ATHLETICS

Southland Times, Issue 23332, 16 October 1937, Page 18

ATHLETICS

EMPIRE GAMES IN SYDNEY

(By

SPIKE)

The interest of all amateur athletes in New Zealand is directed towards the Empire Games to be held in Sydney next February. The fact that the games are to be held in Australia, which is now only two days’ journey from the Dominion, should ensure that the New Zealand representatives will be in their best form. In other years long sea journeys and changes in climate j.ave caused the Dominion athletes to fail to live up to the promise they had shown on home tracks. The decision of the council of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association to hold a national athletic trial in Wellington on December 11 to determine the selection of Empire Games representatives will be welcomed by all in the running for places in the New Zealand team.

The matter was one calling for some definite' direction from the authorities (says The Sports Post), and now that this has been given athletes will know just where they stand. Those whose provincial performances are sufficiently good to merit their being sent to Wellington will, it can be assumed rise or fall by their efforts on December 11. It is not very likely that the selectors will be swayed by performances which might be made at other gatherings.

The meeting in actual fact will resolve itself into a national championship, except that the fields will be limited and possibly one or two events in which the New Zealand standard is poor will be eliminated. The meeting will occupy only one day, but in view of the fact that the programme will include a three miles and a six miles race, and some of the competitors at least will wish to run in both, consideration might be given to running, say, the three miles, late on Friday afternoon. After all, athletes could not reasonably be expected to compete in the two events in the one day. With the New Zealand championships now set back until March, there will be no need, unless there should be unusual circumstances, such as palpable falling off in form, for the question of amendments to the selec-

tion based upon results on December 11 to arise. Athletes, who might have been in any tentative selection, need now have little fear that they will be displaced because of efforts at any subsequent meeting—a fear 1 which would have been present had the New Zealand Council adhered to its original intention to use the New Zealand championships, previously fixed for January 14 and 15, as a basis for amendments.

Most athletes included in the list of possibilities submitted by the selectors, and probably others who may fancy their chances, will have begun training, for the time is comparatively limited. There are just eight weeks to December 11, which is not a great time to get into shape. Candidates will have to be in good condition before that date, since it will be necessary for them to show form good enough to warrant being despatched to Wellington. Every post will have to be made a winning one. WOODERSON’S WONDERFUL FORM Sydney Wooderson, of England, has beaten the world’s record for a mile with a run of 4.6 3-5, lowering Glenn Cunningham’s 1934 mark by 1-10 sec. Wooderson made this great run at Motspur Park in a special handicap race, says an English writer. This season Wooderson has been in wonderful form over the mile, his times since the beginning of the season in England having been 4.17 1-5, 4.14 3-5, 4.10 2-5, and 4.15 4-5. The 4.10 2-5 time was performed in a relay race. The course of the one mile world’s record since records were first kept makes interesting reading:— 4.29 W. M. Chinnery (Eng.) 1868 4.26 W. Slade (Eng.) 1874 4.24 I W. Slade (Eng.) 1875 4.23 1-5 W. G. George (Eng.) 1880 4.19 2-5 W. G. George (Eng.) 1882 4.18 2-5 W. G. George (Eng.) 1884 4.18 1-5 F. E. Bacon (Scot.) 1894 4.17 F. E. Bacon (Scot.) 1895 4.15 3-5 T. P._ Conneff (Ireland 1895 4.15 2-5 J. P. Jones (U.S.A.) 1911 4.14 2-5 J. P. Jones (U.S.A.) 1913 4.12 3-5 N. S. Tabor (U.S.A.) 1915 4.10 2-5 P. Nurmi (Finland) 1923 4.9 1-5 J. Ladoumegue (France) 1931 4.7 3-5 J. Lovelock (N.Z.) 1933 4.6 7-10 G. Cunningham (U.S.A.) 1934 4.6 3-5 S C. Wooderson (Eng.) 1937 So, after an absence of 53 years, the world’s one-mile record has come again to England.