Speed-Cycling on Road and Track

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 530, 6 December 1928, Page 11

Speed-Cycling on Road and Track

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"CYCLOS."

Amateur Fixtures

December B. —Week-end tour con\niencing from Grafton Bridge at 1.30 p.ro. December 3 2._ —Three miles’ handicap a t Domain, 5.45 pm. At New Lynn By rolling up in lull force the Jlanukau amateurs assisted materially in making the Lynndale Athletic and Cycle Club's first meeting held at New Lynn last Saturday a great success. And the sporting way in which they tackled the fast surfaced clay track, which featured extremely treacherous bends, provided some great thrills. Several riders crashed, but in the majority of cases this was due to outright carelessness. Thoughtlessness for his fellow' competitors in riding recklessly, L. B. Roberts managed to bring* down two riders besides himself -_nd it would be safe to say that his coming "down in the Lynndale mile handicap meant robbing the race of considerable interest. Whitten Does Well While Ju<'k W ado pleased the crowd at Lynndale by his sporting efforts, J. Whitten was undoubtedly the outstanding performer of tho day. He competed in both open events—tho two and thn e mil« - -and won tho heats and finals in convincing style off marks of 40yds and 60yds respectively. With the track fairly tricky Whitten was in his glory, for it was easy to see that he had learned a heap from riding on the Taniaki track, where he does most of his training. In passing, it is interesting to note that it was on the Tarda ki track that he won the programme of three events staged early last March. Another Good One There is already some tigers amongst Auckland's amateurs, and there is another one coming on fast in L. Aldred. who startled tho fans last Saturday by running in for second place in both the two and three miles events. Ho was certainly one of the front markers, but he is no giant in appearances and after doing liis fair share of the, lapping he was always ready to lcive .the field and speed away after Whitten. There are some big victorJesr ip the offing for young Aldred. Cash . Riders iV good field of cash riders attended the Domain last evening to compete in the two miles handicap event promoted for them. It was quite evident that quite a number of riders were not properly tit owing to the lack of track work. viator Hayes for one, who started off the back mark with Lindop, was certainly not at his best and did not have the stamina to go through with Lindop, who, keeping himself well since the road racing season, managed to rush up. after riding a good race, fior a third. The honours went to Mathieson off 40 yards, while Francis, off ran in for a good second. In Australia : At last Australia is to have a board track. Frank Corry, the well-known Australian pace-follower, who is at the head of a company, announced lust week that arrangements had been completed for the erection of a board track dL eight laps to the mile in Sydney, track, which will be an indoor one, will be 23ft wide, with a good lift at the four bends. Of the 220yds round, approximately 160yds will be racing straights for spectacular purposes.

Join the Happy Throng The social committee of the Manu- , u Amateurs has been feeling rather la .L ely t The Pleasure is gained through the fact that the good work It does is not ail in vain, for last Sunday the large cluster of 27 cyclists patronised the usual fortnightly run. They journeyed to the Avondale reserve, where swimming, cricket and various novelty events filled in a very day - It is quite evident now tnat these runs are popular, especially thosei within easy riding distance of i e ,?‘ . y and the committee sends out an invitation to all cyclists, not necessarily ciub members, to join the happy throng. One pleasing feature of the wheel events at Mew Linn was the appearance, once again, of G. 11. Worms He was one of the oldest" cyclists competing. but/ it was quite evident that he has not forgotten how to do things, for he managed the Lynndale Members’ Handicap of Ssyds. It was a popular win. The last time that he raced past the post for a first place was a good five years ago. Events Last Evening The cycling events staged on the Domain last evening did not lack excitement. The two miles A grade event resulted in a brilliant battle for honours between Jack Wade and J Whitten, who both started front the mark. Wade clapped on a terrific amount of pace over the last lap. Whitten raced after liim but failed to pass the young champion. The £> grade event also provided some fine racing and brought to the front as a good heady rider. Cl. Whitehouse. He won both his heat and the final. * * 1* Answer to Correspondence “Interested.”—Fred (Jumbu) Wells, who died recently in Australia, was undoubtedly one o£ the best all-round athletes New Zealand has turned out in recent years. Jumbo was in his 43rd year, but even so was riding like a champion right up until the last. On the evening of last Saturday week lie clinched the mile wheel race at the Melbourne motordrome against some of the best talent in Australia. Evidently the effort affected his heart, for he had a seizure while riding In a street car the following Tuesday, and passed away almost immediately. Jumbo was born in the sunny Nelson district and had unusually large physique for a cyclist, but it did not appear to hinder him as he won big races all over. New Zealand, besides one or two Dominion championships. He rod© in Auckland on the Domain during the exhibition carnival in 1912. Later he went to Australia and eventually to America, where he competed in match races against some*of the crack sprinters. Several years ago he was under contract to the English Park Stadium Company, in Christchurch, and throughout rode brilliantly. But Jumbo has not always stuck purely to cycling, for he tpok on many other branches of sport. quite well known as* a wood Chopper, boxer and rower, and. while in America he won a heavy-Weight boxing contest. As a rower Jie challenged and competed -against. 3/, Hannan for the New Zealand championship on the Wairau River at Blenheim, but was unsuccessful. He was always an extremely popular athlete and was a great favourite among both New Zealand and Australian sport fans.