ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 484, 17 April 1909, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

, < , ; (BrMEEOTOT.y The.contest •> the Athlotio Shield at the university tournament was much closer than expected. On paper, Canterbury had the best chance, and, by winning six championships, the team fulfilled expectatiqns, the points gained by members scouring second places in addition, being sufficient.to carry the shield baok to Christohurch. ; Tho Victoria College men made a remarkably fine showing, all things considered, and, in the finish, were only two points behind , .Canterbury. y The hero of the meeting was undoubtedly Opie, who, as anticipated in this column last'

week, won all three sprint championships, although he appeared to be a trifle lucky in winning the quarter. Duncan, the Victoria College representative, got; a very rough passage, in this race, being thrown out of his etride by M'Chesney crossing him and taking his running about a hundred yards from: the start. He must have lost nearly ten yards by this and appeared to be hopelessly out of the , hunt, but, taokling his task.with rare determination, he nnished up second, abont four yards behind Opie,. who was coming back to him in the last fifty yards. In the 100 yards and 220 yards Upie had comfortable wins, Duncan again running second to him in both events.' : .Last Saturday the wri,ter predicted wins for Jj.-■■ A. Dougall in the two middle-distance events, and eo it turned out. His performances in the half and mile were.surprisingly good— Jus,win -in the mile especially so. At Dunedin, tnree weeks ago, he could not get a place in a mile run.in imin. 88sec, yet, on Monday last, Eigg with the greatest of ease in ," I 6 university record, and remarkably fast time for the Basin Beservo.Eigg was out-classed in the mile, but had his rl venge in the three miles, whioh was a rift for' him.. Letting.Dougall make the running for seven laps, he then went to the front and won by nearly 200 yards'from Smith in 15min; 56sec.,_tinie that he could have bettered considerably had the opposition been hard enough to extend him. Dougall out out the first mile m 4nnn. 56sec, but was completely done at IS miles, and, at the end of another lap, pulled

-Bogle repeated his last year's performance by winning both hurdles championships, and his 17 Msec, in 120 yards, was a really good run. 0. btrack, the: Victoria College second-strine a recently-reinstated runner, was unlucky in falling at the ninth hurdle when running s* Cond -,,.M Knight, of Canterbury College,' who 2?-w r «' m A e New-Zeiland Championship «oHurdles, fell m both of these events, beBlde * knocking himself abont in the long jump; ■ The . standard. in both the , long. and hieh jumps was low.. Bands, of Otago, oleared 20ft. ii« o' e• £ w , Zealand Championships,' but 19ft. 3m ;j was the best he could do on Monday. Brookfield-cleared sft. '-tin. with his winning effort in the high jump, but failed in an at 7S to i efa C ' F - D - Cook, = "Varsity record or pitj. 6jin. .''••'. ■ ' ' In .the field events the only performance that calls for special mention is Hamilton's 99ft. in championship. For a light man,, Hamilton throws remarkably well, and if. he could get, in, three, turns before parting wi&his implement, instead of one as'at Present-in, other words,: if he could' acquire ,Sf j OO , "he w °nW probably add , about 20ft. to his present best performance, .■l.ne- gate was eminently satisfactory, and the -meeting as a whole was creditably managed, as indeed, a meeting must be in these times oi keen; competition' in expert: management.;:: : • ~ The English -A.JU, .Ifas recently. made publie a.list. of.rulings, which will be of great use m the administration of the rules governing the sport, and,' as all Australasian centres are amenable to these rul6s, the decisions will bo received -with th,ose with regard to professioalismt-"l. That no protessional football player can be allowed to compete at meetings under, A.A.A.. laws. 2 That signing, a professional football form constitutes a .-professional under A.A.A. laws. 3 lhat .it is not-expedient , for 'an amateur athiete toroftciate as referee at a professional meeting, 4. That a competitor be'disqualified tor jumping over the worsted. 5. That a; - man ,;be!vnot, : . disqualified , f or " ning a-, race,? by. v > fallmg\ : on the winning line/so long as. of.'liia body, is over the lino: before the. second;, man passes the winning;-line: That, when a competitor's head .■.",. touches the tape - first, he J IT i s, , I ,V is not absolutely. necessary to breast the tape.; 7. That it is extremely undesirable that clubs affiliated to the A AA.shall include;.in;the listiof. officers'professionai 8. .That the committee express .their disapproval: of professjbnalsu officiating as a man who receives a fee at a cricket match is; '& professional,'; an'd ; also that a professional or grpundman to 'a.'-cricket club is not an-amateur under A.AvA.\laws.-MO. That a link-keeper to a. golf club is a professional xaider..A;A.A.' rules."•'■ ;'. ,■; ■■■ .The results;of: the' Tasmaniari: A.A. Championships, run on. Haroh 27, on'Eisdon Park, Hobart, have not come to hand,.and are appended. Xhe standard of performance, judging tr.om times: and the. distances in the field games,,™? decidedly low,.but, in.extenuation it .must be said that the finishes and sprints were,run into, the teeth of a strong wind; and the jumps..and shot-putting, etc., were .likewise up-wind. Perhaps the two most proraisine performers were W. Andrewartha,-who won the quarter mile State.championship, and ran second in the 220 yards and half-mile, and E Sharp,. who- annexed the mile championship, and: ran second m the three mile. Both these runners arejoung. Andrewartha being only six-' teen, and Sharp eighteen'years of age. By the way, is the latter any relation to our Australasian 'champion-S.Q., of that ilk, our late representative in Dunedin?' It is not at all .unlikely, as our' Sharp's home is in Hobart. .The results of the meeting were as iollow:— :,.-.■. -.'■■■ ■'.■ •; ■:. • ■•■ ■'

.100: Yards State Sohool.—C. Seabrook 1- D , Lipscombe, 2. Other starters: C. Morrison, H G Sn£ ln £ 6, 3 and R --Totham.. Time,,l3 «seo. , 10 0 T"ds.-F. Pairthorne, 1; W. T. Conder, 2; •?• '^ e ' 3l Qther- starters:. F. Thornthl waite, E..A. Page, and J. Gourlay. Time, lleoc. Vwi?";?, 91l? mpions ¥P : - E - Sharp, 1; S. Schofield, 2. Other starters: A. SchoSeld and L. Hart. Tune, irain. 55sec. .:. Fairthorne, 1; W.T. Condor: 2; W. .3. Other starters: T. 'is^-S! ft ii^, Edward ?' andM - s.Running High Jump-C. S. Agnew (won at sft._and retired), 1; M. F. Taylor (4ft. 8»n.), pother, startera-C.H. Elliott and T. Eocklift, ■■■■ ' ■ ' ;•' ' ; ■ ' .' '

m Yards.-W. Andrewartha, 1; A. H. Wills 2; J. Gourlay, 3. Other starters: A. Schofield arid F. Fairthorne.' Time, 58seo. ' '120; Yards Hurdles.-J. S. Agnew, lj-Conder, 2. Time,< Msec. . ■: •'■■■. • 880 Yards.--A. H. WiUs, 1; W. Andrewartha, 2; A. Schofiold, 3. Other starters: P. Cato J. Go o , l r l a f'c a I . nd I L n- nn % rl;, J Time, 2min. 20 :l-ssec. State' School 220 Yards.—B. Kilmartiri 1- H' Gorringe, 2. Other starter: S. Packer No time taken. '■ •;,--'.■. ■■■■„

; Pole Vault.—P. ■ Curran; 9ft, 1. . . ■■ '■ '■■ M 0 Yards State Schools.—C. Morrison l-'S Adams, %; D. Willing, 3. Other starters:' e! Cread.H.. Williams,. and .0. Weavers Time lmin. .10 2-ssec. . ' .... ■•, ■•'

; ( Kunning S. Agnew (19ft. Three Miles—S.: Schofield, 1; E. Sharp 2 :Other,starters:'.H. A. Ward, K. B. Bailey' a' C: Taylor, and A. Schofield. 410 Yards Hurdles.—G. V. Colchester t> J S. Agnew, 2; C. Currari, 3. Other starters: C. Dale, J. Gourlay, and S. Schofield. Time, lmin 7 2-ssee.. ■■".: ■...'.....•■ '.- ; ".•

Two Miles Walk.—F..Ford (unopposed) Eeg.-Walker,, the-great Sonth Afrioan sprinter and 100 metres Olympian champion, leaves for : London on April 29.-If successful at .Home he intends. to tour Canada and tho States. He will be accompanied to America by Morton, the English ex-champion, and mil be up: against all the best in America, including Kerr ; and Eector, who are turning out expressly to uphold the honour of Canada, and the U.S. against the little. Africander. It is said that feeling in.the States is so keen on the matter that ex-President Eoosevelt wrote personally to Eector, who had retired from the track, ; and asked him as a personal favour to take up'the oudgels against Walker. ; There are few Englishmen po well qualified to speak with authority on athletics and on sport in general as Lord Alverstono, the Lord Chief Justice of England. Himself a famous runner in his 'Varsity days, he- has always manifested the keenest practical mterost in all exercises tending to '■ tho development of the body. Here are/some of his lordship's remarks on-some of the principal sports of the day:— Eunning—The great secret of good running is this—run on your, toes, keep yonr body well over the legs, and don't swing your arms about. Above all, never by any chance run flat-footed. , High Jump-In high-jumping many people make the mistake of running too fast at the :bar, and of taking off too soon. Take off as near to the bar as you conveniently can. For some reason or other, high-jumping is not so well done to-day as it was 20 or 30 years ago. Broad Jump—You cannot run too fast at a broad jump. Never forget that to jump far you must rise some considerable height from ■theground. ■ In my young days I tried to.practise for the broad jump with a 3ft. or 4ft. hurdle a few yards from the take-off, in order to compel myself to riso. Always lengthen your stride before taking off, ,

& e Weight-Get yonr body bohind m ot , No ""nonnt of Btrongth of arm can suffice unless you do this, ti. rS?*"? We Hammer—l very much, regret mat Uub has beon allowed to degenerate into what I mar oall "slinging the shot." In its original and proper form the hammer was a weight to which .a rigid handle was fixed; but the substitution of" a flcxiblo' wire has turned tlie hammer into nothing more or less than a sung.