WAIHI ATHLETIC CLUB’S SPORTS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 997, 15 April 1909, Page 12

WAIHI ATHLETIC CLUB’S SPORTS.

The annual sports of the Waihi Athletic Club were held on Saturday in the presence of a large attendance, and good fields and exciting finishes were responsible for an enjoyable afternoon’s sport. The various events resulted as follows: — Ladies’ Bracelet, 220yds: Dunkley 1, Coe 2, Nichol 3. , One Mile Bicycle Handicap: Hunt 1. Henderson 2. Sheffield Handicap, 130yds: Coe 1, Darby 2, Irwin 3. Two Mlle Bicycle Handicap: Gallie 1, Henderson 2. , Heavy-weight Wrestling: Noakes 1. Light-weight Wrestling: Neill 1. Putting the 761 b Shot: H. O’Donnell, 35ft 81n, 1; R. Lockyear, 35ft 4m, 2. Half-mile Handicap: Darby 1; Shaw 2, Irwin 3. . Easter Handicap, 75yds: Parsons 1, Kneebone 2. Obstacle Race, 100yds: Ryan 1, Barnes

Writing to “Prodigal,” of the “Referee,” from Durban (Natal), under date March 6, Mr. J. T. Wallace reports that R. E. Walker leaves on April 29 for London. Mr. Wallace, who is a real good judge of the game, says he is satisfied Walker would beat Postle at any distance from 75yds (o 150yds, and mentions that he tninks Mr. Tom Christian would confirm the opinion if asked.

Billy Chandler, of the Vancouver Athletic Club, recently won the first Washington Marathon race at Seattle, and won it easily under conditions that called for a grand exhibition of courage and ability. The course of 26 miles 385 yards was over a trotting track ankle deep in mud from the persistent rain of the past week, and sprinkled with cinders that chopped up the runners’ feet terribly. Besides a cold drizzling rain was falling, chilling both spectators and runners, and making the sloppy track a perfect sea of mud. So tough was the going that only three of the 18 starters finished, the rest quitting at various stages. Chandler’s time was slow, the Vancouver man taking 3hr 43min 16 2-ssec to run and walk the distance; but, considering the heartbreaking conditions, even that was quite respectable, though it is nearly an hour slower than most Marathon runners of class take to cover the distanceChandler, owing to a sprained ankle, walked over the last six miles, and even then won by over a mile.

Dorandc P etri, the noted Italian Marathon runner, recently defeated a

relay team of four local men at Indianapolis, U.S., in a Marathon race of rixteen miles. Dorando’s time was Ihr. 35min. 35sec. William Wright, Lester Miller, Ray Bronson and Joseph Barclay were the Italian’s opponents. Dorando Pietri, a fortnight later, defeated a team of five local men at St. Paul, Minnesota, who ran ten relays in a fifteen mile race. Dorando’s time was lhr. 26min. 45sec. over a fourteenlap track.

The Marathon race at San Francisco on February 22 was won by Otto Boeddiker, who covered the 26 miles 385 yards in 2hr. 40min. 31 2-ssec. Some 25,000 witnessed the finish of the race. Commenting on the race, the “ S.F. Chronicle” says:—“The race was a wonderful spectacle —any part of it. Bceddiker was net among the gritty but over-eager youngsters who forged to the head at the start and broke their hearts in a desperate effort to keep up the pace of a mile in six minutes. He had tried that once, and had learned that he could not stand it. In the first stretch of the course from Baker-street, to the beach, Boeddiker was half a mile behind, and dropped further to the rear as reckless pacemakers ferged to the head, only to drop back on the path winded and broken down. Boeddiker’s condition at the end of the route showed what careful training will do. Though he lost 61b. in the gruelling run, he was able to trot lightly back from the field, and, after a shower bath, go back to the Olympic Club clinging to the strap of a crowded street car.”