EVENING SPORTS MEETING

Southland Times, Issue 24602, 26 November 1941, Page 7

EVENING SPORTS MEETING

SOME CLOSE FINISHES A feature of the evening sports meeting held last evening at Rugby Park by the Invercargill Amateur Cycling Club and the Invercargill Amateur Athletic Association was the closeness of the finishes in practically all events. The track was a little greasy after recent rain, but in spite of this the times were fairly good. There was a poor attendance of the public. In the 880 yards event G. McKenzie

ran in a good ’ position throughout and came with a burst about 50 yards from the finishing line to win narrowly from Swift and Patterson. The final of the one mile cycle race was a keen and interesting one. After half the distance had been covered J. O’Neill broke away from the bunched field and established a winning lead. On the last lap Aslett was ahead of the bunch, but was challenged by D. McKenzie, who had ridden right round the field to gain third place. In an exciting finish for second place Aslett succeeded by a very narrow margin. After half the distance had been covered in the twomile cycle race the first three riders were O’Neill, N. Clark and Aslett.

Aslett put in his sprint coming out of the back straight and was challenged by O’Neill and R. McDougall, the limit man, who had ridden a good race throughout. Aslett held on to win narrowly from O’Neill and McDougall. A novelty event, was held during rhe evening between two runners and a cyclist over a hurdle. The distance was 440 yards. It was won by the cyclist by about 10 yards. Another meeting will be held next Tuesday. The results were as follows: 100 Yards Open Handicap: G. McKenzie (9yds) 1, G. W. Patterson (9yds) 2, W. Eastlake (6yds) 3. A very close finish. Time, 10 l-ssec. 75 Yards Women’s Handicap: M.

Brown (Byds) 1, D. Thomson (3yds) 2, M. Thomson (scr) 3. Won by two yards, third a yard away. Time, 10 l-ssec. 880 Yards Open Handicap: G. McKenzie (50yds) 1, E. Swift (70yds) 2, G. W. Patterson (40yds) 3. Won by three yards with two yards separating second and third. Time, 2.11 3-5. CYCLING EVENTS One Mile Cycle Handicap,—First heat: R. Hall (80yds) 1, J. O’Neill (80yds) 2, G. Aslett (120yds) 3. Time, 2.35. Second heat: D. McKenzie (70yds) 1, C. Waddick (40yds) 2, A. Pedlar (40yds) 3. Time, 2.38. Won by a length, third 10 lengths away. Final:

J. O’Neill 1, G. Aslett 2, D. McKenzie 3. Won by six lengths; third six inches further back. Time, 2min 35sec. Two Miles Cycle Handicap.—G. Aslett (220yds) 1, J. O’Neill (160yds) 2, R. McDougall (scr) 3. Won by a length and a-half, third a length away. Time, smin 38sec.