ATHLETICS

Southland Times, Issue 20979, 11 January 1930, Page 17

ATHLETICS

(By

“Bystander.”)

COMING EVENTS To-day: Wairio sports. January 15: Wyndham and district Caledonian Society’s annual gathering. January 17: Otara sports. January 22: Mokoreta-Redan sports; Winton Athletic Society's annual sports. January 29: Caledonian Society of Southland’s sports meeting at Rugby Park. GENERAL JOTTINGS Otara Sports. A schedule which has come to hand from the hon. secretary (Mr J. Taylor) contains quite an interesting programme for the Otara annual sports which are to be held in Mr M. Blair’s property on Friday next, commencing at 12.30 p.m. To interest the public will be running, bushcraft and the usual field events. Good prizes are attached to the events and many entries are anticipated for what is claimed to be the furthest south sports meeting. Keen Sporting Family. The Lawsons who were recently seen in action at the Tuatapere sports come from a keen sporting family. F. G. Lawson, who was first in the mile and half-mile at that meeting, is a son of the former well-known miler, Mr R. Lawson (Amateur Athletic Society, Invercargill), and a grandson of Mr J. Field, who was one and two-mile champion in the 'eighties. F. G. Lawson is only 19 years of age. His younger brother Harry ran second in the mile at Tuatapere on the same day. Yet another brother, Joe, was third in the 220, second in the 440, winner of the 120 consolation and fourth in the Sheffield. Joe formerly won several mile and half-mile events but had left off running for the past two years. At the last meeting of the Caledonian Society some years ago he won the mile and half when a youngster of 17. Tuatapere was the first occasion on which Fred and Harry Lawson had competed at sports and the president of the society (Mr J. McLeod), former champion -sprinter, states that Fred shows great promise. Study the Starter. Always study the starter. Watch him, and see how long he keeps his starters in the “get set” position before firing. That is worth yards to you in the shorter races, as you know what to expect. Although the advice given above is told to every novice at some time or other, it is quoted from a book on athletics by the well-known English authorities, Harry Andrews and W. S. Alexander. Olympic Games. Preparations are already being made for the 1932 Olympic Games, to be held at Los Angeles. The people of California have already voted 1,000,000 dollars for preliminary work. The stadium in which the games are to be held is completed and ac-. commodation is arranged to seat 110,000 people. A separate auditorium for the boxing, wrestling and fencing events, to seat 12,000 is also completed, and the swimming pool, with stands to seat 10,000, is being put in hand. The “winter games” section is to be held earlier in the year at Lake Placid, in New York State, where the conditions for the snow and ice sports are said to be ideal.