Athletic Notes.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6706, 20 November 1889, Page 4

Athletic Notes.

© Harry Dunn writes from Ashurat : — I am prepared to wrestle any man in the world, three or five styles, for from .£IOO to .£2OO a side. The three styles to consist of Cumberland, Grajco-Eoman and collar-and-elbow; the five styles, of Cumberland, Grraco-Boman, collar and elbow, c&tch-as-cateh-can and American side hold. Communications addressed to Ashurst, Manawatu, will meet with a prompt response. The Canterbury Athletic Club are to be congratulated on the best and moat successful meeting they have ever held. Friday and Saturday afternoons sports were good from every point of view. The entries wero far beyond ordinary numbers j the weather was favourable; the running was in many cases super-excellent; the competition keen ; the handicaps produced in all, but one or two instances, terribly close finishes, and the coffera of the Club have received substantial addition to their store. Certainly on the first-named day the attendance was less than could have been wished, but the numbers of people who flocked to the ground nest day more than made up for previous deficiencies . The gran dBtand and lawn were filled to overflowing, and the business-like and energetic young ladies who ruled in the tea-room were kept very hard at work. It was a decidedly "high-toned" gathering, but that part oi the subject is better dealt with in the ladies' page than a feeblo masculine pen may hope to deal with it. His Excellency; as usual, was head over ears in engagemeats, and could stay but a few minutes at the ground. His interest in the Club, however, as in all other things, seemed keen, and ho took especial note of thaf "splendid trophy, the Ladies' Champion Challenge Cup. With regard to the running and those who ran, the new short distance met claim first attention. Greenwood butjprised everybody in spite of the fame that had already preceded him on accounl of the splendid performances he had beer credited with in the North Island. A determined, powerful runner, and a stsrtei of almost too great attainments for hit own good, his speed ia tremendous, and he finishes' with the sudden dash which made C. H. Hamilton so dangerous on the tape Muter has improved, and shows himsell within an ace aa fleet as either Eeevea 01 Greenwood : indeed there islittletoehcoee between the three ; and if Hamilton, whe has undergone n serious operation in the old country successfully, is evor .'ible tc return to the cinder path, there will probably be such finishes on the Lancastei Park track as will give the judges somi anajious moments. Hamilton's times, which were made before the strict rules oi the N.Z.A.A.A. came into force, and dc not, unfortunately, count as records, though they earned him badges, have now been equalled in the One Hundred, and all but touched in the Two Hundred and Fiftj Yards, while lieevea haß gone well undei them for the Quarter-railo. In short, the sprint distances' at Christchurch are now 'something to be proud of. Would that 1 could say the Bauae of the High Jump, which was, as usual, a miserable exhibition, and must have made the gentleman who offered a cup for it feel ill all over. As for the long-distance men, M. H, Lean and Jamieson were out of form, the i first apparently from wantof training, bul i the veteran Wood never ran better. Hit half-mile in 2min 3|sec goes very close • to Morrison's famous time, and hit i mile was done at capital speed L Grierson'a performances in the cerate! ; and handicap half-miles, are deserving ol , more than passing note. I consider thai . he- accomplished what no other amateur it these Colonies has done. On the firßt daj he ran eeeond to Wood, beaten by less thar a yard in 2mm B§aec, while in the handicap ' he was oaty ten yards away from th< > winner, who with a long start, broke the worßted in lmin 59aec. Had the scratel i man's tinw been taken it would have beer • under 2inin leec, which is better than th< present record. Griereon accomplished \ these two Bterling performances undei \ difficulties as owing to an accident he hac > to stop • training, and consequently wai ' B hort of work. Pit and well he should b< r capable of giving the half-mile record i i great shaking. t Shaw^wja ißtgrand condition, andaeemec

appearance here. His time in the Quartet* Hurdlea stands aa a world's record; but after all it is not surprising that such an accomplished hurdler and speedy runner asthe'Englisbman, who can do his quarter on the fiat in something like 53sec, should do the performance he ia credited with. In the 120 yds Hurdles he ran each heftfc clean out, and added further lustre to his name. It ia expected that at the Championship Meeting in Dunedin he will meet the Auckland and Wellington cracks, Lußk andßatger. These are foem^n, who from all accounts will thoroughly teat Shaw's pace and skill in hurdle racing, but we have no fear as to who will prove the winner — that ia, " bar " accidents. Grierson's time in the Half-mile Handicap was not taken, nor waa that of Reeves in the Quarter and 250yd3 Handicaps. They are thu3 undoubtedly robbed of records they thoroughly deserved. Griereon's run we have touched upon above. With regard to Reeves, he was beaten lees than a yard in the 25Oyda in 26?-3ec, and ran third in the Quarter, beaten by leas than eight; yards by the winner in 49| sec. Had hia time been taken for the latter distance, it would, I fancy, have been 51sec, or a shade under. The largo field he had to run against destroyed big chauco-of a better position, as, at the turn into tho straight, there was a cluster around which ho had to run. Altogether,. he must have run something like 450 yds. What is said of Grierson and the Half-mile record applies to Heaves and the Quarter. Given condition equal to last Saturday's, and fully extended, the present record will be^made to look a very poor performance. F*oin tho London Sportsman's report of Brentwood School sports, I find that |hat the sons of the late.Head master at Christ's College have been sweeping tho board in. the sinsll boys' races. A.C. and C.R. Covf c were first and second in the quarter under twelve ; A. J. first 'in the quarter under fourteen, and eecond in the hundred under fifteen, and ditto in the egg and spoon race ; C.E. second in that for nnder thirteen and first in the Consolation. _ New Zealand air and hereditary talent in the lega, I presume. At Stamford Bridge, London, on Sept. 28, E. H. Polling cut the 200 yds record by covering the distance in his trial heafc in 19-Jsec, and in the final in lOJsec. Tho value of this latter time is, however, greatly discounted by the fact of a gale blowing behind the runners. Sid Thomas, the English amateur, won' the Ten-mile Championship of America on Sept. 19, running five miles in 26min 41sec, and the full distance in 53min 58ses. Another Englishman, W. G. George's younger brother, A. B. George, won the Two-mile Steeplechase in llmin 17sec. A one-mile race, for a sweeptakes of .£IOO and & silver championship cup, was decided at tho Victoria Grounds, Govan, Glasgow, on Sept. 28, in the presence of about 8000 spectators. The competitors were W. Cumminga (holder), P. Cannon, G. Powell and F. Goodwin, and great interest centered in the result. Betting at the start waß 1 to 4 on Cummings, 2 to 1 agst Cannon, 5 to 1 agst Powell, and 8 to 1 agst Goodwin. Entering tho last quartermile Cannon led Cumminge, but the bitter got in front in the straight and won easily by ten yards; Goodwin waa third; Powell retired. Time — 4min27:reec. Further particulars will be given next week. The following account of a remarkable tug of war is supplied to the London Field by ft resident in India : — Tho following is, I think, a good record for tug of war : — On Sept. 12, in some sports here, E. and H, Companies 2nd Derby Regiment had to pull. H. Company pulled E. Company over in a few minuteß. Tho second pull was started at 5.40 p.m., and finished at 8.21 p.m., H. Company winning — two hours aud forty-one minuteß. The conditions were to start standing ; no holes to be mado until the word " go " was given , any part of body of either team to bo pulled over a line marked on the ground; H. Company lost a lot of ground at first, and at tho end of two hours their front man was within Oft of tho line. They then pulled themselves together, and eventunlly pulled E. Company over. At the Paddington Athletic Club's sports on Sept. 11, J. Kibblewhite, starting from scratch in a three-mile handicap, ran through a field of thirty competitors, and finished in the grand time of limin 30* sec, which is only -Jaec slower than hia recent record. Exactly a week later at the South London Harriers' meeting he ran another great three-mile race, making a dead heat of it with J. Swait, who had I.loyds start. It waa a splendid tuselo as will- be seen from the following account extracted from the Sporting Life :—" This race soon resolved itself into a match between Kibblewhite and Swait. It was soon seen that the latter was a foeman worthy of Kibblewhite's steel. On tho other hand the lad with the start should have kept going. Nevertheless, one cannot put an old head on young shoulders. When they caoio round tho last lap it looked although the Swindon crack would walk in. Howover, . Swait struggled in earnest, and although Kibblewhite had covered him, came again, and a determined finish was given aa a dead heat. Time — 14min 36$ sec." At tho Tufnell Park A.C. sports, Kibblewhite won the Four-mile interClub race, running right away from the other competitors, and finishing in 20min 50-Jsec, which is the fastest time ever done on grass.