All-round Sport.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 282, 19 December 1895, Page 5

All-round Sport.

[By

Vigilant.]

ATHLETICS, Etc. THE NORTH SHORE GATHERING. On Saturday next the North Shore Amateur Athletic and Cycle Club will hold their sixth carnival on the Devonport Cricket Ground, North Shore, and if favoured with anything like fair treatment at the hands of the clerk of the weather I should say the fixture will be largely patronised, as'the admission fee, including the run across and back in the ferry, is only one shilling. Therefore, visitors will have the benefit af the sea air and the pleasure of witnessing au interesting afternoon’s sport at a very moderate tariff. The entries are large, and a glance at the handicaps gives one the impression that the races will be very keenly contested, whilst the names of the athletes engaged are sufficient guarantee that good times will be recorded. The popular secretary, Mr R. Wynyard, and the management committee are doing their utmost to make everything comforable and pleasant for the visitors, and as several necessary improvements have been effected on the ground, everyone may depend on all matters of detail being right up to date and the sports well managed. It is no easy task to unearth the winners of the various events, but as it is only the correct thing to venture an opinion, here goes. Starting with the 100yds Maiden Handicap, which contains a field of something over thirty, I might say, before looking through the contestants, that I have no faith in a maiden “ handicap.” If you are going to have a maiden event on a programme put all the one mark; do not try to handicap them, as they generally result in a man.with a big start winning in the hollowest of fashions, and although'the handicappers are not to be blamed for the result, yet it only stands to reason that they cannot handicap a lot of unperformed men, of whose abilities they know J nothing. But to get back to the point, that of selecting the most likeiy looking. 1 should say that Somerfield, Draffin, Speer, Riley, and E. C. Ballin will'probably supply the winner, and to place them in order — Somerfield 1, Riley 2, Ryan 3. The 120yds Handicap brings out another large field, the best of whom are F. Barton, F. Ballin, and Speer, and the result may read—R. Speer 1, F. Ballin 2, F. Barton 3. Another large order presents ittelf in the 250yds Handicap, and to reduce matters to a quintette, I like best Poland, F. Ballin, T. Moncur, Wilson, and Speer, and expect them to run—Speer 1, Wilson 2, Poland 3. In the 440yds Handicap Oliphant, Francis, Frost, Buchanan, T. Moncur, McCarthy, and Draffin are the most dangerous looking, and to try and land the placed men I should say— McCarthy 1, Buchanan 2, Draffin 3. G. B. Beere, P. Barry, G. McLeod, and J. H. Davis should be the hardest quartette to beat in the Half-Mile Handicap, with the positions as follow —McLeod 1, Beere 2, Davies 3. In the One Mile Handicap G. B. Beere, G. McLeod, P. Barry, A. Saunders, and G. W. Beuth should supply the winner, and the result may be—Beere 1, McLeod 2, Saunders 3. On paper the 120yds Maiden Hurdles looks a very fair thing for Symons, who is on a good mark and is undoubtedly the most experienced hurdler in the field. Oliphant, Somerfield, and Philcox all have chances,- but to sum them up I should say—Symons 1, Somerfield 2, Oliphant 3. Oliphant, the scratch man in the 410yds Hurdles, will have a chance of catching his field in this event, though he should find C. Motion, Laurie, and Philcox hard to overtake. 1 like them as follows—C. Motion 1, Oliphant 2, B. A. Laurie 3. Little difficulty should be experienced in picking the Two Mile Walk, which will prove the best of good things for our champion, A. Brady, if fit and well. They should finish—A. Brady 1, D. Wilson 2, J. Carrigan 3.

The 440yds Schools and Colleges contains several men of whom I know little or nothing, and may therefore prove a surprise. Hesketh, Hosking, Stone, and Airey are all to my liking, and may run—Hesketh 1, Hosking 2, Stone 3. The “bike” anticipations will be found in the cycling columns.

The Auckland Amateur Athletic Club’s committee held a meeting at the Club Room, Metropolitan Hotel, on Friday evening last, when the championship contingent which is to do battle for this province at the two big gatherings at Christchurch on December 28th and January 2nd and 4th, was finally selected. The following are the representatives : —A. Jones (sprints), A. A. Davis and M. O’Connor (distances), W. H. Martin and T. Roberts (hurdles), F. W. Creamer (walks), and W. W. Pilkington (bicycles). As may be seen from the above no less than three of our very best men will be absentees, viz., G. B. Beere (distance events), A. Brady (champion mile walker of Australasia), and E. Reynolds (champion five-mile cyclist of Australasia). In the case of the two first-mentioned athletes every effort has been made to obtain for them the necessary leave of absence, but without avail, and their loss to the team reduces Auckland’s chance of retaining the championship banner materially, as both would, I believe, have placed winning brackets,to their names in whatever they started for, Brady in particular being a certainty for the One Mile Walk, whilst he also would have placed second points to Auckland’s credit in the Three Mile Walk, even if he did not manage to beat Creamer for first honours. In the case of E. Reynolds, our leading wheelmen, there will be nothing lost in the matter of points as far as tho banner is concerned, but at the same time I should like to have seen this rider make the journey as I feel confident that he would hold his own with the best of them, including Kerr and the recently re-instated Lewis. Press of business prevents Reynolds making the trip to

Christchurch. Martin and Pilkington left on Monday last, and the remainder of the team will leave to-day. I wish them bon voyage and every success. CYCLING. The followng are the anticipations for the cycle events at the North Shore Club’s Carnival of Saturday next: —Maiden Handicap : Campbell 1, Gibson 2, Dacre 3. One Mile Handicap : Campbell 1, Trigg 2, Pilkington 3. Two Mile Handicap : Reynolds or Surman 1, Trigg 3. Three Mile Handicap: Surman or Trigg 1, Pilkington 3. Though but two years old, the New South Wales League numbers over 3,500 members and will give a £5OO prize in next year’s gathering. The wheel is rapidly gaining favour with the fair-sex here, and two or three ladies can often be seen pedalling down Ponsonby Road just about dusk. They have not started the “ bloomers” yet. Reynolds has definitely decided not to go to the championship meeting, press of business being the cause. This is to be regretted as the local crack would have made matters interesting for the best of them at Christchurch, not excluding Lewis and Kerr. W. W. Pilkington, our cycle representative, who left on Monday last, will compete at the Pioneer Bicycle Club Annual Meeting on the 26th December. YACHTING. The Auckland yacht racing season opened on Saturday last with the Ponsonby Regatta, and taken all round the weather was splendid. There was a fair, steady breeze from the south in the early part of the afternoon, but towards evening it became very light and flukey, blowing from all directions. For the rowing events and onlookers a better day could not have been chosen, and the public took every advantage of it, many being

unable to get on the flagship (Borrowdale) ; the wharves and Shelly Beach were also crowded. The best sight of all, however, was the mass of sailing boats of every description which were buzzing round the flagship, and no small amount of skill was required to successfully work through the crowd ; every boat in the harbour appeared to be there. The committee are to be congratulated on the decided success of their carnival, which to a great extent was owing to the way the arrangements were carried out. Ponsonby Navals also rendered valuable assistance carrying passengers to and from the flagship in their cutter. Most interest was, I think, evinced in the race for yachts from two to four rating, for which there were six entries, viz., Mahaki, Rarere, Huia (steel yacht), Mizpah, Daisy, and Zinita, the four first named being new boats. Several alterations have been made to Zinita, and as good accounts were given of her behaviour when cruising she was pretty well favourite, but was never in it, and showed up very poorly. Her remoulded keel and new sails may have improved her on the wind but I think they have reduced her speed leading ; she may do better in a breeze. Before the steel boat was launched she had a good following, but unless some radical alteration is made she must be looked upon as a failure. Of course she had only been put into the water a day or two previous, and those pieces of wood which had to be fixed on her fin to make it the thickness required by the A.Y.O. rules were all against her. As I heard one of her strongest barrackers say, “ Wait till she gets those poultices off her keel.” Daisy sailed exceedingly well in the second round, her topsail helping her in the light air, and at one time looked like winning. The knowing ones did not think much of Mahaki’s chance, as she had been kept rather dark, owing to several accidents to her mast, but the Ponsonby rep. proved to be the winning boat, and led during the greater part of the race. On the day she was much too good for her opponents, and sailed like a witch. Mahaki was designed and steered by Mr J. Logan (of Logan Bros.), who also designed Gloriana, and he should be proud of her success. Rarere was my fancy with so much leading, but although she did well in the first round, Daisy passed her when the wind dropped, and she had to be content with thiid place Mizpah (centre-board) was first round the mark in Rangitoto Channel. The race finished—Mahaki first, Daisy about two minutes away second, Rarere third, Mizpah fourth, Zinita fifth, Huia did not finish. The winning boat takes a splendid cup, valued at ten guineas, presented by Mr. J. Hawkins, of the Empire Hotel, Victoria Street, and is a trophy worth owning. Only three boats entered for the race four to seven rating, viz., Aorere, Thetis, Moana, A good go was expected between the latter boat and the steel yacht Thetis, but the new boat led from the start, and coming back round the Viking’s moorings for the first time was twelve minutes ahead of Thetis, who dropped out at the flagship. Aorere with her kites would have made things interesting, but for some unaccountable reason she was ten minutes late at the post, which completely spoilt her chance. Moana is without doubt a flyer, and sailed equally well on all points. Her owner, Mr W. Wilson, was at the tiller. The photo, on this page will give some idea of her shape. Rogue was first past the flaghip in the cruisers’ race, Tangaroa second, but the latter boat won on time allowance. This was hard lines for the Rogue, as she never sailed better than on Saturday. Corinna was favourite for this race, but did not come up to expectations. Kahawai, a one-rater built by a young fellow named Graham, of Ponsonby, won the under two-rating race, Mahoe being seeond. There is some talk of a protest, the winner having a ballasted fin. She is a well-built, shapely little craft, and a credit to her amateur builder. I hear that Kahawai has since been disqualified, Mahoe taking the prize. Tui won the race for boats under 22ft, beating Anita by a length,- after an exciting finish. Colleen won the open boat race very easily. Only four started.