CYCLING

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 348, 25 March 1897, Page 3

CYCLING

[By

Rim ]

Auckland, October 27th, 1896. To the Proprietors, Sporting Review, Auckland. Dear Sirs, —I have pleasure in advising you that the Sporting Review has been appointed the Official Organ of the Auckland Cycle Club. Yours faithfully, J. P. HOWDEN, Sports Secretary. Ere the present racing season is at an end, it is estimated that upwards of £BOOO will have been disbursed in prize-money by the Leagues of Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. Victoria alone will have given away over £4OOO.

Cash cyclist Barker is said to have ridden a mile in 2min 2sec on the Lancaster Park track recently. No application, however, seems to have been sent in for a record.

They say New Zealand’s ex-champion, Either, is anxious to return from Melbourne to the Land of the Moa.

“ Teddy” Reynolds and Dexter astonished the natives at the Thames on St. Patrick’s Day, the former winning all the events (three) for which he started from scratch. He also did an exhibition mile for the especial edification of the Thamesites, and Dexter did a half-mile. According to local accounts, the Aucklanders opened their eyes a bit. A southern writer anticipates that now Reynolds has waltzed in and scooped the amateur pool he will turn cash amateur. As far as I can hear, there are no grouuds for the supposition.

Bicycle paper-chases are springing into lifo in Essex. In a recent run at Lexden there were one male and two female hares. They covered twenty-seven miles, and in following them one lady “hound” got lost, and had to be diligently hunted for by the whips. From the anxiety displayed by several of the foremost riders in Australia just now to arrange matches, it would seem that this description of contest is extremely popular with the big guns (says a Sydney paper) This is not surprising when it is remembered that one or other of the leagues puts up a purse of from 150 to 200 sovs, the competitors generally having a modest “ side wager” of £250 on the result. It is this attractive purse, offered apart from the side wager, which opens the door to fraud and collusion. Let the riders concerned stake their own or backers’ money, keep the bookmaker in subjection, and exciting matches may still be arranged without much fear of degrading the sport in the eyes of the public. Speaking of our “ Teddy” the cycling contributor of the Wellington Mail says : —“Reynolds, the Auckland rider, continues in a winning vein, having won the Enfield Challenge Cup, a valuable trophy which he had won previously and which now becomes his own property. His win was all the more meritorious seeing the starts he was giving his opponents in the five miles, the limit man this year being allotted 560 yards. J. Crozier, the runnerup on Saturday, had 520 yards. Reynolds, who has been racing six or seven years, has had a singularly successful career, starting racing in Auckland in minor handicaps. He has been placed in nearly all IN ew Zealand championships in which he has competed. He won the championship of Canterbury a couple of years ago, the championship of Hawke’s Bay twice, in ’93 and ’96, and when he visited Sydney won a five-mile championship on the Sydney Cricket Ground, beating McDonald by nearly a quarter of a mile; he did not meet Wally Kerr when over there, the latter not starting. In ’94 he won the Half-mile Championship of New Zealand at Christchurch, but last year he did not compete at the championship meeting, not being able to get down. His four championship wins on the new Wellington track recently are still fresh in memory, and his 30-guinea cup achievement off scratch is his latest. A firstclass record! ”

Don. Walker has put up cycling records in Melbourne of an astonishing character once more. From a flying start, and paced by a couple of triplets, he cut out half a mile in 52sec, doing the first quarter in 26 l-ssec, and the second quarter in 25 4-ssec.

Our Christchurch correspondent writes : —“I have frequently said that amateur cycling in New Zealand is fast dying out, and recent developments in Christchurch have fully confirmed all that I have said. One of the leading amateur riders here has been charged with having taken cash in lieu of trophies for his principal winnings this season, but so far that live body, the New Zealand Cyclists’ Alliance, have winked the other eye at such a charge being made against one of its riders. Just so, but as most cyclists know, the said Cyclists’ Alliance does not want to lose any good men at the present time. Harry Thompson and Donn, two leading amateurs here, went to Timaru on St. Patrick’s Day, and there being no Alliance officials on the ground, they obtained the assistance of Dunlop Coy.’s triplet team, and had a shot at the one mile amateur record ; but, although they were well paced by the team, which contained two prominent cash riders, they failed. In Clause C of the Alliance, in reference to the amateur definition, it clearly states that an amateur is one who has never been paced by a professional, or a person under suspension. So far the Alliance has winked the other eye at this also. Harry Thompson, who is a veteran of the cycle race-track, has made a bold statement that if the Alliance disqualifies him he will produce evidence which will compel the Alliance to disqualify several leading amateur riders in the colony. For some months past a storm has been brewing iu the Christchurch amateur cycling circles. Riders have been charged with receiving payment from cycle firms and getting cash for prizes won, but so far the Cyclists’ Alliance has failed to find out the culprits. I again repeat that amateur cycling is practically dead in Christchurch. Quite time, too, when such a state of things as I have stated is allowed to exist.”