AN ATHLETIC PILGRIMAGE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18239, 25 November 1924, Page 13

AN ATHLETIC PILGRIMAGE.

♦ PORRITT'S SUCCESSES IN EUROPE. SPORTSMEN'S HOSPITALITY. (TttOJi oua OWK COP.BI3IOXDIKT.) LOXDOX, October 7. As a direct oulcoino oc" the Olympio Games, Mr A. E. Porritt (AVanganui) and oth?r athletes received invitations to compete in Dublin in the Tailtcann Games (tbo Irish National Games), and in Berlin* In Dublin, where quite a considerable numbsr of Olympic athletes were present, chey bad a most enjoyable stay—tbo actual results arc already well-known—and any depressing effect the somewhat battored city of Dublin may have had was more than effaced by the abundance of world-famed hospitality shown bv the Irish people. After ten day* in Dublin the small party consisting' of E VT. Carr (the Australian sprinter), HHav "(manager, the ex-OJympic Australian ewimrner), and A. E. Porri;t set out for Berlin at tbo invitation of the Sport=Mub Charlottenburg (Berlin's most flourishing athletic club). • Thair welcome in Berlin exceeded all expectations and throughout their weeks .fay they were admirably treated and admirably noterUiaed. "The meeting »ost enjoyable!" said Mr Porritt, in bis experience', 'and despite the fart that „ were most handsomely beaten by biro, it was a treat to see'the German sprinter, Har-

ben, in action. Ho is tbo finest runner I have yet seen—and had Germany competed in the Olympic Games I am of "the opinion he would have gone very close to winning the 100 metres. Athletics in Germany. "Athletics aro flourishing in Berlin—and the keenness shown for the sport is intense, j Every evening in the grounds of all tbo big clubs one can see crowds of youngsters from four to 18, apart from the regular athletes, pl&ving every game and practising every kind of athletic event, usually under a competent trainer —and visibly enjoying it. 'if 10 lacilities are good and the Stadium (built for -the 191 C Games) is a magnificent structure —far surpassing Colombes.' The party then went from Berlin down into the Ruhr at the invitation of 'the Duisburg Athletic -Club. At Duisburg, which was their headquarters for a wee<f, __the) were splendidly -looked alter end enter- : tained. They were taken for boat trips on the Rhine and Duisburg harbour (the largest inland harbour in the world), saw Krupps works at Duisburg, alio visited Dus- j seidorf and Colonic. Ibe meeting at Duisburg held in another magnificent «UcLum, was a'so very successful and Porru, was lucky enough to win both sprint* (100 and "°'°Tl™ Cl ßuhr,'' said Mr "Porritt, "is alivo with French and Belgian troops—and at ony rate on superficial appearance, seems a. veritable hive of industrial energy. Tbo Germans there are. if anything, even more liiceablo than the Berlincrs. thougft it is evident, despite a superilcial serenity, that they feel the French impositions very keenly." Visit to Czecho-Slovakia. After Duisburg Mr Carr ond' Mr Porritt proceeded a'.onc across Germany, via, Leipzig and Dresden, through flat, rather uninteresting but intensely cultivated plains, to Ciecho-Slovakia, in answer to an invitation from the Sportsklub filavia, at. Prague. "Cz«eho-Slovakia," Mr 1 Porritt continued, "proved a picturesque little country, and its

capital, where wc stayed a week, a. picturesque citv. But apart from its Deputy* Prague bus many attractive characteristics. It is exceedingly interesting historically, it is very cheap, very clean, and full of lite 1 in its way quite a young Paris. The Czechs also looked after us very well, and tHo tbrectkiy meeting they arranged proved most enjoyable. The programme included «hrc» sprints—a 100 metre 3, which Carr won, and the 150 and 200 metre 3, which fell to my luck. "The Czechs are strongly nationalistic, im is but natural in a young country in tbo making—and they are more qtrongly antiGermans. The men wo met were interesting fe'lows, well-read, and often splendid linguists (it is by no means an exception for a. Czech to epeak five languages well), and fine sportsmen." The New Poland. Leaving Prague, Mr Porritt went on to Poland, where he spent a most interesting fortnight in Warsaw, Posen, and Cracow. "Poland again," he said, "is a hundred per cent, nationalistic—or.S I should say a x hundred per cent. pro-French. The nev." Poland of to-day is an interesting mixture, with its bite off the old Austria in the south, its bito ctT Russia in tho east, and it 3 bite off Germany in the west, and its narrow outlet to the free port of Danzig in the Baltic. It is a mixture which will take dome wsjdinrr (<> . j gethcr, but the wi".l to do so is certainly 1 most strongly behind the average Pole. "The country is largely flat and devoted to a somewhat primitive agriculture, tliough on the big estates of the old Polish aristocracy, many of whom still flourish in beautiful old houses, yi one of which I was Juckv enough to stay a few days—lhero is ofJen - d.cided evidence of quite ecientific agricultural method. Generally speaking, however, the | country strikes one as rather undeveloped' | ana primitive —and its peasant class certain- : Jy are co! I ran in AVarsav. - in the Students' Olvm,I ciad connected with the International Con-

press of Students, which took place shout that time—and had two raither comfortable ■wins in the 100 and 200 metres, in both of which events I succeeded in lowering Polish reoords. The Poles are a- likeable peoplerather volatile and even more emotional than tho French. They do not appear eo keen on athletics as do the peop'e.of the other countries I visited—but on the ether hand, thosu who can afford it are nothing averse to an abundance of amusement. Kiel Canal. t r clUTn tri P w " also most interesting. l6tt by boat from Danzig— Another fin© city and from ill appearancss a. prosperous commercial centre, and sailed up the coast to ifemel, in Lithuania—an antiquated and somewhat dismal town. Then on to Libati in Latvia, where the Russian element became much mora marked, this, however, being the chief interest of tho place, apart from its c^ea P amber t/iones. '"P** return trip through She Baltic was delightful—and a suitable prelude to a> moat interesting day coming througu the Kiel Canal. -The canal is a perfect piece of water, finished as only a G crraaa job could be, with minute precision aa to detail. Tho locks 'at either end—ll3ed purely to counteract tidal offsets—are masterpieces of engineering. The coU j*" try through which tile canal paases—*ome w miles—ia pretty and interesting:. This Ie« but a short day's trip hack across a re»J roiigh North Sea to the calm of _®, old Thames, and that eomethiag gooa »»" reliable and British about Lond® 9 " .. J always appeals so to one—ejeil I most interesting of trips*abroad- I