ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 502, 8 May 1909, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

'. (BJ Msbcurt.) ■ " COMING EVENT., ' August .18 and 21. Chajnpion- , ships, • Brisbane. - ■ - - ; Last ; night' saw tho ' beginning of tho-now era in our amatiur athletic government. Tho now council/ having formally 'been declared elected by; Messrs. J. '8.. Calilan,'. Jun.,: and ~W. ,Willett,. president, and hon.''secretary of tho Otago :Centre, bowed ■itself into oliico,,and did'its first work—tho olection of' ita president: and vice-presidents —wisely, and well., The now.: body is formed somewhat .oh the . same lines as . obtained prior to. October, 1907, up to: which time €'acli : centro was entitled-to one vice-presi-dent, and two delegates on tho council. This method, had, been .in vogue sinco the inception of tho centre,system.- It was, however.. considered, cumbrous, and, at tho ' annual general meeting m October, 1907, a change in tho "constitution was made by calling upon each centre to candidates for eldetioh ' to. the council. Only nine 'wore needed—a ' vice-president, and seven conncillors, and tho several ballots that ensued, finally brought the last two places, to be filled by throe—Messrs. W. G. Ataclc, Batchelor, and another candidate, who then withdrew, and the two named were elected to fill the last two places, and, curiously enough, then to the positions of president, and yice-president respectively. This body was tho counoilthat has blundered so egregiously. It was responsible, for the recent upheaval, and it has-now paid'the penalty. ;. ' ' '.. ' August 18 and 21 have now been finally .Bottled upon as tho ■ date for the Australasian championships. The Council of the N.AA;A.A., considered the position last Monday, when the recommendation', from' the late Conference, of Centres t-hat tho council protest, against .the' August dates was discussed; As the Australian States had unanimously :*agreed to 'August, it was recognised that it would be: useless to hold out, so, willy-nilly, tho above dates ■ were approved. At the same: time, the. delegates were agreed that it was placing our representatives under a severe 'handicap. The oont-res aro being written to with regard to setting up a selection committee to get the team decided upon; and in training. Eaoh centre will have one representative on this committee, ' and. they ;Trill- settle :. the selection, as far-'as possible, by oorrespondenco. Then they will hold a meeting, three to form a quorum, and make' the final choice. -Tho Wellington -Centre'should not have" far to look for its representative on this committee. ; There appears to bo nothing, so.:far, to' enact! that ■ this representative' shall be more than a member of a club in his centre—ho does not, apparently, require to be a dolegate to tho centre—and this appears to leave the road : open to the eleotion of Mr. W. H. Pollock;;-Even should the v abovo '.assumption 'bo 1 ' wrong,: and Mr. Pollock's presenco on tho New Zealand Council be found to debar him from acting, tho, next man"is .lioffar to'seek. In fact, bo: at, onco suggests himself in the person of Mr. J; W. Heenari,.who falls- very little short of Sir.' Pollock in knowledge of local form of Now Zealand athletes. With either of these gentlemen on the committee, Wellington would have a string "sayso" in the choice of. tho team, and, as tho. team will, with ono, or two exceptions, consist of Canterbury and Wellington men, this is only as it should be.. With regard to tho New Zealand team reforrcd'to in tho last paragraph, I notioo in the Otago papers that subscription lists are out to raise tho "needful" to sond M'Knight, 'the l young Dunediri. distanco runner, across to tho Australasian meeting. Of course, with Miles Dickson availably, ■ M'Knight would havo no chanco of selection, and it is gratifying to see. that his friends aro t-aking tho mattor.up, tlio moro especially as M'Knight can bo relied upon to put up a really good performanoo if, ho makes tlio trip. Files to hand go to show that tho Australasian States aro pushing .along with' tho selection of their reproebntatdvo teams, and it behoves us to follow, puit. Mr. Coombes, who is solo selector for Now .South Wales, has boon at his task for. somo time now. Victoria has appointed Messrs. B. J. Parkinson, R. N. Croll, and H. D. Smith as a committee of selection, and tho Tasmanian team has already been chosen, as follows:— F. Fairthorno, for short, distances; J; '' S. Agnow, for liigh jump, broad jump, hurdles, ■and polo vault; R. Sharp, for long distances j W.; Andrewartha,. for ,miMlo distances; A. 11, Willis, for middle distance; manager, Mr. E. A. Brooke. Tho Sharp mentioned is a brother of the present Australasian' champion, and recent Wellington representative, G. S; Sharp. • • Two runners m traiiiing-for a Scottish Marathon Taco wore spcoaing along in the dark the other night through a raining village near Linlithgow, whon they were mistaken for. ghosts. Tho villagers mado an attack

on them, and one of tbo podestrians ,was so badly injured that he had to bo removed in a conveyance. With regard to the mail vote whioh is being takon on the. subject of establishing an allround Australasian championship, tho Victorian Amateur Athletic Association lias passed, tho following resolution; —"That tho Victorian A.A.A. oonsiders. tho matter prematuro at present, but if hold would suggest that it bo fixed for tho, day aftor the Australasian championships, and that the events should bo 220 yards, 880 yards, three miles, one mile walk, 120 yards hurdles, high jump, broad jump, hammer throwing, and weight putting." Some time _ back "Prodigal," of tho Referee," while commenting on "VV. A. Woodger s sprinting form, expressed a desire to know Mr. J, H. Pollock's opinion of our flyer. In the last "Referee," J.H.I', obliges Mr. Coombes with the following, Which will be road with interest a£ coming from one who knows: — "Dear 'Prodigal,'—Your reference to our sprint champion, W, A. Woodger, has been perused with interest. My son and Goodbehere first met Woodger at ah inland amateur sports meeting two seasons ago, and Woodger, then: quite untrained, gave the pair a great go over 100 yards in a scratch race, just being narrowly beaten. On their advice the Wellington Centro sot to work, and arranged for the removal of Woodgor, who is a Tailway clerk, to tho vicinity of Wellington, where ho woiild obtain facilities for training; Last December the W.A.A.0., with the view of; testing Woodger, put a 100 metres event on their programme. This was run on tho same pieco of turf that A. F. Duifey. performed ; on \ when in Wellington in 1905. DufEey then ran 75 yards in 7 l-ssec., and in tho 100 yards handicap was beaten by 18 inches by Tom Seddon (7yds.) in 9 4-ssec. Duffey, I can assure you, did not beat the, pistol, which on that occasion (owing to somo nction.with tho official starter, Mr. Watson) I held myself. On this ground last December, on a calm day, Woodger, from scratch, covered the 100 metres in llsec:, all three official,tinikts agreeing. A month later, on the Basin Reserve Woodger (with a slight breeze behind him) won , the 100 yards handif? I® SCC - (one of three watches making tile time a tenth of a second faster); Mr. liCslio, the starter, vouches that Woodgor u. the pistol. Still latex in the season on the same ground 1 (calm day) Woodger ran 10 l-ssec. This ho repeated at Dunedm (turf slightly sodden) at,the New ■ Zealand Championships meeting. I can vouch Itf Ton mcs Woodgor . has acoomplished in the 100 yards events, having on each occasv; 1 , ell of" the threo timekeepers acting. ! Woodger, in my opinion, is equal to lOsec. on a good track. Up to the present ho has M under disadvantages, and has never had the assistance of a- trainer; he is, howevor, . a natural sprinter, with a great stride, when at top. He ha£;a lot to learn yet in tho way of getting off the mark. With Duifoy's method of starting he would, I am sure, easily,beat even time—l am, etc., J. H. Pollock, Wellington (N.Z.), April 16, 1909."