Laudatory Comments Give Encouragement

Chronicle (Levin), 10 February 1949, Page 7

Laudatory Comments Give Encouragement

Ray Wickens)

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It is most encouraging to those connected with alhietics and cycjling in Levin tj have laudatory reJmarks passed about the fare proIvided at the evening meetings, and no better example 6f -the appreciaItion of the public couldlhave been forthcoming than the ■ splendid attendance at the annual open meeting on Saturday last. I venture to say, and without ! contradiction that the success of [this meeting was largely, due to the. iable manner in which ,the whole i organisation f unctioned under tfie capable secretary, Mr. A. L'. Dobson, and a'band of willing officials who carried out their respectiVe duties ;in grand style. To the competitors also a great deal of the credit must be accorded, as without their en- ; thusiasm ' lovers of outdobr sport ! could not be provided with. such a bright evening's entertainment as j was brought before them. j To endeavour to individualise on Ithe respective merits of competii tors throughout some 52 op.en races iwould take more space than could ■■be allotted. As far as possible, therefore, I will comment on certain events which took the eye as being of merit insofar as athletics were- concerned. j As the high jump event tbok ipride of place on the programme, !it was natural that the competition proved an attraction, as the public jwere treated to an excellent exhiI bition of the '"Western roll" by j Scott and Galloway. The effortless way in which this style of jumping carried the competitors over the ,bar was well received by the spectators, who were not slow in showing appreciation of their efforts. In contrast to this style was the

jumping of R. Desgrande, who made his best leap to date, which enabled him to win this event. The men's long jump proved an easy win for Ross Smith with an excellent jump of 20 ft. 1 in. This athlete also put up a fine performance by winning the 440 yards open handicap off 28 yards in the good time of 50 seconds. I. Mudge, of Otaki, continued on his winning way and won the mile open with -judgment, finishing hicely to clock 4 mins. 23 secs. off 80 yards, a really good effort. An interesting feature of the 220 yards. junior handicap was that the winner of each was also placed ■in the ftnal, J. Goodwin (Levin) , Gain (Featherston) and Sanson (Foxton) finishing in that order, each being off the 17-yard mark. In -Jhe ladies' sprint events the local girls staved off the challenge of outside competitors, Miss Tinsley (Otaki) winning the 75 yards event, with Misses D. Williams and fN. McMinn second and third. In the 100 yards, Miss A. Rose ran well to head off her sister, Miss S. Rose, and Miss M. Cameron. The ladies' long jump proved an feasy victory for Dawn- Williams "With a leap of 15 ft. 1 in., a distance which she is capable of improving upon. Taken all round; the meeting proved that our local athletes compare favourably with those of other districts, although under handicap conditions this is a broad statement to make. Perhaps future programmes will include graded scrateh races, a system which will be the means of encouraging still. better performances by our local athletes.