EDENDALE SPORTS

Southland Times, Issue 19435, 26 December 1924, Page 6

EDENDALE SPORTS

SUCCESSFUL GATHERING ATHLETES FROM THE NORTH VISITING CONTINGENT SCORE HEAVILY. The 24th annual gathering of the Edendale Sports Society was ushered in by a howling easterly, which made conditions somewhat unpleasant out of doors, and this no doubt had its effect on the attendance, which was hardly up to that of the past few years. Nevertheless, there was a goodly crowd in attendance to assist at this time-honoured Christmas Day gathering, which dates back to the days when trotting races served as a popular adjunct to the Sports, and yesterday’s gate receipts amounted to some £6O, indicating that well over a thousand people were present. Athletes were present from all parts of Southland, and added interest was lent to the Sports by the invasion of a strong contingent of Oam aru runners and cyclists who materially profited by their first essay at a Southland sports meeting; in fact, it has to be said with that the exception of the sprints and amateur events, it was a notable triumph for the visitors, two of whom, J. G. Newlands and G. Shalders, secured the honour of winning the most points special for athletic and cycling events respectively. The valuable President’s Handicap went to a Nightcaps man, M. Dixon, who was greatly fancied in expert quarters, and who duly “brought home the bacon,” as the saying is, but only by the narrowest of margins in one of the finest finishes seen on the Edendale ground for many years past. Handicappers W. Murdoch senr., and W. Murdoch junr., again had a field day, the racing throughout being of a keen and at times thrilling nature, while great praise is due to the judges, Messrs W. Irvine, W. Chaplin and F. G. Cook, for the manner in which they separated the respective. contestants into their order of finishing. They were faced with some very difficult finishes on which to adjudicate, and no greater tribute to their work could be found than the fact that not one decision was questioned all day. The dancing and piping section of the programme was in the capable hands of Messrs W. L. Milne and D. Thomson, and the medal for most points in dancing events was won by Miss E. Halpin, who danced consistently well throughout the afternoon. Piper D. Robinson, of Invercargill, made a clean sweep of the piping section, and his success was a very popular one. The worthy President of the Society, Mr Oscar Baird, was fortunate in having such a capable band of officials to conduct the gathering, but nevertheless he himself was as indefatigable as ever, and saw to it that everything was kept moving along smoothly throughout the afternoon. The secretarial department was in good hands, Mr R. A. Marshall being in charge, with Mr Thos. Scoullar always at hand to assist and give the benefit of his previous experience in this connection and, needles to relate, this important branch of Sports Day activities functioned admirably from start to finish. Results are as follows: CASH RUNNING.

75 yards flying handicap, of £4 10/-, second 20/-, third 10/-: First heat: N. S. McMillan, 7yds, 1; J. W. Morton, 74yds, 2. Four starters. Won by a foot. Time, 7 2-ssec. Second heat: E. J. Taylor, 82yds, 1; C. Pointon, 7yds, 2. Four starters. Won by inches. Time, 7 3-scec. Third heat: J. T. Skerrett, 3|yds, 1 and R. S. Harrington, 44yds, dead heat, 1. Three starters. Time, 7 3-ssec.

Final: Pointon and McMillan, dead heat, 1; Taylor, 3. McMillan did not get away W>o well. Pointon was leading at 50 yards, where the field began to close up for a slashing finish. McMillan just got up on the tape to dead-heat with Pointon, Taylor inches away, third. Time, 7 3-ssec. President’s handicap, of £25, second £6, third £3, fourth £l. 135 yards. First heat: N. S. McMillan, 114yds, 1; M. Dixon, 10yds, 2. Also started: J. Harris 44yds, W. Sinclair 7yds. Won by a foot. Time, 13 2-5 sec. Second heat: J. W. Morton, 124yds, 1; J. S. Royds, 13yds, 2. Also started: G. Todd, 104yds. Won by a good foot. Time, 13 2-ssec. Third heat: J. T. Skerrett, 74yds, 1; L. Blakie, 64yds, 2. Also started: R. Cook Byds, R. S. Harrington 94yds. Won by half a yard. Time, 13 2-ssec. Fourth heat: C. Pointon, 114yds, 1; E. Cook Iyd, 2. Also started: E. J. Taylor, 13yds. Cook got away well, but could not catch Pointon, who won by a couple of yards. Time, 13 2-5 sec. Semi-finals: First heat: McMillan 1, Dixon 2. Also started: Royds and Morton. Won by inches. Time, 13sec. Second heat: Skerrett 1; Pointon 2. Also started: Blakie and Cook. Won in the last stride by inches only. Time, 13sec. —Final.— M. Dixon (Nightcaps), 10yds . 1 N. S. McMillan, 114yds .... 2 J. T. Skerrett, 74yds 3 Also started: C. Pointon, 114yds. A good start and a great finish. Dixon won by inches, and McMillan was just ahead of Skerrett. Time, 13 l-ssec. 220 yards handicap, of £5 5/-, second 30/-, third 15/-: J. S. Royds, 17yds, 1; E. J. Taylor, 17yds, 2; J. T. Skerrett, 7yds, 3. Thirteen starters. McMillan fell at the entrance to the straight. Royds held on to win by two yards, Skerrett a yard behind Taylor. Time, 22 4-ssec. 440 yards handicap, of £7, second £2, third £1: J. G. Newlands, 6yds, 1; L. Blakie, 14yds, 2; J. H. Harris, Byds, 3. Seven starters. The race started at a fast pace, but the middle stages were slower. In the last 100 yards Newlands broke loose with a well-timed sprint, but Blakie came at him, and in a rousing finish the Oamaruvian got home a couple of yards in front of Blakie, who just beat Harris for second place. Time 55 3-ssec. Half-mile handicap, of £B, second £2, third £1: J. G. Newlands, 10yds, 1; E. W. Johnston, 25yds, 2; J. Holloway, 40yds, 3 . Eight starters. Newlands raced after his field at the outset and was well placed throughout a slow run race. Johnston took the lead running along the back stretch, but Newlands caught him without much difficulty coming into the straight, and went on to win easily by ten yards, 14yds between second and third. Time, 2min 15sec. Mile handicap, of £9 10/-, second £2 10/-, third 20/-: J. G. Newlands, 20yds, 1; J. Holloway, 85yds, 2; M. P. Cahill, 90yds, 3. Nine starters. Newlands was up with the leaders starting the last round. Coming into the straight he sprinted clear of the field, and left the rest to settle second and third placings. Newlands won by eight yards, Holloway coming with a late run to oust Cahill from second place by a yard. Time, smin. AMATEUR EVENTS. 100 yards handicap (trophies valued at 30/- and 10/-) : B. Geddes, 2yds, 1; W. L. Bews, syds, 2; H. McConnell, Byds, 3. Four starters. Geddes came fast at the finish and won by a bare foot, half a yard between second and third. No time taken. 220 yards handicap (trophies valued at £2 and £1): W. L. Bews, 10yds, 1; B. Geddes, scr, 2; A. G. Harrington, syds, 3. Six starters. Bews led most of the way and won comfortably by four yards, half that distance between second and third. Time, 23sec. 440 vards handicap (trophies valued at £3, £2 and £1): W. L. Bews, 10yds, 1; O. Hormann, 18yds, 2; A. Bissett, 6yds, 3. Nine starters. A good race. Bews was well placed throughout, and led into the straight, going on to win by a dozen yards, a yard between second and third. Time 55 1-5 sec. CYCLING. Mile handicap, of £5, second 30/-, third 10/-: E. Bacon, 80yds, 1; R. Mather, 110 yds, 2; C. J. Shalders, 40yds, 3. Seven starters. Bacon took the lead in the third round and never looked like being headed. He won by about twenty yards, about half that distance between second and third. Time, 3min 6 l-ssec.

Two-mile handicap, of £5 5/-, second 30/-, third 15/-: G. Shalders, 75yds, 1; C. G. Shalders, 65yds, 2; E. Bacon, 150yds, 3. Six starters. Bacon led the Shalders Bros, past the post the last time round, but G. Shalders went past him at the bend £nd held the lead to the tape, winning by about ten yards. C. J. Shalders got up in time to beat Bacon for second money. Time, 6 min 29 l-ssec. Christmas Day cycle handicap, of £B, second £2, third £1: G. Shalders, 140yds, 1; E. Bacon, 200yds, 2; C. G. Shalders, 120yds, 3. Five starters. The first three had the race to themselves over the final stages. At the far turn the last time round, G. Shalders uncoiled a nicely judged sprint, and went on to win by a dozen yards, a cycle length between second and third. Time, lOmin 16 l-ssec. DANCING. Highland fling, under 12: W. Martin, 1; M. Murdoch, 2; D. Forrester, 3. Nine entries. Sword dance, under 15: A. Ward, 1; M. Murdoch, 2; W. Martin, 3. Nine entries. Irish jig, under 15: E. Halpin, 1; H. McLeod, 2; M. Murdoch, 3. Eleven entries. Scotch reel: F. Miller, 1; M. Murdoch, 2; E. Halpin, 3. Eight entries. Seann triubhais: D. Forrester, 1; A. Ward, 2; F. Miller, 3. Five entries. Highland fling, over 10 and under 14: M. McLeod, 1; E. Halpin, 2. Five entries. Sailors hornpipe, under 15: H. McLeod, 1; E. Halpin, 2; D. Forrester, 3. Nine entries. PIPING. Marches (open): D. Robinson, 1; A. Leckie, 2; J. Miller, 3. Five entries. Marches (under 20): D. Robinson, 1; G. Hastie, 2; W. Munro, 3. Four entries. Reels and strathspeys (under 20) : D. Robinson, 1; G. Hastie, 2; W. Munro. 3. Four entries. • NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By On-side Mac.) It was a pleasure to renew acquaintance with this annual event at the flourishing centre of the fertile Edendale Plains, and while the attendance was not up to that of late years, there was good reason for the falling off in the statistical returns, conditions out of doors being far from pleasant with an easterly gale sweeping down from the Wyndham hills and raking the sports ground from end to end with its chilling blast. The presence for the first time in Southland fqr some years of a strong force of northern athletes made this gathering a particularly interesting one, and their distance crack, J. G. Newlands, proved himself the man of the hour, reeling off convincing victories in quarter, half and mile, and never appearing fully extended, although the Ryal Bush sprinter, Les. Blakie, chased him hard in the quarter and, had' the race been run faster over the intermediate stages, might have been still closer up, as Blakie ran out a faster race at Drummond a few days before, and was still full of running t the finish. Blakie, however, seemed a bit off colour in his races yesterday, and in the absence of C. A. Bone, and with W. Matheson in the enforced position of an onlooker, there was no one to stretch out the visiting crack to his limit. The meeting between the trio in the next few days should be worth going a long way to see, as they rank* as easily three of the foremost distance runners in the Dominion at the present time. Newlands is a tall, well-made athlete, who can both stay out a journey and open out like a crack sprinter over the final stages, and it was no surprise to find that he was the man who pushed Trembath out to a fast gait to win a northern half-mile some time ago.

The victory of M. Dixon, the Nightcaps sprinter and representative footballer under the Soccer code was anticipated in select quarters, but not by such a narrow margin as McMillan and Skerrett ran him to in the final. McMillan, who has only been a season or so in open cash company, has developed into a flyer over short distances, and was perhaps a little unlucky not to have scored outright in either one of the two short sprints, while he was put out of court in the furlong race by a nasty spill turning into the straight. Any other day his great finishing effort would have more than likely brought him in a winner, but yesterday was the exception, and with Dixon and Pointon showing such brilliant form that the virtual scratch man, Cook, had no chance in the final eliminating series. The times, with a slanting wind assisting the fields, certainly flattered the runners, but it was fast running all the same.

In the amateur events W. Bews was at the top of his form, and although there may have been a tinge of regret at an effort of self-denial involving the time-hon-oured Christmas dinner at Mrs Morland’s comfortable hostelry, Southland’s champion amateur half miler no doubt felt fully recompensed later in the day, especially with a quarter victory in faster time than the redoubtable Newlands and Co. took to cover one stretch of the circular course. Bews has seldom run better. Geddes added to his list of hundred-yard victories, and caught an extended field in rather brilliant fashion.

Starter T. Marshall had an arduous day, and in starts for final events* got the runners away well. Nevertheless, his variation from the standard method with a regular pause between each signal accounted for a good deal of restiveness among the runners, and at times it was a case of each man pitting his wits against the starter’s, otherwise finding himself in danger of being left on the mark, a state of affairs which should not obtain. The two brothers Shalders from Enfield would have got away with a clean-up in the cycling events, had not the Gore man, E. Bacon, put in a strong challenge in each case, and he registered a convincing win in the mile, but in the longer distances when G. Shalders uncoiled a brilliant finishing sprint over the final stages, there was only one man in the hunt. It is pleasing to know that the visiting cyclists and runners are to compete at the Mataura meeting —having given such' a taste of their mettle at Edendale, it is unlikely that they will win so easily at the riverside gathering on Saturday with men like Matheson and Bone taking a hand. The visitors were made most heartily welcome yesterday, and express keen appreciation, of their treatment in the “Sunny South.” It was pleasing to see Jim Archer taking a close interest in the gathering, and particularly in the doings of the northerners. He has made a good recovery from a badly poisoned foot, but thinks the New Year will be time enough to concern himself with getting into harness again. Mr Alan Cocker, the enthusiastic secretary of the Ryal Bush Society, was also on the ground, seeking out entrants for next week’s gathering on the fringe of some of the most beautiful native bush in Southland, and also “among those present,” as the Society notes have it, was Jim Leckie, amateur cruiserweight champion of New Zealand, and a coming man at hammer-throwing.