OUT DOOR SPORTS

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 235, 14 March 1885, Page 6

OUT DOOR SPORTS

. _^_ BY REFEREE. NOTICES. Secretaires of all kinds of Clubs for the promotion of out-door sports will confer a favour by communicating any items of interest connected with their sport, game, or pastime; more especially with respect to coming events. Short sJcetehes of sporting or pleasure excursions will be welcome, and questions en all matters connected with spoHs will be gladly ansxeered. All communications must be addressed to " Referee." EVENTS TO COME. March 17. —Tauranga Regatta. March 17. —Eight-hour Demonstration Sports. March 28 —Hanlan v. Beach ; £500 a-side and championship. April 11. —A.A. Club Sports, Domain. April 11. —Ten-mile Championship Bicycle Race ; Domain. April 18 —Intercolonial eight-oared race j Parramatta River. April 25. —Intercolonial Eight-oar Race; Parramatta River. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. A.H.B. —Thanks ; will always be weleeme. O.H. asks —What is the record for a half-mile run? lmin 53isec3, by Frank Hewitt, at Lytfrleton, N.Z., 1871. The occasion was a match against time, and the record is thoroughly authentic. Jas. Robinson (Ponsonby Road, Auckland). —l am strongly inclined to believe that you are a fraud. You are too candid about your name, which is not Jas. Robinson. Then you try to get the loan of me and the Observer columns. Next you are a spiteful beggar, anyhow. If it is so very easy to see as to " require no judgment," where is the necessity of informing the judges beforehand ? You would evidently like to have it all cut and dried, and a verdict arrived at before trial. GrO to, young man.

I hear that Mick Monnock expects to be pretty fit by the 17th. He ought to go pretty near the Handicap. I am informed that M. J. Monnock is in great buckle for the sports on the 17th. It is confidently expected that he will win the Obstacle Race, as he has been carefully trained for it by Pat Fuller, of Whangarei, where he has been staying of late. Professor' Miller is re-opening negotiations with J. L. Sullivan, with a view to a glove- ■ fight. Miller professes to want it "one to - win," wants 500dols. expenses ; winner to take 75, and loser 25 per cent, of the gates. The wily professor does not mention any stakes, only gate money — " only that, and nothing more." Pedestrianism is awfully dull in Auckland just now, and in spite of the fact that sports come off on Tuesday next (St. Patrick's Day), one scarcely ever hears them mentioned; while the sports of the Amateur Athletic Club, which come off on the 11th April, are scarcely arousing any interest. This sort of thing wants stirring up. The ten mile run between .T. M. O'Connor and Power took place at the Friendly Societies Grounds, Melbourne, on the 21st February. After a grand ding-dong race, O'Connor won by about 4tj 'yards, in oSmin. 34fsees. O'Connor was fairly run out at the end. He appeared a bit big, and above himself, and no wonder, as he is now keeping & pub. He burst Ms shoe during the race, too, so he had a bit of bad luck to beat, and ■did it.

1 cannot help expressing my wonder that •Jack Pickering, the crack local runner, should be wasting so many of the best years of his life in a place like this (where the best he ever has to go for is a paltry "tenner"), when all over Australia, and particularly in jN'.S.TV., such, splendid stakes as oOOsovs. are tacked to Sheffield handicaps. I notice that the nearest man to T. Malone in the last of these, stood on the 5J yard mark. This would show that Pickering, with 10 yards or so, should have a very rosy show. By-the-way, Malone ran the full 150 yards in 14§secs. from bend to tape in his heat. An ordinary man wants a lot of start to beat that.

Joe O'Brien, the wonderful long distance runner, who was here awhile back with O'Connor and Freeman, has been matched to run a Bega man named Backhouse, an hour, for a stake of £200 aside. Bega is a small inland town in New South Wales somewhere, and as it can't shift bodily, it insists on the race being run there, so as to let the 2000 people of the town see it. They are so eager for this that they actually offer £'2o for Joe's expenses, and free board. The men will probably meet on Easter Monday, 6th April. Would not I like to be there to see it ? The man who beats my friend, Joe O'Brien, in an hour's run, must Tae a living wonder.

The Auckland Cricket Club continued ilieir first innings against United on Saturday last. Barton, with 71 (not out from the previous S^urday), continued his innings to the fine total of 133, the grand total for the innings being 332. They would probably have been there yet if the veteran B. j. "Yates had not been put on to bowl. The Auckland had only five wickets down, and •300 runs on the Hoard, when Yates went on, and in a few overs captured three wickets (one being Barton's) for the small cost of IS ■runs. United went in, and had lost eight wickets at pall of time for 38 runs. Howare the mighty fallen.. The old United C.C. was supposed to be invincible at one

time, but the present management is so very bad as to drive away a good deal of the old and all the new talent. The team it now puts in the field is a very sorry one. Take away Yates and Testro, and what have you left ? Nothing but a few assorted fossils and embryos. The annual sports in connection with the "Wellesley- street School took place on the Domain Cricket Ground on Friday Last. The weather was showery in the early part of the day, but it cleared off in the afternoon, and the day's proceedings' passed off very satisfactorily. One of the principal prizes was a silver medal, }Dresented by Mr T. Barnett to the competitor who scored the highest number of points. The results of the events Avere : lOOj^ds Handicap (under 13yrs): Hampton (scratch), 1 ; Fisher (syds), 2; 13 entries. 440 yds Handicap : Smart (7), 1 ; Lovell (30yds), 2 ; Barnett (scratch), 3 ; 10 entries. School Gup (100, 200, and 300 yds): Davidson (8, 21, and 30yds). 1; Barnett (scratch), 2 ; Mercer (lyd and scratch), 3; 14 entries. 100 yds Handicap : Barnett (scratch), 1 ; Mercer (scratch), 2 ; Lovell (10yds), 3 ; 13 entries. 2-mile Walking Handicap: Sampson (scratch), 1 ; Smart (scratch), 2 ; 7 entries. 150 yds Hurdle Race (5 hurdles): Barnett (2yds), 1 ; Mercer (scratch), 2 ; 8 entries. 1-mile Running Han-

dicap : Smart (scratch), 1 ; Robinson (scratch), 2; 9 entries. Half-mile Eunning Handicap : Robinson (scratch), 1 ; Pelham (12yds), 2 ; 10 entries. Sack Race : Mercer, 1 ; Keesing, 2. Siamese Eace : Mercer and Smart, 1 ; Brett and Holland, 2 ; 2 entries. Junior tug- of- war : Wiseman's team. won. Senior tug-of-war : Belcher's tea.m won after a good struggle. High jump (S entries) : Barnott, 1 ; Mercer, 2 ; height, 4ft 3ins. Running long jump: Mercer, 1; Barnett, 2.

The Eight Hours' sports will be held in the Domain on Tuesday next, St. Patrick's Day, when there will no doubt be a large attendance. Judging from the handicaps, I expect to see the .following to the front : — Handicap, Monnock or Aggers. Hurdles, Y/hiteside or Craig. One-mile Sunning Handicap, Cutler or Downey. Two mile "Walking Handicap, McKinlay or Smith. Obstacle Eace, Monnock. Boys' Handicap, Purdie or McKinlay.

Bonz's Seventh Grand Hamburg drawing for £4,000 (filled before the end of February) took place in the presence of a committee of subscribers and other gentlemen. The first prize (£300) went to a well-known person who resides in Cftstle-stivet, Dunertin ; second (£200) to Napier ; third (£100) to New Plymouth ; fourth (£SO) to Gisborne; fifth (£SO) to* Reef ton.