A GRUELLING TEST

Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1929, Page 10

A GRUELLING TEST

HIGH SCHOOL STEEPLECHASE F. AITKEN WINS THE SENIOR. EJ HARDY JONES BEST JUNIOR. F. Aitken, with a handicap of 2| minutes, won the senior division of the annual steeplechase in connection with the Stratford Technical 'High School held yesterday afternoon; He was closely followed by G. Bilkey (3|nun)/ and A. Bone from .the ;2min mark. Fastest time in.this division was recorded by M. Sutton, who took 24 minutes 47-seconds, 43sec. less than the win-, ner to cover the broken surface of the, course estimated at roughly tour miles. N. Crossman took one second longer to secure second . fastest time, and T. Boyle was three seconds behind Crossman. Last year, E. Hardy Jones liriished second in -the. junior . division from an' appreciable handicap. . This year ,he won comfortably Off scratch, .taking only 58 seconds longer than , the winner of the fastest time in the. senior division. A. Cowley (scratch), was second and Symes (2min) was third. - : Fastest times in the junior division were also recorded by' the. -place fillers. Hardy Jones took 25min 4ase.c, Cowley' 26piin 16sec and Symes 28min' 13?ec. The route ' lay out of the school area by double gates, obstacles that lost sonic competitors a lot of ground. Thence the boys followed Swansea -Road across, tho Patea River and travelled over farm lands towards the end of. Victoria Road. They crossed the road and .then had to negotiate hilly country interspersed with patches 'of swampy .land until the foot of the Warwick Road was reached. Straining lungs found a difficulty in maintaing the pace in traversing more hills leading, through Pratt’s farm and. back to the Warwick Road, which the trail followed for a while before striking north to the -Swansea Road and so to the school, entering at the same, point as that at which the runners departed. At selected positions along tho route observers were stationed to check the race, and. all reports went to show that the winners conscientiously followed the correct route. The junior division broke trail, leaving the school a clear, five minutes before the seniors. Thirty-eight lined up and departed as follow: Two on .the limit (smin),. 11 off 4min, eight off 3| min, eight off. 3min, one off 2min, three off llniin and five from'scratch. Half a mile “from home, at the first-observation post, Hardy Jones had run strongly into fourth place and soon displaced those ahead so that, half - way round, he was leading from Johnson, Foley, Thomason, Cowley and Svines. In the latter stages of the journey Johnson, Foley and Thomason dropped back and were replaced by Cowley, Symes and Nicholls, who finished in that order behind Hardy Jones; For a youth not yet 15 years old, Hardy Jones’ performance was a. very, meriotorious one. He finished very strongly and. appeared, but little fatigued with his journey. Aitken, on the other hand, ran himself out in the senior division. The boys left in the following order: One on the limit mark of smin, five off 4min, three off 34min, three off- 3min, eight off 2J min, "four off 2min, two off Imin and four from scratch. Unfortunately, one of the handicap runners (Butchart). suffered an injury to his ankle and Gibberd and Parfitt from scratch stopped to render assistance and bring Butchart back to -the school. This incident robbed the finish of some; of the expected excitement, but it is doubtful whether either of them would have caught litken, who finished a whole minute ahead of Bilkey, having run well over the entire course. . The list in each division of the nrst ten with their times.is as follows: Senior Division. F. Aitken (24min), -25niin 30sec .... 1 G. Bilkey (Sjmin), 26min 37sec .... 2 A. Bone’(2min), 25min 45sec 3 M. Sutton (Imin), 24min 47sec .... 4 T. Boyle (Imin), 24min 51scc a G.’ Carryer (4inin), 27min 52sec .... 6 L. Anscombe (4inin), 28min 7sec •••• Roy Paul (2gmin), 26min 47sec ...» 8 s. Marx (smin), 29min 23sec .... » N. Cottier (4min), 28min 30sec 10 Junior Division. E. Hardy Jones (scr), 25min 45sec .. 1 A. Cowley (scr), 2Bmin 16sec 2 Symes (imin), 28min 13sec a R. Nicholls (3min), 29min 14sec .... 4 A. Johnson (3min), 25min 35sec •••• W. Foley (3min), 29min 50sec » F. Thomason (2min) , 28min 55see .. 7 J. Stewart (2min)-, 29mm 14sec .... 8 W Tarrant (4min), 31min 21sec .... P R. Malfroy (4min),'3lmin 30sec .... 10 The race was controlled by masters of the school. Mr. H. C. Johnson acted as marksman and starter, Mr. A. H. Amess (principal) as judge, r. • Bowler as time-keeper and Mr. J. V. McDowall as record steward. The weather was fine though a keen breeze was blowing. A fair number of visitors assembled for the finish.

PERSONAL ITEMS. As a mark of esteem the staff of the Farmers’ Co-op., af Stratford assembled o n Wednesday to- present Mr. b. U. Hamilton, who has resigned to take up ah appointment in Auckland, with a gold pencil. Mrs. J. W. Kelly and her daughter, Miss Mary Kelly, left yesterday foi Wellington. The wedding was celebrated at the Catholic Church on Wednesday night of Captain Robert Wood, fourth son oi Mrs. E. Till, of Stratford, and Mrs. Hilda V. Whittle, of Stratford. A number of friends were present at the church.