WHEELING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9790, 5 March 1910, Page 5

WHEELING.

The Christchurch Cycling and Motor Club has decided to hold its Easter Wheelrace Meeting _at Lancaster Park on Friday, March 25. The committee appointed to draw up the programme will meet this evening.

It is under6tood that the stakeholder who was appointed in connection with the proposed match race from Timaru to Christchurch, between J. Arnst and A. Birch, has returned to each of these riders his deposit of £SO. T. Robl, tne well-known German cyclist, who gave motor-paced exhibitions in Australia a few years ago, has announced his intention of devoting himself solely to aviation. He has ordered a powerful monoplane, with which he intends to compete at the forthcoming Egyptian meeting, and subsequently visit Australia and give a series of exhibition flights. The London "Sportsman" reviewing the past year's operations, says:—"Lovers of the sport of cycling have good reason _ to be satisfied with the year which has just closed. Indeed, if we except the interest surrounding the events in connection with the Olympic Games in the preceding year, it can be 6aid that the racing season of 1909 was the most interesting of recent times. The highest honours in amateur racing, the world's championships, were again secured by our representatives, and there is a food prospect of our retaining our pre-eminence in this, to us, mora important side of the sport. Two features which 6tand out prominently are the continued superiority in paced riding of Leon Meredith and the fulfilment of W. J. Bailey of his early promise to become the best short-distance rider in the land, at a time, too, where there is no dearth of fine sprinters." The German Tracks Association committee intends to look into the matter of prizes as they appear on race programmas and prizes as they actually appear in specie. Some tracks really pay the large sums set forth; but others do nothing of the kind, the money received by the riders being but a fractional part of the printed amounts. Whether and how far this practice of stating fictional amounts is traceable to collusion between track managers and professionals in receipt of factory percentages on money prizes, or whether small track-owners adopt it for the sake of appearances, and do not suffer themselves to be influenced by it would be hard to determine Anyhow, the fact remains that, of late, factories and factory-riders have frequently gone to law over discrepancies of the nature m question, and it lies in the interest of German track racing that the Association should put an end to the abuse. The Union Velocipedique de France has made some remarkable regulations in order to do away with pseudo-ama-teurism in cycle racing. It was resolved that from January 1 (this year) on\v.'£ds any amateur applying for a license must undertake not to allow his name to be used in any way whatsoever in the public Press as an advertisement by manufacturers nor in the wav of any paragraph or articles, even if the rider's name is disguised in any way. I n order to give effect to this, says the journal of the N.C.U., the Commission Sportive has decreed that results of races will not be confirmed until one month after the event; and if in the meantime any announcement of the nature debarred is made, the prize will be withheld and the rider disqualified. It is also forbidden to make the results known publicly after the confirmation of the result. For the

first breach of the regulation a fine of 500 francs will be inflictedj 1000 francs for the second, and the withdrawal of the license for the third offence.

The comments of the American cycle Press on the "coming of age" of the pneumatic tyre, and the celebration in connection therewith in England, when Mr H. du Cros was specially honoured, are somewhat scathing. One paper says:—"Mr du Cros is the man who promoted and floated the original tyre company, which earned for him an immense fortune, and who, during the life of the patent, held the cycle _ and automobile trades with a grip of iron, and forced from them every dollar he believed they could pay." He was "lionised in token of appreciation of his unique services in turning to everyday use and commercial account the crudities of the pneumatic tyre." The Americans, however, did not forget Mr J. B. Dunlop, as the following shows:— "The ungraciousness of the 'coming of age' celebrations rests in the fact that the inventor a.nd patentee of the tyre, Mr J. B. Dunlop, who is very much alive, has been wholly overlooked, or purposely forced into the background. His name has been directly avoided in all the arrangements leading up to the heaping of glory and honour on the head of the promoter."

It was left to the American cycle papers to explain, in some degree at least, the very secondary position which Mr J. B. Dunlop took at the " com in gof age " celebration of the pneumatic tyre, when Mr Harvey Du Cros, the promoter and business manager, and one who made millions out of it, was the lion of the occasion. Mr Dunlop was among those present, though it required some coaxiii2 and diplomacy to get him there, for it transpired that he resented the word " crudities/' as applied to his invention, which term was used in the advance circular regarding the celebrations. Eventually, however, the ruffled feathers were smoothed, and Mr Dunlop attended; but new I read that, " awakened to the more or less farcical features of lauding the promoter, while neglecting the inventor, there now is talk of tardily doing'honour to the latter." His Majesty the King of Spain has been pleased to confer upon Mr Harvey Du Cros the order of Isabella La Catholica for his services in connection with the pneumatic tyre industry. A telegram to this effect was received from King Alphonso too late to be read at the coming of age celebration hold in London recently.