OLYMPICS OVERSEA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 58

OLYMPICS OVERSEA.

1 (I'XOlt OUB OYH/T COHBESPONDENT.) j: LONDON, November 27. * The best rowing talent in England, both f- in the amateur and professional ranks, .- was present on Tuesday night at the banquet given at Tom Sullivan's hotel, %" the Spenser Arms, to George Towns prior f" to his departure for home. Towns's health 'h, -was proposed by Mr W. H. Eyre, of the I- Thames Rowing Club, who was cham- & pion oarsman at the Henley regatta from ' 1876 to 1881. In his reply, the Aust tralian said he had now been over 25 ;- years before the public. His first match ■$ was when he was eight years old. They '■' had to row td school, and a boy of 15 \ challenged him, and they rowed 200 yds. v in the moonlight for fourpence aside, and I he won. His first real match was with i^Jieilson, on the Hunter River, after he I had rowed in regattas, and then he came i to England, was introduced to Tom Sullivan, and he had treated him as a I ' brother, while too much thanks could not *- be bestowed on Mrs Sullivan. After going - through his matches Towns went on to *} Bay that he hoped at no long date to "■ see an Australian eight come to Henley, ' and as to the big handicap on the Thames I next July he knew three or four good who would come over to it. ; ENGLISH ROWING. f In the course of some remarks on English rowing, Towns said the quality was - as good as ever, but the quantity was lacking. Although he acknowledged that !' Barry was the better man on the day of the race, he felt that he himself was not ; at his best, and might have put up a better ■"•^tace. He had not had any practice foe 18 months, and his brother was beating t him on the Parramatta, so he handed over the championship of the world to his t brother to defend. Amateur pulling in ; Towns regards as of a very high *\ standard ; in fact, he doubts whether a i better crew could possibly be found than I the Leander boat that took the champion i ! " race in the Olympic regatta at Henley. i '.The English amateur rowing he believes • to be the best in the world, but the performance of the Belgians is a warning - that the greatest care will have to be taken by England to maintain her K supremacy. Towns says he can safely * declare now that his rowing days are i- BVer, and he will go back to look after H' iris.- boat-building and training work. H. JThere will, however, be plenty of conH %efetants for the £500 match on the Thames H: kext July. Towns leaves London on the H-* let for Paris, and will join his boat at H Marseilles. I BOY JOCKEY'S WONDERFUL ■ RECORD. H" A Httle apprentice named Frank WootH- ton. is a riding prodigy. Fame and forH; iune have Coflie to him at a tender age. HP Still on the right eide of 16, hie position H m one of the half-dozen leading jockeys is H £rmiy established ; and as for his earnings, H" »pc way aunA another — special fees and H ; fcesent« added to the regulation charge H :l i^r riding, — tliey probably reach £5000 a fj iear. A Frealch o\rper recently offered H^ jr Wootton a retaining fee of £2000 a Htl fear for fche lad to ride Tor him in Fiance. B 5 is a sobWr-minded boy, with no desire live up to his earnings. These, as a K Ja^tei^ of fact, are banked tor him until time as he arrives at years of discreH^ios. Reared in Australia, and taking to ns a duck to water, Wootton rode Hjras first winner in South Africa. His age H^tyien was under 10 yearn, and bodily weight H*ikt 91b. Now he pulls down the beam H about 6st. The racing season H to-^ioryow, and as Maher still leads *rr 11, it i§ practically impossible for wyootton to overhaul him. At the end of September he was suspended for a month

on a charge of unfair riding. That cost him both the championship and a new riding record, since no jockey of his age has ever headed the winning table. His riding borders on the miraculous, considering his age and stature. On Wednesdayhe was seen in remarkable form at Bhmingham, for in *ix mounts he was once unplaced, once second (beaten a head), ajid won the last four races. This is the third time that the youngster has ridden four winners in one afternoon, for on September 10, at Doncaster, he was successful in the first two events, and won the fifth and sixth. Then, on November 13, h>3 was also in the saddle on four winners, which would have been increased to five had he not been previously engaged to ride Hawthorn in the race in which his father's horse, Pirate's Girl, was successful. Since be resumed riding at the beginning of this month, Wootton has steered 27 winners, and in the first week of the month was only unplaced eight times out of 23 mounts. Last week he was successful on eight occasions out of 26 rides. GOLF. The New Zealand Golf Club, which has its headquarters down at Fleet, in Surrey, was one of the original promoting clubs in the London Amateur Foursome Tournament. J.t has been asked to act on the Management Committee again this year. BILLIARDS. The sixth heat in Messrs Burroughes and Watt's tournament in which Dawson " was handicapped to give Harverson 2000 points in 9000 up, has, very unfortunately, come to a premature conclusion. Dawson wired to the promoters on Tuesday morning slating that his eyes were bad, and that his doctor advised a rest. In these circumstances Messrs Burroughes and Watts had no option but to award the heat to flarverson, who had on the first day of the match so outpointed the backmarker that the latter left off 616 behind his points. As to the snooker's pool, of which Dawson had won and lost games, the aggregates being 91 to 77 in his favour, it was decided that the colonial should be awarded 50 points for each of the 10 undecided games, which gives him a total of 577 balls. DORANDO DEFEATS HAYES. There was toemendous excitement in New York yesterday when the race between Dorando and Hayes over a course of 26 miles took place". In the great Marathon Race at the Stadium earlier in the year Dorando • fell exhausted several times after he had 'entered the Stadium with a good lead, and he had to be assisted to the tape. The result was, of course, disqualification. The' public very generally sympathised with Dorando, who would undoubtedly have. won but for this incident. Hayes, who • was awarded the prize, - but did not take very kindly to the assumption that he only won by the reason of Dorando's misfortune, and began to wave his arms wildly about and say that he could beat che Italian again. Dorando was so satisfied of his own remarkable powers that he went across to America for "the race, ar.d his win is thoroughly popular. Taking a short lead from the start, the Italian kept a foot or two- ahead of his opponent £or the whole of 25 miles. In the twentyfifth mile the supporters of Hayes, seeing their man weakening, shouted to him to spurt. He did so, but Dorando responded, aotid, beating his opponent off, increased his length to one yard, then to five, and finally to 25. He sprinted home the winner by 60 yawls, having covered the distance iv 2hr 44min 20eec, with his opponent a minute behind. There was a small demonetr&iior against the winner on the belief that he put out his hand once to prevent Hsye? <zwn: passing him.