THE ATHLETIC WORLD.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9654, 28 January 1899, Page 3

THE ATHLETIC WORLD.

» Fixtures. February 4— New Zealand A. A. Championships at Danedin. February 8., — Hunterville Caledonian Sooiely. February 23 and 24 — League of N.Z. Wheelmen's Championship Carnival in Wanganui. April 3. — Wanganui and West Coast C.C.'b sports. , Notes by "Victor." The biggest known sculler was a ' Frenchman named Bidault. He was l7st in weight, 7ft 4^in in height, and used sculls 11ft ioin in length. 'He had no pace.. - The forthcoming gathering of the Hunterville ' Caledonian Society, which takes place on Wednesday, Bth February, should be the most successfai yet, held. :I understand that big entries, have been rolling in, . and as Mr J. A. Pawson can be relied upon to frame good handicap's, there - are sure to be big fields and interesting running. ] -The track is in f capital condition,* and the arrangements for the proper carrying out of , this poptA . lar sports,, meeting well in hand. Entries close this evening, and the handicaps will be published in the Herald on Wednesday next.: , The New Zealand cricket- team s commence a match against 13 of * Otago atDunedin on Monday. They open their campaign on ' ,the other ' side 1 by a match with South Tas1 , mania, to, be played at Hob'art on , the 4th, 6th and .7th February.- ,., , L. St Hill,'of!Napier,whoj was a competitor in theamateur events at .the Caledonian sports here on Mon-. day last, left for Dunedin on! Wednesday to eo'mpete at the New Zea- . land A.A.A. Championship Meeting ■ ' on Saturday next, the 4th February. 1 St Hill had done no fast workj before ' running here, bo .1 learo r pod no doubt he will ' come on 'quickly now, as, the racing here and a week's trainiing in Dunedin should improve him greatly. ' He ought to s 'run j prominently, in the 880 yds flat and -Mile. The following, cablegram h^s been , received in Sydney :— ' London, /January 11.— A glove, .contest for a f .purseiof 20,000d0l (about- £4000) "',J took '. place'.'yesterday between the • , American pugilists' " Kid ■*> iMcCoy '' andToniSbarkey. Sharkey. defeated the ioth'rb'und.' ' ilf this ' .viotbfyrwag achieved on its (merits* ■ Sharkey maybe considered' to have ' placed ,himsejf' in' a position' to de1 mand' a* meeting with Bob Fitzsijn- < monß for. the World's Championship) "' In' view,, however, of the bigswindle Shafk'eyi.knd' His party worked on. FUzrin^San -Francisco, the Jtfew Zealander may very probably refuse to have anything more to do with Sharkey. ,- It (V will be remembered that Bob had Sharkey beaten on that occasion in the eighth round,- when . the referee- disqualified Filz. 'for a, * >foulj though' Bobcommitted nothing approaching a foul. ' " " - -That SHarkeyhaß improved of late is proved by his recent fight with Cbrbett. ■ He stands sft Biin, weighs . I3st 81b, and is 25 years of age. He ,is a man of powerful build, a rushing x fighter, relying on his strength and '• -stamina 'more than 'skill. , The Caledonian Society were once ;. more favoured with splendid weather for, their annual gathering on Monday last, and it is gratifying indeed to know that the ' gate ' was the best on record. , The ( sports programme '■'■ provided was of an enjoyable and interesting kind,' the athletic and cycl1 / ing eyentaboing well -contested, "the former especially furnishing 1 some capital racing, whilst 'the'number and . . quality, of the pipers and dancers' was ', superior to anything previously seen ■ - here, these items being the feature of J the' meeting. '/Unfortunately, how- ' . ever j .the Caledonian events^ere very , \poorly,contest'ed, only- two compet■;;ing for. the Hammer throwing, Tossing the .Caber, and Putting the Shot» . and the performances were of a very ,■', ordinary character. The Society ; should > either increase the prize :; money for these events or eliminate , them, altogether,- which latter would . be a^'great, pity, ■ as' a .Caledonian <>Umeeting without .such competitions would seem hardly the thiug.- Per.haps the Society, will see .their way t ,, .clear Jo give money next ■V^'fleaMn^nd'ala^ j; 'boutVspn' Ahe !jJro)j[omW, ' which ,^'W;ould4ena .to pbpulariß'e.jHeheivyweignt ilemsV • JTh'e'inanagemr- 1 are V\td.bp'cbngratnlajed cn^the", conduct I i of the-s'ports,*'the. various items being I ( got -,'oiF-' well to ftimer'jMr 'W. R. 4S Remington (hon*-. secretary) and his Viellow'dfficials^sparing no, pains to ./ make the sports ,as interesting and ' -• enjoyable as possible to the general ,^public. ' • - •• ' MltM It would be advisable to include' more young fellows on the working cotnmittee.pf the, Caledonian Society, us I noticed that, two, or three ha,d to do' all 1 the preparatory work for Mon'daj'sßports. ■ - There were no startling"perform- ' ances recorded in the rnnningevents, 1 though considering the heavy track nome very good times were, put up, * , notably in' the Mi|e, which" was won . %off 90yds in 4min 28 2-sth sec by E." •a Reid, of Feilding, whose first success ■ it, was,, l belteve. '" F. PPr. r Mullin, Bob, y'l'ykk among the starters, but had no ;;,^hflnce of getting up. ' ' J-lVln the 44oyds A.' W. Watts, lOyds, ' ' got home in the fine time of 52sec, thus scoring his first win for over a .year.' ' . . ' ' E. A.Brown.who'won thejooydfl, * was no doubt fayouredby getting a ■ • go ' oii the .pistol' in , the.' final, - otherwise he" would ' pef.h'aps have ' been beaten by A. W. Watts, at all events. Rayneß,,who got away with 1 ' the 220 yds, also beat tho gun, but it is doubtful whether the result would have been different in any case. The . '. way Raynes finished up the straight ■ gave me the impression that he was waiting' for Bomeone to beat him. ■ • A. L. Stedman ran splendidly in both the 100 yds and 220 yds amateur ■raceß, as he dead -heated with H. Cameron, Byds, in the former distance in"io 2-Sth sec, and was a good second to G. Pownall, 9yds, in the ;22oyds. . The letter's, performance in winning both the 220 yds and

88oyds was an excellent one, his game running in the longer event being much admired, and his dual success as popular as ib was deserved. In the 88oyds M. Spurdle, 35?d8, finished the last 300 yds with Pownall in the pluckiest possible manner, the pair being locked together the whole distance, the battle up the straight being most exciting. T. Craig ran well jn the 440 yds, and got home in good style from H. Cameron, who earned off the 120 yds Hurdles after a nice race with Craig, Cameron owed i2Bec, and the time recorded was ißsec, which must be accounted a fair performance. A. H. Holder, who competed in. this event, did very well to finish within three 01 four yards of the winner, from 16yds behind, considering that he had not had j a pair of shoes on until Monday since he broke down at the championship meeting here last February. He must have done about equal to l6£sec£'or the proper distance, which under the ciroutnstances would take a lot of beating. MrMcNaught has justly earned the' right to be considered one of the very beat starters to be met with any where, but it must be admitted that he made a couple of mistakes on Monday, esDeciajly in the 100 yds. The fact, however, that he did not happen to be quite so successful as usual with the gun only goes to prove what an impossible thing it is to expect any man to always got bis fields aw*y perfectly. I have not yet seen a starter who has given more satisfaction, meeting after meeting, than Mr McNaught, though I admit I have sometimes found fault with him for keeping bis men .on their marks rather too long. It was through trying to obviate this that the' bad starts occurred on Monday, when one or two peds. appeared more anxious than usual. P. Maloney has bean placed on scratch in the .sprint events and the 440708 Hurdles at the Takapuna sports, which take place on February 'Bth. F. P. Mullin haa 22yds in the 440 yds flat, and should have a great chance unless H. .W. Payne beats him. Payne haa 9yds in the iooyds, 14yds in the 220 yds, and 22yds in the 440 yds, and should account for a couple of races. The New Zealand Amateur Athletic Championship Meeting is to be held in Dunedin next Saturday, the 4th February. 'The gathering promises to be '"fairly successful, but Wanganuiwill not be so well represented as at the two previous meetings. •' A. H. Holder will not be there, indifferent health having pre vented him getting into anything like form ever since that attack of influenza just previous to competing in Sydney, and this season he has taken a complete rest from the track. However,, Wanganui will be represented'by D. BUrrell 'and probably ,0-. Pownall, the former having entered for the Three ",Mile event and Pownall being nominated for the 250, 440,' an d' 88oyda. Pownall is sure to run well in the longer distances, especially' the Half-mile, and may be depended upon to 'show what apluoky runnofhe is, -though it is hardly to be expected that he will carry off any championships.