RECORD ENTRIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 62, 16 March 1943, Page 6

RECORD ENTRIES

SERVICES ATHLETIC CHAMPIONSHIPS BIGGEST MEETING EVER STAGED IN WANGANUI With a total of 508 entries, embracing 275 competitors, the Central Military District athletic championships to be held on Cook’s Gardens on Saturday will be the biggest sports meeting of its kind ever held in the Dominion. It will also be the first military district athletic championship held in New Zealand since the outbreak of the war. All the large military and Air Force establishments throughout the Central Military District, which takes in almost half the North Island, will be represented and competition will be keen. When the West Coast (North | Island) Centre of the New Zealand i Amateur Athletic Association first contemplated holding this meeting in Wanganui it was intended to include competitors from the centre’s district only, but representations were made by military and R.N.Z.A.F. authorities in the Hawke’s Bay and Wellington areas, and it was decided to ex- ; tend the area to cover the whole of pie Central Military District. | The meeting was given official approval by Army and Air Force comImanders in the district and because of troop movements was postponed for a month, the original date sec down being February 20. Because of the number of competitions both the half-mile and the mile running events will be divided, and the winner of the fastest division over each distance will receive the title. Thirty competitors have entered for the three-mile run, 40 for the onemile, and more than 50 for the 100 yards. In both the 440 yards and the 880 yards there will be so many starters that the winners of the six fastest heats will qualify for the final. There will also be plenty of heats in the open cycling events. Already 20 have entered for the half-mile, 19 for the one, two and the three-mile, 16 for the ten-mile (human paced), and 15 for the two-mile (open to military competitors only). In all there will be at least 22 cyclists on the ground.

One of the last events on the programme will be the ten-mile cycle race, and although the number of starters will be necessarily limited the field will be large.