WHEELBARROW RACE

Taranaki Daily News, 7 September 1935, Page 7

WHEELBARROW RACE

GREAT CROWD IN DEVON STREET. FUNDS FOR FITZROY SCHOOL. New Plymouth has had its first “wheelbarrow derby.” It attracted a great number of people into Devon Street yesterday. Ostensibly the fixture was in aid of the Fitzroy school. Actually (whatever the pecuniary yield of a score of vigorously rattled collection boxes may be) it was for the benefit of a populace, bored by the state of the dairy produce market and modern life, which could not resist the temptation of enjoying the spectacle of the Mayor, the stationmaster and other prominent citizens being wheeled at breakneck speed through the main street in iron wheelbarrows by perspiring stalwarts attired in an amusing variety of sports attire. The word went round that the race was due to start at 3 o’clock. Ten minutes before the hour apparently the entire population of the town had congregated in Devon Street. Progress on the footpaths was impossible. Motor drivers, concealing their agitation behind grim and detached expressions, imperilled life and limb at the breakneck speed of two miles an hour. A tram at the corner of Egmont Street marooned itself in a sea of humanity and clanged dolefully and hopelessly for more than ten minutes. A bicycle became entangled /with a perambulator and remained entangled until the great event had been decided. A toppling wave of small boys and a scurry of sadly confused dogs announced that the race had begun even before the sound of the starter’s gun and a burst of cheering reached the ears of the multitude. Most of the crowd could see only the symmetrical crown of, Mr. E. R. C. Gilmour’s bowler hat speeding by in an eddy of human bodies, but the word passed round that he had been disqualified for falling out of the barrow in the first lap and a groan of disappointment was heard. The race was in three laps—from the railway station to the Criterion Hotel, from the Criterion Hotel to the Melbourne Corner, and from the Melbourne Comer to. Purser Bros.’ Between laps, trainers and seconds vigorously massaged the competitors and flapped towels. Half of the competitors—the half that provided the motor power of the entrant snailoplanes—needed the attention badly, for the pace from start to finish was hot. Then, when it was all over, and a sausage from the necklet of one competitor had been skied as a sign of bitter humiliation and defeat, the crowd dispersed sadly, and an exhausted competitor—again motive —complained of pains in the weakest portion of his anatomy. Incidentally — quite incidentally — the race was won by Mr. W. Stewart and his “motor,” Mr. A. Gifford, who scored 13J points. Mr. O. Cook was a close second, with half a point less. Details are: Messrs. W. Stewart and A. Gifford (Railways), 4,4, 51, 13J, 1; Messrs. O. Cook and H. Smith (Retailers), 5,4, 4, 13, 2; Messrs. W. Graham and A. Roy, 5’ 2, ’ —, 7,3; Messrs. E. R. C. Gilmour, and W. Owen, —, 3,3, 6,4; Messrs. G. Lyall and W. St. George, 2,1, 1,4, 5. Five points were allowed the winner of each lap, four the second, three the third, two the fourth and one the fifth. Mr. P. E. Stainton was referee and Mr. R. Day had.the unhappy task of marshalling the traffic.