ATHLETIC GATHERING.

Wairarapa Age, 21 March 1925, Page 3

ATHLETIC GATHERING.

IM HONOUR OF AUSTRALIANS. NOTABLE MEETING TO-DAY. The Park Oval will to-day be the scene of a notable gathering, the occasion being the return of the visiting team of Australian athletes. Masterton has indeed been fortunate in the visits it has had from international teams and judging from the form of the visitors since their arrival'in the Dominion, to-day’s meeting should be quite up to the standard set by these in the past. ' Several of the less interesting events on the usual programme have been deleted, leaving a calender of 22 interesting items the first of which commences promptly at 2 o’clock, and the last at 4.50 p.m.,. giving patrons from a distance ample time to return home by train. After their appearance here at an evening meeting, the Australians expressed their pleasure with the perfect track at the Oval, and as their desire for a return visit has been acceded to, their performances should be worth going a long way to see. At the time of writing the indications are for a cool, cloudy day, and should there be an absence of wind, runners will find themselves in perfect record-breaking weather. The most likely event to produce time is in the three miles flat which will be contested by B. A. Bose (Masterton), New Zealand and Australasian champion, G. B. Hyde (Victoria) runner up to Bose in both titles, and four local runners, and the handicap men are so far out that the scratch men will have to keep moving. (The limit man has over a lap start.) Bose lowered Simpson’s 24-year-old record for this distance at Wanganui, on an indifferent track, and with conditions in his favour should still further lower it.

L. Parker and N. J- Grehan (Queensland), holders respectively of the Australasian 100 yards and 220 yards titles, will appear in both distances, and the handicaps they are asked to give will ensure interesting racing with close finishes. Some of the prominent runners from Wellington are also endeavouring to attend which, should make matters interesting for the back markers. The ever popular cycle racing, always a feature of these gatherings, will occupy a prominent part of the programme, and mention of the names of Burness (Australia), Flett (Wellington) and T. Oakley (Masterton) is sufficient to indicate the standard of racing that will be witnessed. H. Oakley through an injury received at Wanganui, will not be competing. The meeting will be run under the management of the Wairarapa Subcentre, and avoiding mishaps, should, be a red-letter day in Wairarapa athletics.