HARRIER NOTES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 14 June 1933, Page 6

HARRIER NOTES

MASTERTON GLUB. (By X Country). During the running of last- Saturday’s race it was noticed that sevenal runners did not follow the paper trail closely but, by taking a straight line towards the men ahead, they cut considerable distances off the trail in several places. A harrier is allowed to run only fife yards on either side of the trail and anyone who goes any further than this is' liable to be punished by disqualification. In interclub races sentinels are placed at various points over the course to ensure' that this rule is not broken and if any transgression occurs the offender is disqualified without any apologies. It will be remembered that at the Provincial Championships at the Hutt Park three seasons ago two runners were .disqualifies for this reason, one who aetuaYy im.sued first in the B grade event, aud the other the leading man of the Master ton Club’s A team. Runners should bear this in mind when racing and it may act as a curb to any impulse to take a short cut. Quite apart from the penalty which it may incur, however, trail-cutting is to be deprecated as being contrary to the whole spirit of harrierism. as it impossible for the runners to be under supervision for the whole of the race and no credit is due to anyone who fills a major place by taking an unfair advantage- over his fellow competitors. The teams race which was held on 'Saturday served a good purpose in that it stimulated interest in the race and also gave this year’s novices their first experience! of this phase of cross-coun-try running. The idea of team -running is -not so much for the whole team to keep together as f-o-r the members -of the team to pick -on a team mate of practically the same ability as themselves and run with 'that runner for as long as possible. The value of good team work has -been demonstrated time after time by this club in inter-club contests. In the final contest for the Benson Trophy last year Masterton- regained the trophy from Wanganui by reason of good team work. They not only overhauled Wanganui’s lead of 54 points -but passecl it convincingly, finally winning with a lead of 34 aggregate points. Wanganui 'gained the first two places but Masterton men finished 3rd, sth, 6th, 7th, Stir, 9th, lOtli, 12th, 14th, 15-th, 16th, 17th, ISth, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 25th, 28th and 30tli, thus keeping Wanganui’s 12 th man back to 31st position and amply illustrating thd value of team running. The winning team on Saturday gave a good’ example of team running, the first 'three men finishing 7th, Btli and 9th respectively. The .sealed handicap -on Saturday resulted in a Avin for T. O ’Dowd, who ran his best race) of the season to finish 9th in the scratch race. O’D-OAvd lias been -sh-OAving improved form this season and .thoroughly deserved his AAdn.

M. Qu-ayle, Avho Continues to return good performances, Avas placed second Avith W. Hack Avibo returned fastest time in third place. L. Hack, last season’s champion, continues to run 'disappointingly. After being the pacemaker in the -early stages he-failed badly and was a long Avay back at the (finish. Members are reminded that only about a fortnight remains in AA'hic.h the rebate on subs, is alloAV-ed. Those A\hlo A\ r is'h to claim the rebate should make sure that their subs, are paid before it is too late. Next Saturday another .teams’ race is to be held and this should give those going to Wanganui a ch-aniee to get some more experience of this class of Avo-rk.