ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 461, 20 March 1909, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

£Bt Mebottiit.)!

COMING EVENTS. To-day.—N.Z. Championships (Dunodin). March' 25.—Ashburton Marathon. March 27. —Catholic Club and Victoria Collego Combined Mooting (Basin Reserve). Easter Monday.—lnter-University Tournament (Basin Eoserve). This afternoon tho N.Z. Championships, tho twentieth of tho scries, will bo decided on tho Caledonian-ground in Dunedin; For tho nonoo tho dissenting centres aro burying tho hatohet, and thoir representatives will meet in friendly rivalry, as of yoro. Peculiarly enough tho two ecntros between whom tho honour of holding tho championship for the forthcoming year must lio aro tho two between whom tho strifo has been tho most bitter—Canterbury and Wellington. Of course, tho Canterbury Centro in itself has not been actually engaged with tho local centre, whose quarrel is with tho old council, but geographically and morally the contest has been between Wellington and Canterbury. At least, so it is looked upon by the general public. As far as can be judged from the entries, the Otago representatives will have to content themselves with wins in the field events, as, now that Hector Burk is out of action, there appears no star in their firmament of sufficient brilliance to shin© to-day. Southland has a team competing,. but Trembath's' secession to the professional ranks would appear to deprive the distant province of any winning chances. This leaves the first places to be filled either by Wellington or Canterbury men in tho runs. In the field events, Otago comes strongly into the reckoning, especially in tho shot and hammer contests. Judging from firsts only, Wellington's chance looks particularly good. With ordinary luck the local men should get firsts in each of tho flat distances, except, perhaps, the 220 yds., and in tho two walks and in the pole vault. Woodgor should win tho sprint. In the 440 and 880 yds., ono of Wellington's formidable middle-distanco quartet—Harding, Wilton, Williams, and Burge—should score. These distances, however, aro hard events to anticipate, owing to Guy Haskins, of Canterbury, being such an uncertain'startor. Fit and well Haskins should win, both tho half and mile, but is he fit and well P. He was to run privato trials last week, but, so far, the writer has not heard the results. H. St. Aubyn Murray (the Canterbury hurdler) is also to be reckoned with in both these distances, but tho chances aro that he will reserve himsejf for the hurdles.. Eliminating the uncertain quantities, Wellington should win the middle distances, and also the mile. Haskins has a 4.20 performance in tho United States for the mile, but on tho same grounds as 'above ono is inclined to award this event to Burge. In the three milo run, Sharpo has to beat a good lot. S. W. Moore (Canterbury), who got second placo in the reccnt New Zealand Marathon, and F. Frew (Otago) he disposed of last year. W. F. Simpson (Canterbury) is the old Australasian champion, and record-holder, but he can hardly be up to champioship form now. This leaves M. Dixon, of Canterbury, as the most formidable of the rest. He is admittedly "the rub." Ho has ben.credited with 15min. dead in trials in Christchurch, has a handicap performance of 14min. 53sec. off 20yds., and ran'brilliantly in tho earlier stages of the Marathon. Sharpe's previous best ip 15min. 7scc., run at Hutt last year, but he is quite awaro of Dixon's capabilities, and has Deen special efforts this time. . The evidence is not conclusive enough to find for Dixon, so "Mercury" votes for Sharpe. Tho walks also should come to Wellington. None of the walkers, entered have dono tho times that Fitzgerald put up on Saturday last at tho Basin Reserve, and as "Dorrie" Leslie expressed tho opinion that his stylo was sound, the local team should gathtsr. in another 12 points here.

Of the field events tho only one Wellington can safely lay 'claim to is the pole vault. Unless M'Kay fails us, this is a certainty. In the long jump he will have no chance with ;Keddell-.(Otago), fhut iwith the shotjio may fluke a win.y On January 1 he got 36ft., and with luck might do this again. That should about win, but, he'is too. short on practice to count upon. Should this anticipation oome off, the champion shield will stay with us. The, second and third places, though they will 1 considerably increaso' Canterbury's score, could not affect tho result. In the sprints, Opio should win the 220, and he and H'Whirter, of Canterbury, should fill the other • places. Canterbury will also scoro heavily in both walking events and both,hurdles, though Evenson is quite likely to run into a place over tho sticks. After Fitzgerald there appears nothing in the walks to toucli the Stubberfield brothers,' so these places will count also for Canterbury! D. G.,Mowitt is accompanying the team to compete in the handicap events. As a "try-out" meeting for to-day's championships, the W.A.A.C. gathering last Saturday was of peculiar interest. In tho main the selectors were justified in tho ohosen members of the team, tho one exception being Burge. In the half-mile this runner failed to make any impression on his fiold, and could only clock 2min. Usee, for the distance. In the mile his appearance was equally disappointing. He was seized with a " stitch," and pulled out half-way round the last lap. His fonn was so poor that it was obviously no criterion of his powers, and while it was evident that he could not be sent to Dunedin on this showing, it was equally apparent that it would bo unjust to Burge to drop him without another .chance. Burge was as disappointed as the selectors were at his reversal of form, and gladly took the opportunity offered him of doing a trial on Monday evening, feeling confident that he could reproduce his real form. In this he proved to be right, as in his test run he clocked ,4min. 38|sec., over a paced mile ;very comfortably, and was at once reinstated. • .

Tho only explanation .of. his . Saturday's failure seems to lie in the fact that he has been doing all his training on Newtown Park, by himself, and, as. li© nad had no racing oompany or even a watch to run against, ho bad no chance of judging' his pace at all. During tn© week he has confined his work to short, hard runs, and has brightened up his pace to snch an extent that lie can confidently be relied upon to run at least as well as ho has done hitherto. In fact, tho 4min. 35sec. gait, that the writer stated last week as being his true mile form, should bo well within his reach.

Of his half-mile form, however, the selectors could not be so confident, and as there IB a likelihood that the ■ quarter-mile would be run in heats, which would throw too much work on Harding, E. J. Williams was also included to stiffen up this department. Woodger more than justified his selection as the spnntcr_ of the team, finally disposing of tho claims of Goodbehero in tho 100 yards, and Stubbs in the 220. He as conceding tho former a handicap of 2} -yards in tho short event, and, though they did not meet in tho heats, Woodger evinced his superiority by running into second placo in his preliminary, being beaten by inches only in 10 l-ssec., while Goodbehero could not get a place in the same time. Woodger elected not to start in the final, preferring to save himself for tho 220 yds., in which 110 started with Stubbs off the mark, and beat him homo very comfortably.

TIIO quarter-milo test brought out Wilton, Williams, and Fisher, and furnished a popular win all tho way for the local runner, in G3sec. dead. Wilton could have improved considerably upon this had he been pushed. Granted that the track and weather conditions aro good to-day, tho runner who beats him in the quarter will havo to beat 52sec. Williams, however, ran well enough to prove his value as a second string, arid as he has a 600 yds. run of lmin. 17sec. to his credit this season, will provo of great value in the half-mile event as well.

Sharpo unfortunately was unable, on account of a recent bout of colic, to give a taste of his quality, and, though 110 turned out in tho three-mile run to keep faith with the public, the authorities wero so averso to seeing him "butchered to make a Wellington holiday," that'they called him off after one lap. L. M'Kay performed well with tho polo, clearing 10ft. Gin. very nicely, but his longjumping was right below par, and showed great want of practico. Evenson, who was jumping for his placo.in the team, proved equal to the occasion by clearing sft. 6in. in the high jump—a good performance off the slippery grotmd. In the polo vault

competition he was not so successful, and failed at 9ft., but later in. the afternoon succeeded in getting over this height. These performances, in. conjunction with his trial run of 16 4-ssec. over the 120 hurdles on tho preceding -Wednesday, _ wero considered good enough to warrant his inclusion, and ho should scoro points to-day. Tho other performer on trial was Fitzgerald, and his succoss was a very popular one. His milo walk was more noted for solid worth than brilliance, his time being 6miii. 56 2-sscc., but there appears to bo no one in sight capable of beating this. Thero' can bo no donbt, however, that his three-mile effort was a fine one. Turner, Tracy, and Cashman mado tho paco a good clip throughout, tho last named particularly going well, but Fitzgerald gradually wore them down, and, after a brilliant finish, won by tho smallest of margins from Cashman in 22min 36sec., a sterling performance. A mistake in tho records in tho programme gave rise to a misunderstanding over this clocking, 83 Fitzgerald's timo was mado to appear well within tho Australasian record. Consequently the lap-takers wore accused of counting a lap short for tho distance, and, as they insisted on tho correctness of their count, doubt was thrown on tho timing. Three watches, however, had agreed, and an amusing controversy was only ended by the mistake in the programme being discovered. As a matter of fact, the timo is 59scc. outside tho New Zealand record, and 59 4-ssac outside tho Australasian figures. Still, it beats the New Zealand standard by 24sec., and so it will be seen that Fitzgerald will to-day mako a worthy successor of Harry Kerr, always provided his gait passes muster. "Dorrie" Leslie states that, on Saturday last, it was beyond suspicion. So there should be no fears on this head. Athletes all over the Dominion 'will regret to hear that W. H. Pollock is in trouble again with his old "sprung" leg. Three weeks ago it became so bad that ho was forced to givo up training, but after a' short rest it recovered sufficiently to allow of his resuming work. On Saturday Pollock won his heat of the 100 yards in something like his old form, but when long-jumping the injured member gave way again, this timo seriously. W.H.P. has been confined to his room ever since, and thero can be no doubt that this timo nis retirement will ho for all time. This writes "finis" to a consistent and brilliant running career, and will be a source of regret to many, both in and out of Wellington. Since the foregoing was written tho results of the Canterbury trials have come to hand, and they bear out the above remarks. I append them: — 120 Yards Hurdles.—H. St. A. Murray 1, F. Cook 2. J. Roche also started. Time, 16 4-ssec. •

, 880 Yards. —G. S. M'Kenzie 1,, R.L. Bromley 2, L. E. Baxter 3. The only starters. 100' Yards Flat.—R. Opie 1, F. Cook 2, 11. B M'Whirter 3. W. J. Mansell and F. W. Schramm also started. Time, 10 2-ssec. Putting the Shot—W. G. Robertson, 33ft. llin., 1; A. Juriss, 33ft. 9Jin., 2. Two-mile Walk.—P. H. Stubberfield 1, A. P. Stubberfield 2, R. Twyneham 3. 220 Yards Flat. —R. Opie 1, F. Cook 2, R. M'Whirter 3. F. W. Schramm also started. Time, 22 4-ssec. One Mile Run.—L. A. Dougall 1, W. Flanagan 2. M. Johnston and A. J. Arlow also started.

Throwing the Hammer.—A. Juriss, 105 ft. 6in., 1; W. G. Robertson, 89ft. Gin., 2. 440 Yards Flat.—R. Opio 1, H. St. A. Murray 2, T. W. Martin 3. G. S. M'Kenzie also started. Time, 53 l-ssec. Opie's 220 yards is a very hot performances—New Zealand record being 22 2-ssecs., held by Webster—and it makes Canterbury a certainty for this event/as lam afraid that Woodger cannot get this time. None of the' other times call for remark—in- '' fact, the 120 hurdles would, seem to bo quite within Evonson's roach, if Murray cannot beat 16 -t-Csec.