ATHLETICS

Southland Times, Issue 23377, 8 December 1937, Page 9

ATHLETICS

AMATEUR MEETING AT RUGBY PARK SUCCESS OF BUSINESS HOUSE RELAY RACE The success of two innovations in amateur athletics in Invercargill, scratch racing and an inter-business house relay competition, was the feature of the sports meeting held at Rugby Park last evening by the Southland Amateur Athletic Association. The fact that 16 firms were represented in the business house relay drew a big crowd to the meeting, and its interest was rewarded by the keen competition in all events on the programme. The standard of performance throughout was the highest it h~s been this season, and the scratch races and business house relay, with the interest they created, gave added zest to the evening’s sport

The most successful individual competitor of the evening was A. Rogers, of the Collegiate Club, who won both the 100 yards maiden scratch race and the 100 yards handicap under 19. Rogers, although appearing as a maiden runner, (showed form which entitles him to be ranked among the best sprinters in Invercargill. In the scratch race he gave i the impression that he was playing with (the rest of the field, running stride for I stride with the other competitors until , reaching the 75 yards mark when he (Opened out a little to take the lead and the race by a yard. His time in this event was 12sec. In the handicap event, in which he was running from the one yard mark, he extended himself more and won by two yards in 11 l-ssec. When fully tested he should be capable of bringing his time to well under llsec.

Other good performances were those of C. Mayne (Invercargill Club), who won the 220 yards open handicap in the fast time of 23 4-ssec, D. Jenkin, who covered the half-mile in the fast time of 2min 1 3-ssec to win by a clear 10 yards, and D. Robb (Invercargill Club) who won the 440 yards maiden race in 59 2-ssec.

Three cycling events were included on the programme' and in each the racing was keen and often exciting. H. Jones won the half-mile handicap, A. Drury the mile scratch race, and M. Harris the three miles handicap. The main interest of the evening, however, was in the business house relay. None was disappointed in the performances given. Sixteen teams competed, four heats and a final being necessary, and although many of the competitors were novice runners no team was disgraced. Watts and Grieve’s team, which consisted of Hislop, Kennedy, Luzmoor and Chisholm, won the final but was closely pressed throughout by the Farmers’ Co-operative Society’s team. The only fault that could be found with the performances of the teams lay in the baton changing. Many fumbled the exchanges, and a few runners only appeared to understand that the secret of successful relay racing lies in transferring the baton when both men are running as close as possible to full speed. When this is corrected, the inter-hbuse relay competition should be one of the most important events on amateur athletic programmes in Invercargill. In the list of results the names ot clubs have been abbreviated as follows: Invercargill (Inv.), St. Paul’s (St. P.), and Collegiate (Col.). Results are as follows:— TRACK AND FIELD EVENTS 100 YARDS MAIDEN SCRATCH RACE' (10 entries). —First heat: D. Robb (Inv.)' 1, J. Metcalfe (Inv.) 2, S. Hillis (Inv.) 3. Won by a yard. Time, 0.10 2-5. Second heat: A. Rogers (Col.) 1, A. P. Atley (St. P.) 2, W. Giles (Col.) 3. Won easily. Time, 0.11 3-5. Final: Rogers 1, Metcalfe 2, Giles 3. Rogers was never troubled to win easing up by a yard. Time, 0.12. 100 YARDS HANDICAP, under 19. (Eight entries). —First heat: D. Batt (Inv., 6yds) 1, G. Mcßeath (St. P., scr) 2, A. Hunt (St. P., 4yds) 3. Time, 0.11 2-5. Second heat: A. Rogers (Col., lyd) 1, K. Laidlaw (Col., 2yds) 2, J. W. Berry (St. P., syds) 3. Won easing up. Time, 0.11 4-5. Final: Rogers 1, Laidlaw 2, Batt 3. Won by two yards. Time, 0.11 1-5. 220 YARDS OPEN HANDICAP (15 entries). —First heat: C. Harvey (St. P., 6yds) 1, R. Jenkins (St. P., 10yds) 2, W. Giles (Col., 14yds) 3. W’on by two yards. Time, 0.24 1-5. Second heat: C. Mayne (Inv., 9yds) 1, J. Scanlon (Inv., scr) 2, J. Chaplin (Inv., 6yds) 3. Won easily. Time, 0.24 2-5. Final: Mayne 1, Scanlon 2, Harvey 3. Won by a yard and a-half. Time, 0.23 4-5.

440 YARDS MAIDEN SCRATCH RACE (eight entries). —D. Robb (Inv.) 1, A. Edwards (Col.) 2, A. Boyd (Col.) 3. Won by three yards. Time, 0.59 2-5. 880 YARDS OPEN HANDICAP (10 entries). —D. Jenkin (Col., 40yds) 1, D. Batt (Inv., 80yds) 2, M. Gilbert (Inv., 80yds) 3. Jenkin ran a solid race and came away in the straight to win fairly easily by 10 yards. Eight yards separated second and third. Time, 2.1 3-5. 120 YARDS OPEN SCRATCH HURDLES RACE (four entries). —C. Harvey (St. P.) 1, R. D. Jenkins 2. Won by three yards. Time, 0.18 2-5.

HOP, STEP AND JUMP, OPEN HANDICAP (five entries). —H. Fraser (St. P„ Ift) 1, R. D. Jenkins (St. P„ scr) 2, P. G. Ward (Dunedin Anglican, 2ft) 3. Distance, 41ft 6jin. JAVELIN THROW, Open Handicap (eight entries). —W. Giles (35ft) 1, P. G. Ward (scr) 2, C. Harvey (40ft) 3. Distances, 155 ft 7 jin, 142 ft 8 jin, 138 ft 9jin. 440 YARDS INTER-BUSINESS HOUSE RELAY (16 entries) .—First heat: Farmers’ Co-operative Society (Robb, Gordon, Belsham, Chaplin) 1, Power Supply (McLachlan, Slocombe, Tallon, Fraser) 2, Southland Times (Witt, Tobin, Jenkin, Elliotte) 3. Time, 0.52. Second heat: Wright, Stephenson (Oliver, Hamilton, Fraser, Langham) 1, H. and J. Smith (Darroch, Smith, Couling, Fox) 2, Calder Mackay (Ferris, Atley, Jenkins, ) 3. Time, 0.50 2-5. Third heat: George Poole’s (Harvey, Hillis, McKinnon, Boyd) 1, Cycling Club (Elliot, Broad, Insall, A. Jones) 2, Herbert, Haynes (Winsloe, Drury, Brown. Martin) 3. Time, 0.52. Fourth heat: Watts and Grieve (Hislop, Kennedy, Chisholm, Luzmoor) 1, Sargood, Son and Ewen (Joel, Springford, Robb, Adam) 2, City Council (Manson, Fearn, Botting, Anderson) 3. Time, 0.50 2-5. Final.—Watts and Grieve 1, Farmers’ Co-operative Society 2. Time, 0.50 1-5. CYCLING EVENTS HALF-MILE HANDICAP (12 starters).—First heat: H. Jones (20yds) 1, R. Atken (15yds) 2, R. Muir (25yds) 3. Won by a length. Time, 1.10 4-5. Second heat: M. Harris (10yds) 1, A. Drury (syds) 2, R. Blackburn (60yds) 3. Won by half a length. Time, 1.9 3-5. Final: H. Jones 1, Aitken 2, Harris 3. Won by a length each way. Time, 1.9 1-5. MILE SCRATCH RACE (eight starters).—A. Drury 1, R. Aitken 2, K. Jones 3. Drury took the lead in the last lap but one and although strongly challenged over the last 220 yards came away to win by a length and a-half. Half a wheel separated second and third. Time, 2.32. THREE MILES HANDICAP (19 starters).—M. Harris (50yds) 1, A. Drury (25yds) 2, R. Muir (130yds) 3. Harris came through fast in the last lap opening up a gap of 10 lengths half a lap from home. He maintained his lead to win easily with Drury half a length ahead of Muir. Time, 7.45.