AMATEUR ATHLETICS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17130, 4 September 1926, Page 7

AMATEUR ATHLETICS.

THE SPRING FEVER

EARLY PROSPECTS

The spring fever is getting into the blood of the amateurs, and it will not be long before the reserve will again present a scene of activity. The) annual meeting of the Harriers' Club will be held this month, and the organisation, of the evening meets will no doubt be entered upon as soon as that event is disposed of. There should be plenty of material for the old hands of the club to work on. The encouragement of the juniors of the club might well be given more attention, with more events confined strictly to novice competitors. The runners want reinforcements, and it may be that this yoar will see the development of new champions. A class of competition that has. never been very strong numerically is the jumping section, and the club will be well advised to try out a few of the lads who previously have given no attention to this side of athletics. The cyclists are a strong body, and will gain new strength with less trouble than the runners and jumpers; they will keep their end up as long as the amateur side is able to offer as good attractions as the professional. The ladies' division of the club made an excellent start last year, and this sell son should see numerous additional competitors. A. proposal is afoot, though at present it has taken no official form, for a team to visit Wellington to compete for the Eteveneux Cup, a team's race trophy. If this visit is made, it wjjl be on condition that.a return visit will be made by a team of Wellington ladies. DOMINION CHAMPIONS. FORM AT BRISBANE. The New Zealand amateur athletic team, which competed at the championships of Australia and New Zealand at Brisbane, returned by the Maheno on Tuesday. Mr. hi. (.1. Guy, the manager, in commenting upon the trip, said thai the team had been affected by the hot weather and the hard grounds. There had been a drought iit Queensland for nearly a year, and the tracks on which the.championships were decided were the fastest to be found in Australia or New Zealand. The hard track had resulted in Cabot, the New Zealand walker, suffering from bruised heels, which necessitated his laying up for it week. , Mr. Guy stated that it was difficult to account for Cabot's disqualification on the first day. The referee haVl declared that he lifted in the last 50 yards, when he was in .second position. Mr. R. Coombcs had declared that he could find no fault with Cabot's action, and the referee found no fault with him in the mile on the following Saturday, when he, walked at a fast pace. The heat so affected W. Harvey that he had to be medically attended an hour before he competed in the hammer-throwing event, which he won. He was, however, unable to take

part in the discus event. S. Lay easily carried off the javelinthrowing,, each of his throws beating

his New Zealand record performance. .1. W. Shirley was unable to strike form in either the hurdles or the

jumping events. He retired in the decathlon in order to save himself for the events on the concluding clay. Savidan did creditably in the one and three-mile events, securing third place in the mile, and finishing within 150 vards of Hyde in the three-mile.

He was closer to Hyde at the finish than Hyde was to Rose at Wanganui

two years ago. The result of the biennial conference was satisfactory, as almost every

remit put forward by New Zealand

was passed