently news came from America, where big things are accomplished every day, that a new world's record had been created in the Pole Vault by a New York athlete, one Gilbert (of Yale), who cleared the bar at a height of 12ft 3in, A few days later, afc the Michigan University meeting, this record was again beaten, an Indiana athlete vaultin" over the bar placed at a height of 12ft 6ih. The English sprint champion J. W. Morton, who has expressed a desire to tour the colony, has at last broken lOsec. This he accomplished at a recent meeting, doing the 100 yds in 9 4-ssec. At the same meeting C. H. Jupp. of the London Athletic Club, won the 300 Yards Invitation Scratch Race in 32sec. Nigel Barker, of Sydney University, was third. With a handicap of 2m in 50sec A. C. Dredge won the Seven-mile Cross-country Race of the Victorian Amateur Athletic Association, decided the other day. in the actual time of 43min lOsec. George Blake, who was on scratch, won the prize for the fastest time in 4Lmin 22sec.

It is reported from Melbourne that G. Stillwell won' the Five-mile Cross-country Championship in 29min ll£sec, defeating G. Blake by 18£ sec.

The annual contest for the Cross-country Championship of Queensland took place recently over a distance of five miles. There were 94 competitors, and the event was won by J. Ryan, of Toowooraba, with Green, of East Brisbane, second, and Watts, of Toowong, third. The winner's time was 29min ISseo.

As the result of an accident in a ballroom the brilliant young athlete of Oamaru, G. P. Keddell to wit, who holds the New Zealand broad jump record, is condemned to crutches for a couple of months. Local admirers of the young champion will regret to hear of this unforunate accident.

Writing under date of June 6 to Mr W. H. Pollock, of Wellington, Mr T. Stubbs, now on a holiday jaunt to the Old Country, says that at Leicester, where he had a "fly," Morton, the English champion sprinter took part in a 100 Yards Scratch Invitation Race, but, to everybody's surprise, he only got second place. It is only fair to mention, however, that the winner (Parkhurst) beat the pistol by a couple of yards. Stubbs had a long conversation with Morton, who was very much interested in the Shrubb-Duffey trip to the colonies, and the Englishman expressed his wish to see that part of the world, if it could be arranged, about December next. This notification from Stubbs should (writes a Sydney Referee correspondent) galvanise the N.Z.A.A.A. into aotivity, with a view of bringing, about a visit from the flying Englishman. Because he threw the world's heavyweight champion wrestler, Hackenschmidt', Joe Cohen, an amateur wrestler, wants the man he defeated to pay him £1 a minute for every minute he (Cohen) lives. The suit which Cohen says he will commence to collect the money will orobably stand as the most unique result of an athletic contest ever recorded. It all happened this way : Hackenschmidt, after throwing the great Turk. Madrali, with ease, went on a tour of the country, meeting- all comers and paying anyone who could stand up against him after 10 minutes £1 a minute. At Derby he met this man Cohen. Cohen is a. lawyer's clerk, and claims to know a

whole lot about law, He, In some accountable manner, rolled over on top of the champion. Hackenechmidt's foot slipped and his shoulders touched. Cohen refused to tackle "Hack" again, although he was offered unheard-of sums for every second he stayed over a minute. He maintains that Hackenschmidt has not thrown him after the allotted time, and he wants that £1 for every minute that passes. "I have a written agreement that he shall pay me £l a minute, and I propose to collect it for the rest of my lifetime;" insists Cohen. "I will fight the matter over in the courts." A P«ns cablegram states thwt Healy won the 100 metre Oha-mrrionship of France *4 Charenton in 68sec — a. record. ! AN AUSTRALIAN IN FRANCE, PARIS, August 7. HeaJy (Australia) came second in the 200metre Handicap at Charenton, which was won in 2min 31sec (record time).