NOTES BY AMATEUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 60

NOTES BY AMATEUR.

Mr Arthur- Marljatt, of the New Zealand Athletic Council, returns, from his Qciliciay trip to the l<akcs tiois'week, ana gvjes rnroujfh to Wellington, '

By rhe- way, the ex-Dunedin enthusiast has somewhat changed his views ' since sojourning in the Empire City. For instance, tnere was no man m iVew Zealand mana opposed to W'heatley and Widmer touring 2s ew Zealand at ths same time as iShrubo and Duffey. Now we find our old friend not oniy the invasion of WJieatley ana Davis to tour New Zealand this season, but pushing the idea, for all he is worth. When 'Afcawyata seizes hold of an idea he gce-s through with it. Much of lh'3 enthusiasm in amateur athletics to-oiay is due to his energy and foresight. Bat it is indeed strange to find the ex-president of the Otago Centre fathering the Australian invasion. In this connection I had something to say last week advocating- strongly the dropping of the Wheatley-Davis Dour this season lor the proposition , of securing a tour of a small team of star athletes- from America, ISngland, or South Africa nexit year during ttoe run, of tho Australasian championships. It cannot require any gxeat measure of intelligence to digest the ■ possibilities of tire latter proposition ovor that of the Australian invasion. As before stated, I yield to no one in admiration of Wlheatley as a middle-distance runner, I and of Davis as a hurdler, but we want [ something more than this. We want a j team which will bring along distinctive style, methods in training ami racing, and who in themselves carry that which, no matter how good the Australians may be they can never supply, atmosphere.. Atmosphere may* not break any records, ! but you are just going to make all kinds ! of provision that your star afhlete who I brings the atrnospnere comes also wsth the reputation of a record-breaker or as I near to\ it as possible. I At latest advice neither Wneatlcy nor Davis had beeu oonsuitect as to touring New Zealand, and there is just the possibility that one or other could not make the trip. I had hoped to have heard' something iroin my friend " Mercury this wc*'k, but he is strangely silent. >f A correspondent writes "Sprinter as follows: "Amateur athletics, as has been the case for a few seasons now, are still on the dead side in Chrietchuroh, and the most surprising thing to me » «"»**!* large number of individual championships each year fall to Canterbury's lot, for with the small number of open meetings lasi ssason and without a sign of anything definite for the future it is remarkable what little oncourag-ement there is for anybody to go into training. The new club— the" Canterbury A. A. 'Club-mado a big snlaah (on paper) about tbe end of last seaeon. The members had big ideas for the season of lEG 9-10, and thia b how it ended. I attended one of the meetings, and 1 fancy I filled in a membership form, but so far I have heard nothing of the club since. The*e is quite a large number of runners from Dunedin now ««»deot » Christchurch, and from what I can learn their hopes of having, a season «qu«dto the sport of the harrier city have been dashed to tho ground I also lea £n that Lancaster Park « likely to "J^f 1 gj public as a sports ground. 4 *«™*» ™» Lch » the ca.-e, these in control, of amateur athletics will wake up to theur responsibilities. I do not see anj reason why. four meetings should not be successfully run in ChristchuTch during a season. Comment on the sprmt events at the recent Wellington amoiteoir sporte must £>c placed with the fact th»t Woodier did not toa the mark. Everyone wanted to eae the Australasian champion in action, ana many voiced thsir disappointment when it was known that he was not able to com© to tow nto compete The strong wind prevented anything like decent times being restored Hubbard's 10 2-sseo off four yards bein, 3 about the best. This runner has improved a lot. He just failed to head Dawon in the final, but made amends by winning the 300 yds Bracelet. Considerable amusement was caused on the Basin Reserve, Wellington th« ofch£ day by the breaking away of the gieat six foot ball u.=ed in the game ©f W™j The ball was caught in the wind and careered aoross the ground at a great rate leaning over everything. A man who tmd to -top it was sent head over heels, anrf be "ball eventually leapt the fenc2 into^hc *h.-übbe-v at the side of the srround, wJsere ,t "aTbrought to a standstill by colliding Wl The a fiew' P ' events produced nothing sra«tional (remarks a Wellington writer) ■he best performance being in tb« fi h °P' i£p and jump, where M'Kay did 44 ft 6m 1-on'lv 9in below Rosingrave's Australasian record. There is no entry of a *«* Zealand 'ecord for this event, so M'Kay should apply to have his put on record. Seeing the number of entries this event attracted, no doubt we shall see it figurine: in programmes in future. In the initial P U <L in the shot event M'Nanv.ra, with 7ft handicap, did over 31ft, which appeared to «et the scratch man too hard a task. M'Kay managed about 44ft, which of course is several feet more than his previous best. It appears that the weight was not up to regulation standard.

Notwithstanding shockingly wet weather, the London Athletic Club brought off an excellent sports gathering at Stamford Bridge Grounds recently, and some capital performances were achieved. The Mile Race was won in (for the heavy ground! the fair time of 4min 28 l-ssec, by R. Yorke, who beat last year's winner of the challenge cup (F. Knott) easily by 15yds. The '3oo Yards Level Race produced a very fine bit of running by E. W. Haley (Herne Hill Harriers), who won in the grand trae of 1 2-ssec by half a yard from E. Montague (L.A.C.), with two more L.A.C.'s, in W. Gunton and L. de. B. Reed, third and fourth. For the 600 Yards Challenge Cup Knott, Reed, Montague, and Gunton toed the line, and a fine race ended in a two-yards win- for Reed in lmin 13 l-ssec. with Gunton escond, Montague (easing up) third, and Knott last. Commenting vOD . the recent 24-hoars walk under the auspices of the Blackheath Harriers, a London Sporting Life writer s»ys : " The performance of the day (ot days) was certainly that of L. Norwood, of Sheffield — one of the vegetarian order. Sixty-four years of ago, and looking his years with his snow-white hear and timebent frame, this defiant old gentleman at tually tramped 100 miles. Cardour compels us to write ~£he>t it was not pleasant to watch Norwood' in the later stages of the race. He was not tottering with exhaustion: he was not an aged Dorando; but as the miles mounted so the figures of the~ Yorkshireman drooped until hewas almost double. He • did his hundred miles, and thus became entitled to a eoldmedal. with llanin to go. and was then persuaded to leave off. He is a marvel, but surely it were far wiser to leave these abnormal triads to the younger generation."

The Canadian -Federal Championships, held at Montreal on September 15. were productive of performances which will render the finaJ meeting under that regime — the Federation being merged in' the C.A.A.U. Eastern District from the end 61 the season — memorable for many years (reports the Sporting Life). Principal among these was the. marvellous running of E. Lunghi, the Italian crack, who now runs as an Irish-American, in the • half-mile. Makinsr hacks of his field, he won in lmin 52 4-ssec. beating C. J. Kilnatrick's world's record of lmin 53 2-ssec. We must of course await the fullest particulars before passing any criticism nr>ori Lungbi's performance, but anybody who saw the magnificent race between Lunghi and Sheppard in the 800 metres event at last year's Olympic Games will appreciate the fact that under the tuition and- care of an American trainer Lun chi wjw likely to make a Record-breaker. W. C. Bobbins, too, one of the finalists in the notorious 400 metres, ran a splendid Quarter, covorinsr the distance in 48 3-ssec. A. R. Kiviat, the schoolboy champion of New V O rk. who is another acquisition of the Irish-Americans, won the mile, in 4min23 l-ssec The rest of the performances were fully up to standard, and the success -of the Irish- Americans is significant in view i of the abstention from the A.A.U. ohampioruhips at Seattle. The return of Rear from England (writes the correspondent of London Sporting Life) has livened up athletics in Canada. The [Olympic 200 Metres winner proved himself \ to be in fine fettle at the Canadian National Exhibition field day sports on September 11. He won 100 Yards In 9 4-s»ec, and the 220 'Yards in 22 4-ssec. Gouldinir wnlked two miles ia I3min 39sec, which is a new Canadian record, and, moreover, ahead of anything that has been accomplished by nr»y walker of t.ho day, excepting onlv'G. E. Lamer. Goulding is said to be a certain candidate for Athens n»xt year. and may visit England on his return journey.

Some fine performances were put up at the nftii annual sports of the combined public schools, which were held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on October 29. A Geekmg College boy, E. K. Russell, created a new Victorian record for the high jump, by clearing sft lOfin — a phenomenal jump for a youth still at school. The previous Victorian best was J. W. Doyle's sft 9in, which has stood since 1894. It is close up to the Australasian best, sft lliin, wita which P. J. English is credited. Russell disturbed another Victorian record by running 16 l-sseo for the 120 Hurdles; "but this will probably not be allowed by the Association on account of an assisting wind. G. H. Smith and C. H. Gardner jointly hold the record in this event— l 6 2-ssec. The Scotch College champion, A. E. Hartkopf. again demonstrated what a fine athlete he is. He won the Weight-putting (34ft). 100 Yards (10 3-ssec), m Yards (23 2-saec), 440 Ya*d« (51sec). and Long Jump (20ft 53in), and cleared sft in the high jump. A great mile was run by R. G. Larkinsr (Melbourne Grammar), who did 4min 41 2-ssec. and looked as if he could have easily knocked a good n.any seconds off that time. Altogether, li school records were broken during the course of the meeting. • The Invercargill Amateur Athletic Club inaugurated its public oareer with an evening meeting at Rugby Park, when a proerramme of three events was completed. The races were got off promptly, and the public were on their homeward way* when rain commenced to fall somewhat heavily. The sport provided was of good class ancl the finishes keenly fought out. the event of the evening being the Half Mile, ,for which a good field started. Results:— 7s Yards Handicap.— First heat: H. S. Hamilton, scratch, 1. N. C. Willcox. syds. failed to hear the starting signal and. was left at the post. Second heat: R. Pyle, lyd, 1; H. Christophers, 6yds, 2; also started— Alex. Macdonald, 3irde. and R. Nash. scr. Won by a foot. Third heat: Arch. Macdonald 2yds, 1: G. S. Wilson, 2yda, 2: also started — W. H. Nicol, scr. and A. Ding; wall, 4yds. Nicol was left at the nost. Won by a yard. Final : G. S. Wilson, 2yd«r, 1; R. Pyle, lyd, 2; Arch. Macdonald, 2yd«, 3. Other starters — H. Christophers, 6yds, H. S. Hamilton, scr. Won by four feet, half a yard between Pyle and Macdonald, Christophers and Hamilton close up. 220 Yards Handicap.—G. S. Wilson. svds, 1: R. Pyle. 2yds, and A. Macdonald, 7yd« (dead heat), 2. Also, started— W. H. Nicol nnd H. S. Hamilton scratch. F. A. Webb 3 yards. H. Woods 8, A. Dingwall 10, R. Barrie 10, H. Christophers 12. Won by a yard and a-half, a dead heat for second place, the others in a bunch, except Dingwall, who retired before the straight was reached. 880 Yards Handicap.—Georjr* M'Chesney, 25 yards, 1; W. Wren. 20, 2; C. E. Roberteon, 10, 3; T. R. Robertson, scratch. 4. Also started— H. S. Hamilton 5 varda, H. Woods 10, R. Barrie 50. M'Chesney ran to 'the front «arly, and was never headed, winning strontrhr by 15 yards)

from Wren, who ran a nice race, then five yards back came C E. Robertson, closely followed by T. R. Robertson.