ATHLETICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2913, 12 January 1910, Page 67

ATHLETICS.

FIXTURES. February.—New Zealand Championships (Auckland); Port Nicholson A.A.C. Meeting (Basin Reserve). NOTES IJY AMATEUE. The date of tho New Zealand championship meeting to be decided in Auckland has been definitely set down by the Auckland Committee for February 26. The meeting should be one of the most successful ever held, and should be the means of giving amateur athletics in Auckland a fillip that it badly requires. There has just come to hand a copy of the programme for the Civil Service Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club's sports, to be held on the Caledonian Ground on Saturday, 29th January,' 1910. As ah the events arc open, with good prizes attaohed, and cater for all athletes, this club deserves the well-merited support of all amateurs. Tho events comprise: Boys' Race, 100 Yards, 220 Yards, and 440 Yards Handicaps, Half-mile, One-mile, Two-mile Handicaps, 120 Yards and 140 Yards Hurdles, Half-mile Walk, Pole Vault, Putting Shot, High Jump, and Long Jump. Entries clcse on January 21. There is a movement on foot to hold a provincial championship meeting at Dunedin this season. The matter will probably be discussed at the next meeting of the centre. There is no reason why the Otago Centre should nob make a success of such a meeting, but the enthusiasm of the athlete is wanted quite as much as the patronage of the public. An amateur club has been established in Westport through the efforts of Mr Thompson, a member of the council of the N.Z.A.A.A. This part of New Zealand has been recognised as one of the strongholds of professional sport, so that the advent of amateurism there is all the more gratifying. Among records passed by the Record Committee of the American Amateur Athletic Union for the year ended November, 1909, appear the following:—One-mile run (indoors), 4min 19 4-sscc, by H. L. Trubc, February 13, 1909; 120yds hurdles, 15 l-Ssec, by W. A. Edwards, October 22, 1909; halfmile run, lmin 52 4-ssee, by Emiho Lunghi, September 15, 1909. The other figures are for discus throwing, and what, to us are "fancy" events, etc., for which we keep no standard records, with the exception of a throw of the 161 b hammer from a 7ft circle, 'by Ralph Rose, of 184 ft 4in, on July 24. Apparently there has been some discussion as to the standing of tho Athenian Olympic games. The position is _ simply that the Olympic Games were revived at Athens in 1896, and that subsequently the International Committee controlling them decided that they should be held every four years in a different country- Iras has been carried out. Tho last was held at London in 1903. Naturally this did not suit the Greeks, who hold an independent series every foui years. ihess are so arranged as to fall two years alter eij">h of the International games. ine 1910 fames at Athens will be on precisely the same footing as those of 1905, when Australia was represented by JNlg&I Barker G. A. Wheatlov, G. Blake, and Cecil Healv. In 1910 it. is hoped that the Australian representatives will be V. Beaurepaire in the swimm.mg events and A. R. Simc land A. Wood in the Marathon Race. , . Air Everett Brown, of Chicago, was elected president of the American Amateur Athletic Union on November 15, succeeding Mr James E. Sullivair, who has also previously been secretary, was elected secretary-treasurer. Tho out-going president was not a candidate for re-election. At the annua! meeting a new rule was adopted prohibiting competitors under 10 years of age from competing in races exceeding five miles. \ E. M. Rowlands, the New Zealand walker, with 20sso start (practically on tho scratch mark with H. V. L Ross the London to Brighton record holder) secured third place va the looting A.U. Walking Handiclap of six miles, on November 16, in 41min sSsec. Twentv vears ago (October 26 1889) at Staten Island, New York, Willie Day created an American 10 mile record, runnam« the distance in 52m,in 39 2-ssec. On November 6 last Geor<re Bonhag, ot the. Irwlh-Amcirican Athletic Club, broke all American running records from five to 10 miles, and won the. 10-miJo National Championship in 52min 34 2-s«ec) against a formidable field of 22 distance men The world's record is held by Alfred Sh'rubb, who put up the grand time of 50min 40sec. ■ In connection with efforts of the .London Sporting Life towards the establishment of a universal standard of amateurs, M. Spyr P. Lambrcs, general secretary of the committee for the Olympic Games at Athens in 1906, anc? for those in 1910, gives the following definition, of aa amateur: Tho Greek Olympic Games are exclusively reserved for amateurs. An amateur is one who has never taken part in a competition or match, either for a money prize or remuneration from any source whatever; who •lias never competed with professionals, and has never been pa'd (or remunerated) for his training or for instructing or training others; has never obtained money _ or pecuniary advantages by means of prizes won; who has never employed machino? or sporting goeds as a, means of advertising. Tho amateur is, however, allowed to^accept travellfnn- expenses and expenses for his stay in a foreign town, so long as this grant is no part of "remuneration The death is reported at Hull of William Buckler, of Newport, the famous long-dis-tance walker, who held world's records for feats of endurance. Buckler, who was born at Newport on December 27, 1848, went to sea for 26 years, and won many races- in America and South Wales, but it was in 1885 that he really commenced his career as a walker. On the turnpike road between Newport and Cardiff he walked 50 miles a day for six consecutive days of 12 hours each, and 52 miles a day on the road between Newport and Crumlin. In> 1889 he walked in a week 506 miles and three laps at Merthyr Tydvil, and in 1892 at Bristol he walked 53 miles a day for six consecutive days. In 1896 he walked 4000 quarter-miles in 4000 consecutive periods of 9gmin; at Leeds in 1898 he did tho distance in consecutive periods of 9-imin; and at Leeds in 1902 he beat his own. record by covering 4000 quarter-miles in 4000 consecutive periods of 9min. The conclusion of one of his walks was witnessed by 40,000 people. Buckler was a man of extraordinary will-power—a physical monarch. He

was a man simple and modest in manner, who had the respect and goodwill of all. Practically all his life he was a total abstainer. He first came into prominence as a sprinter in 1872.