ATHLETICS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue VII, 16 August 1902, Page 403

ATHLETICS.

THE ENGAGEMENTS OF SMITH AND SIMPSON. LONDON, June 27. The New Zealand athlete, W. F. Simpson, turned out for a “pipe opener” again at Stamford Bridge last Saturday, being one of fifteen competitors in the L.A.C. Mile Handicap. He had 50yds start, but though giving evidence of steady improvement, he was not fast enough in the final sprint to keep pace with Lieut. H. C. Hawtrey, L.A.C. (32 yards), who caught him on entering the straight, and beat him in the run home by a good ten yards. H. F. Pash, of the L.A.C. (42 yards), finished third five yards behind Simpson, after leading up to 150 yards from the tape. Lielit. Hawtrey’s time was 4min 17 1-5 sec., which is equivalent to about 4min 21sec. for the full distance, so Simpson must have been going close to a 4mln 25sec. gait. This is a considerable Improvement on his previous form, and gives one hopes that now more congenial climatic conditions have set in the New Zealander may make a bold bid for championship honours next month. The atmospheric conditions so far have, of course, been particularly unfavourable to strangers to our fickle climate, and the wonder is that the Antipodeans have stood the vagaries of our June weather so well as they appear to have done thus far. As a prominent L.A.C. athlete remarked to me a few days ago: “It’s been enough to kill a horse.” G. W. Smith was not on view at Stamford Bridge, having trekked North for the purpose of taking part in the famous Huddersfield sports meeting. His journey was not In vain, for from the three yards mark he had no great dimculty in accounting for the opposition in the 300 yards hurdle handicap. He competed also in the 120 yards hurdle handicap, but in this, though qualifying for the final by winning the second heat very easily from the “owe 14’’ mark, Irj 18 4-5, he was beaten, after a desperate runin, on the post in the final by G. Gowing, a fine young hurdler from Wymondhant to whom he was conceding four yards. E. W. Gould, the smart Newport hurdle racer, who started off the same mark as Smith, was beaten two yards. Gowing’s time was 18 3-5, and the verdief in his favour was “by a couple of inches.”

The 300 yards hurdles attracted a large field, and there were three preliminary heats. Smith, from the three yards mark, won the third, easing up, by a dozen yards, in 40 3-5 sec., and in the final met J. Lovelady, Waterloo H.A.C. (22 yards), L. A. Burton, West Cheshire Harriers (scratch), and three others, the first and second In each heat qualifying for the deciding contest, In this the New Zealander ran splendidly throughout, and without being unduly pressed, beat Lovelady a long three yards In 39 2-5 sec., with the scratch man defeated for second honours by inches.

At the inter-hospital sports held last Wednesday on the L.A.C. grounds at Stamford Bridge, Mr R. W. Allen, of Auckland, placed the quarter-mile to the credit of Guy’s by beating Devas, of St. Thomas’, four yards, with Collier, of St. George’s, a foot behind, in 53 4-ssec. The time would have been materially improved had Allen been pressed, and for a practically untrained man he ran splendidly. St. Bartholomew’s won the sports handsomely by 69 points to Guy’s 36 and London’s 19, the representatives of the firstnamed institution winning the 100 yards, the half-mile, the mile, the shot “put,’* the 220 yards, and the three miles race out of 12 events, Guy’s carrying off the quarter, the hammer-throwing, and the long jump, London the tug-of-war and hurdles, and St. Mary’s the high jump.