AMATEUR ATHLETICS

Taranaki Daily News, 15 December 1932, Page 9

AMATEUR ATHLETICS

QEED’S 1 RETURN TO FORM

: BLACK’S SPLENDID EFFORT.

THE TEAM FOR ROTORUA.

(By

“Also Started.”)

The further the season advances the stronger is the New Plymouth Athletic ■ Club: becoming.' Each meeting sees fresh competitors, and. the fields are rapidly becoming more This to a large extent is due to the fact that the club has a good, working, energetic committee and set pf officials; each and every one of whorh is always at his post gnd ready: to do his bit. \ ' <■- ; The- weekly evening meeting on the Pukekura Park Sportsground on Tuesday Was one of the most successful ever held, and the general standard of the., sport showed a marked; improvement. The,-'younger athletes are fortunate in being able to obtain much ' useful and t necessary advice from Stuart Black and Mark' Comber, and this in many cases is already showing results. Naturally the main item of interest was Black’s appearance in the 300 yards where he was conceding his opponents from 16 to 32 yards. With half the journey covered he had not made up a great deal of his leeway, but he then unwound si tremendous burst of pace that looked like carrying him to victory when he wa? unfortunate enough to run into a bit of trouble in the straight, and when he eventually got clear he could not quite get to Boucher. As the time was a tick under 32 seconds this was a fine effort. Boucher is running most consistely this season and he runs with quite a lot of judgment, usually making his dash at the right moment. H. L. Thomson was right up third and will do even better than this. He looks like providing the club with a very useful second string to Black in the sub-centre championships. Pankhurst left the mark very smartly and was still clear at the straight entrance but just failed to see the distance. r out. ■ The 75 yards saw the first appearance ‘ of the Star club and Taranaki represent- ” ative footballer J. Kinsella, and off the 7yds mark ; many thought the event, to be at his mercy, but though he ran-well ■ WBS tunable to head off the youth G. Taylor, who had beaten all but Black the previous week. N. Webster was good third. With a Utile more experience at starting Kinsella should not be long in tearing off a heat. < The half mile drew a splendid field and provided a great finish. White off the 140yds mark endeavoured to make the most of his handicap, and with about 300 yards to go looked likely to sueceed, but first Gray and then Insult went after him. They headed him about 50 yards from the tape, and Gray went on.to win by a couple of yards, made a game attempt to get to him, but was all in ten yards from home, and White’sticking to his task , just beat him for third: Gray ran a splendidly judged race, and fully deserved his win. Insull is not quite ready for the distance as yet,-, but his’effort was a particularly promising one. It was pleasing .to see :White"'in l no greater trisr. in:. the club, Saddler, likely;, looking youth, was a good fourth, fol- . lowed by Wilson- who ; made up a lot of. ground over the final circuit. The hanrijeappef 1 : may have been a little severe on ilast . week’s winner. Radford, but this boy has a fine stride , and ; will do better over longer distance. Hodg- ■ ■ son had moved up into a handy position . > entering the last lap but failed to run The club have undoubtedly unearthed a find in'Miss N. Clarke. She has won the last three events in easy fashion, and will be the back marker next week. She just played with the opposition on Tuesday. If she pays due attention to the advice that she is receiving from Stuart Black this girl will go far. Miss Ada O'Byme made a reappearance, though she is not quite fit as yet. Miss : Big Wood went her usual.good race, ..while Miss M, Stevens showed improvement when she filled third .position.. A comparative novice, V. Ambury, won the. half, mile cycle after one of the finest finishes seen at the park for a long - time. , Ainbuiy,, who was on .the limit, made full use of his- start, and made the back markers go all the way. He was first into the. straight, but then the whole of. the other seven competitors challenged, and in a .glorious set-to the boy hung on grimly to win by the narrowest of margins from Donaldson and Hawkins, with all the others right up with theim The mile and a-half and two mile events fell* to the ever popular R. L. Reed, who is riding in his best form again. The long handicap men in both these races failed to take any advantage of their starts, and were content to amble along until Reed and Batten caught them up. A handicap is given for a set specific purpose, and they should arrange between themselves to take laps and make the pace a merry

one right from the start, and thus make the task of the back-markers as difficult as possible. The laps must be arranged for beforehand, and' each rider should make a spurt up to take his place. There was far too much looking round and slowing up when the changes were taking place on Tuesday. The outstanding performances in the

field events were H. V. Hogg’s fine 36ft. 6in. in the putting the shot, and S. G. Dihniss’ splendid effort in the hop, step and jump, when he encompassed well over 40 feet without his handicap. Arrangements have now been conclud-

ed for a visit of a team of six athletes

from the New Plymouth club to the big Rotorua meeting on Boxing Day. Those making the trip are S. A. Black, H. V. Hogg, H. L. Thomson, N. J. Webster, J. Instill, J. A. Pankhurst and M. Comber as manager. Gerald Weir, who- during the period that he was attached to the Defence Department in Taranaki did so

much for the sport in this province, is secretary at Rotorua, and naturally , the arrival of a team from his old club will give him a lot of pleasure. Taihape was very anxious to secure Black for their New Year meeting, but owing to the close proximity of the visit of the Canterbury University runners the New Plymouth man was reluctantly compelled to decline the offer.