ATHLETICS

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16848, 26 September 1922, Page 3

ATHLETICS

By

“Half-Miler”

At a meeting of the Canterbury Centre last Tuesday evening it was decided to accept the offer of the Ne.v Zealand Council to guarantee £IOO towards the cost of bringing an Ameri can athletic team, composed of C. W.

Paddock. E. .1. Thorppson and a distance runner to New Zealand for the coming athletic season. Athletic enthusiasts will welcome this decision as there is no doubt that a visit to New Zealand by two present world’s champions would arouse public interest in athletics. Last season a very fin> team of athletes from South Africa visited New Zealand, but they were rot world beaters, though Oosterlaak the sprinter, was certainly a very high grade performer. Further news from the New Zealand Council on the subject of C. W. Paddock’s visit to New Zealand will he eagerly looked forward to by athletes throughout the Dominion.

On Saturday the Canterbury College steeplechase will be held over the College course on Cashmere Hills. Entiles for this event close on Thursday with the secretary of the Canterbury College Athletic Club. A large entry is expected this year, and the contest should prove interesting.

lt What would most men giv© to find themselves improved 70 yards in a mile?” asks the Manchester ** Athletic News.” “ WeJL there are hundreds who only need give a little time and attention to their training. It is this sort of thing that ought to be shown to schoolboys, because youngsters are very tractable where sports are concerned. J would have coaches at schools whose sole duty should b© to take out teams of boy's on the track tor shaping purposes. Whether thev ever ran fast or not should not be their concern. Give the lads shape, and if there happened to be racing in them it would exude. But what do you see at schools ? Nothing but ath letie ignorance.”

” Some remarkably good performances were recorded at the annual National Collegiate A.A. meet in Chicago, writes Mr T. S. Andrews, to the ’ Referee.” California Uni. carried off the honours with 28 points, Penn State being second with 19, and Notr; Dame third with 16. Nino now collegiate records wore smashed. Ray Watson, the Kansas City runner, again defeated Joie Ray in a mild race in 4mm 21 4-ssec. Johnny Merchant, of California, was the star of ♦"he moot, scoring 11 points. Leonar i Paulu, of Grinnell College, won the 100 yards in 9 9-lOscc, winning the trial heat in 9 4-osec. He also won the 220 in 21 4~ssec. M. Shields won the mile event in 4min 20?ec, bettering the time made by Watson in his special race with Ray. Bob Legendre of Georgetown. won tho running board jump witb a leap of 24 feet

5 inches. Tom Lieb tossed the discus 144 feet 2f inches. Charles Brookins, of lowa, won the 220 low hurdles in 24 1-osec. Merchant won the 16'b hammer throw with a heave of 161 feet 4 inches. Harold Honman. of Michigan, sent the javelin 202 feet 3 inches for a new collegiate mark.

One of the most remarkable athletic figures in New South Wales two generations ago was William King, colloquially known as the Flying Pieman (says. the Sydney ‘‘ Bulletin.” Like Mick Dooley, he was intended for the Church, but his love of sport and outdoor life unfitted him for anything more sedentary than a tutor’s job. and he didn’t hold that long. Tho Pieman was a great pedestrian. He. once tramped 1634 miles in five tfeeks four days. He walked from Macquari - Place to the 16 milestone. Parramatta, and back in six hours. He beat the coach from Windsor to Sydney by 7min. Carrying a live goat and 121 b deadweight, the Pieman footed it from the Talbot Inn. Brickfield Hill. to Nash’s, Parramatta, in 61ir 48min. MARATHON RUNNING. The Marathon is the classic event of athletics, and its traditions date back since before the Ohristia nera, writes T. S. Hewitt in the “ Sporting Globe.” It creates more public interest than any other athletic event on the Olympic programme, and the winner stands as a symbol of bis nation’s powers of endurance. He is received by wildly cheering crowds, and is showered with j honours and congratulations. The na- j tion’s pride in tT- Jr champion is with- ‘

out limit. They say, ” Look at u< we have stamina yet.” Yet, of latt Finns, Esthonians, French. SwedeItalians and Americans have been e: celling in the long-distance races.

In Victoria our association has prohibited the holding of races over lo miles. Tt has been said that the distance places too great a. strain on the

runners, and that a race of over 26 miles can serve no good purpose. Yet The association has sanctioned a. 25mile walk that is, to my mind, just a, exhausting. I believe that part, trouble has been caused by, first, immaturity of the runners, and. secondly, hv insufficient training. T hopo that the association will reconsider their present attitude. Tf this hope can be consummated, tho question is: Will Australia send a Marathon runner to compete in the 1924 Olympic Games? If so, now is the time to give the subject the fullest investigation, and also to search for

suitable material with the view of producing the finished Marathon runner bv that date.

A Marathon runner is not developed ii a moment, nor is it a suitable race for an undeveloped youth. Past ex perience shows that, only fully matured men should compete. Take the case of Halts Kohlemainen, the wonderful Finn. At Antwerp he told me that when he found he was losing his dash a+ the shorter distances he decided to go in for the Marathon, and trained for two years as an initial preparation for tliis event.

He won the great race at the age of 36. Hi a most serious rival was Git sham, of South Africa, who was also about tho same age, and who put in a similar preliminary preparation. Gitsham and Kohlemainen ran together in the rain for 23 miles, when Gitaham gave up, owing to the state cf his feet. The reason was a peculiar oue. Ho was advised a few days before the race to wear thick felt Chinese slippers to ease the jar on the feet from the cobbled Belgian roads. The runner set out for the big event in pelting rain and bail. In a few' miles Git sham’s felt shoes were in ribbons, and it was only the agony of lacerated feetr, and not physio al exhaustion, that caused him to give up. With very few exceptions Marathon runners are well matured men, and T even know of one man who finish©* the distance strongly at the age of 45. Type seems to have nothing to do with it. Marathon runners are all sizes and shapes. Maturity, sound constitution and natural stamina plus a careful and prolonged training seem to be the important characteristics reeded. As an instance of the extremes of type among the good ones that one meets in a Marathon race, there .is first of all Dieblia.. winner of the French Marathon, 1920. He is about. 5 feet 3 inches in height and weighs about 8 stone. Mills, winner of

‘'The Sporting Life’’ Marathon in 1920, ’2l, ’22, is nearly 6 feet 2 inches, and weighed about 14 stone. This evidence shows that there is no special build or weight for the Marathon runner. but any mature man of sound constitution and good natural stamina, who goes through a careful and thorough preparation, is able to run this, race with credit to himself and with out suffering any ill effects.

How shah we look for our future representative? I should say from among, the distance runners who have lost, a little of their youthful dash. There are plenty of them about who would, no doubt.' glad of the chance to excel in a race where speed is - not an important factor. If our association change their minds and decide to sanction this race onoe again, the sooner they become activ© the better. There is no time to lose, if we are to be represented in this, the Blue Ribbon ot Athletics, at the next Olympic Games. Should this consent be gained each club should select its most likely Marathon runner * and the men themselves should then band together for the purpose of training. My suggestion would be for a headquarters t-o he formed at some farmhouse within eaS y reach of the city, and regular runs be token on the quiet countrv roads in com nan v. The work must he very gradual and slow at first until the muscles become properlv accustomed to the rord. Then as the condition improves it will not come hard as longer distances are gradually reached. This is the only way that we can hope to develop the real champion.