ARMY VICTORY.

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 12, 22 November 1919, Page 15

ARMY VICTORY.

Six Service Athletic Records Broken

Six athletic records of the Navy, Army, and Air Force were broken on the occasion of the inter-Services' championships at Stamford Bridge grounds, Fulham, and considering the stiff breeze, drizzling rain, and heavy track, the performances were of an extraordinarily high standard. The Army won the team competition with a total of 42 points, the scoring being on the principle of 4 points for the first man, 2 for the second, and 1 point for the' third in each of the individual championships. The Royal Air Force were second with 37 points. The Royal Navy, which has only occasional opportunities to pursue those sports in which the landlubber revels, failed to score. The events in which Service records were beaten were the 100 yds, 220 yds, quarter-mile, half-mile, one mile, and high jump, and in several instances the results caused considerable surprise. Military training would seem to have developed the powers of a good many athletes. For example, there were the performances of SergeantMajor F. Mawby, of the R.A.F., a good sprinter before the Avar, who has only lately returned to the running track. He surpassed all his previous feats by winning the 100 yards in 9 9-10 sec, and the 220 yards in 22sec. A tall man for a sprinter, but well proportioned. Mawby produced a tremendous burst of speed in the last 20 or 30 yards of each of his races. * • * A Fine Contest. The 100 yards race was a fine contest. There were five false starts, due to the anxiety of first one man and then another to spring from the mark; once the pistol fired, but a Navy representative had secured a flying start of five yards, and the runners were brought back. When at length the runners got away in. line, Sergt. W. A. Applegarth, who was amateur champion just before the war, soon forced his way to the front. He led at 50 yards, but his pace died down towards the end, and Mawby won by two feet from the New Zealander, Sergt. J. Lindsay. A week or so previously the latter had secured the Army championship. Sergt.-Major L. Kcsslcr, R.A.F., was third, and Applegarth fourth. Sergt.-Major Mawby won the 220 yards by 5 yards from Lindsay, Kessler again finishing third. Another surprise was the victory of Captain A, P. Mitchell, of the R.A.F., over the Australians' Driver L. J. Hume and Pte. W. Johnson in the quartermile. Mitchell was second in the British quarter-mile amateur championship of 1914, but he has never run better than on this occasion. Sergt. W. L. Mason, of New Zealand, secured the half-mile by 8 yards from Signaller T. E. Fraser, of Australia, in lmin. 59 l-ssec. This was in accordance with form, but a further surprise was forthcoming in the mile, in which Lance-Corporal Blewitt, of the Machine Gun Corps, beat the Army champion, Pte. H. F. Thomas, by 25 yards in 4min. 23 4-ssec. This was reallly a splendid performance, considering the breeze and holding character of the track. Thomas, a little sprinted virtually the whole of the last lap, with the six-feet-high Blewitt towering at his heels.