Athletes Reaching Peak Form As Championships Approach

Chronicle (Levin), 9 December 1948, Page 9

Athletes Reaching Peak Form As Championships Approach

Ray

Wickens) 1 .

• (155"

A high standard was. set in running events last Monday eyeningj 'due no doiibt to athle'tes steadily reaching their pfiak of fOrmi an aim whi'eh is usually the objective as provincial and ehampibfiship, rhfejetings apqroach: It" was obvious- from the SjMHt'ed finishfes tfikt 'c'ompe'titors were putting more vim into their fuhnih^pah asset which will produce results as the season progr esses;' . %

It.was pleasing to See such goodi repr.esentatloh frohi Otaki and Foxton, members. of these clubs acquitting thems'elves well in all events*. for which they. entered. The .effort of the Otaki team' in thfe 440 yards reiay was an excellent, one. It should not be hara for this team, to reduce their time for this .event by impro.ying their balon changerover. This. com- . bination, which has carried off ' the honqurs ,on each nccasionr should fare well against any team in thfe , district^ Hakaraia's speed out oi the holes is ^ah aSset which gives th'at d'esired lead at the first chah'gfe-oyer, from wher.e Mudge ahd Meagh'er can be reiie'd upon to "h'dl'd., their gr6und')( and Gordon's strori'g fuhnihg over the last 110 yards giVfes just that fihiSh to an, evfenly baiance'd tfearri. The girlS' relay event is provlng moSt popiiiar and thfe tearh comprising Missfes Williariis, Tyree, Cam'eron and Bird is improving . cdnsi'derably, biit nee'ds ihore practice ih baton cfiahgihg. Afetua'ly tliis featiirfe is more importaht than tdking thfe lead lii the sprint, for any grouhd so gained can easily bfe ldst by a bad changeov'er. Apart from the visitors, .several new faces.were noted among the local athletfes, R. Desgrand in particular, standing put as, *a poiential decathlon exponent. His 19 feet leap ih the long juinp was a good initial efiort and could well he iihproved upon. Unf'ortunately, the jumpirig pit was not up to standard . measthenient, which ahected the jumpfei's . corisiderably. D. Lahibeft reached 18 feet in this eveht ahd should alSb improve on this rhatk With further competition. The place getters in the men's furlohg, jini Goodwin, Meagher and Mudge in the first heat, and Wnfelan, Lind and Jack Goodwin ih thfe secohd heat, made these events rri'ost inteiesting, and under better. conditibns their efforts cdUld be improved upon. I refer again to the absence. of lanes, which I understand will be remedied in. thie ne'ar future. In the ladies' sprints, Miss'es S. Rose, D. Wiliiams; J. Bird and M. Cameron showed good' form, althou'gn Miss Cameron could put more determi'nation in her running. , J. Miller and P. Joseph had a tussle in the 100 yards gir.s over twelve event, Miss Miller fipishing nicely to take first place. P. Sciascia ran well, but is not ihaking correqt use of her arms, which, if remedied, would improve her style an,d speed considerably. It is pleasing t'o see boys from the Training Centre taking part at tnese meetings, one of them in particular meeting with success in the boys' 150 yards and the 440 event. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the club of tnanking Mr. E. J. Stanley for his co-operation in making ' availaole the loudspeaker system . and for arranging for its ihstalla|lon each meeting.