ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 532, 12 June 1909, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

."■.""" (Bt Mnacrat.); August 18 and -2L—Australasian Championships, Brisbane. > , On a spongy ground at the Hutt Park Racecourse the annual raco for the Harrier'e novices was got off last Saturday. One disappointing feature of the raoe was the comparatively Bmall number , of competitors taking part, only nine out of fourteen entrants facing the starter. Such a poor response as this is not encouraging to the club committee to continue the polioy of setting aside one of tho club laces each year for competition amongst the new men only. ,Of the race itself it can bo said that, after half the distance had been covered, there was only one man—Hodson— seriously in the hunt. Starting from scratch with Forne and Chartres, he set a meriy pact from the outset and, rapidly overhauling his field, gained the lead just before reaohing the end of the first lap. In the final lap he appeared to tire a good deal, but was able to respond to challenges from both MT)owell and Chartres, and ran in a winner by fifteen yards from tho former, who shook Chartres off in a tussle over the last fifty yards. , The winner has a very pretty stylo and tree action and, judging by his maiden effort, should make a first-class distance runner with a little more experience. MT)owall ran gamely and, had be made moro use of his handicap, would.have given tho: winner a harder task. Lhartres was somewhat, distressed at the finish as a result of tho solid pace of the first lan The other scratch man-Forne-fell away entirely half-way through the second lap, and appeared to bo short of condition. ran was held over the racecourse after the Novice Eaco had been disposed of, and advantage was taken of the good opportuto . Pi' jn some training exeroise over the flat going. As a finale a scratch race over a hundred yards was got off, in which It. Bust, H. J. Pollock, and C. Turnbull gained the places. To-day's nm will take place from No athletic column seems complete nowadays without an account of a new and always sterling performance by Reg. Walker, the Natal sprinter who is cutting such a wide swathe through the world's sprint records, and who will be seen figuring on local tracks next 'seaA°t • : a J gOM well - According "to I 'South African file.,; his latest performance is quite up to the standard ho haa set of late. At » Natal meetn>g on April 24a special event was placed on the programnio for him-a "paced" run.'Favoured by a slight We, Walker covered the journey in 17 4-ssec. The eojne afternoon, ne ondorsed this form in a 150 yard' handicap. In his heat ho won, need" loss to say, from the sor'atch mark in 14 3-ssec, and, in the final, he improved upon this by winning in Msec, thus equalling the world s professional record, established in 1887 by H. Hutchcns, and completely knocking out the "previous best" of 14 4-ssec, standmg to the credit of C. G. Wood, 1887° and C J. Monypenny, 1892. •' : ■ . «i 5° lker 'i ■ i ,".- add 'i ion to "is wonderful running capabilities, deserves every credit for his sturdy allegiance to amateurism. Some of the offers-made to him by professional promoters wem almost incredible, W so far they have &"••!& °T t f ei S! L ali ? g this sub° ject, ,The Latest"-a South African sportine paper of repute-Bos tho following : - S Everv conceivable effort haa been made ce l h. Walker, of Durban, to turn pro., but without One particular proposal that Walker refused was an offer to tour the world £n ™ - Tears .' receiving 43500 annually, or & J™n™£* A on the «»e!wioii of the tour, and all his expenses paid by the svndi- ™™ Z7T 3 }° th - is off «- Prions K was mentioned on Rood authority, but thek«n tnTv r v amC Off ' •!«"»«* -Walkir was s* Keen to try his paces with the Australian nrn KJ k f, II A *<» m ™ S tl P on. mited snch an event, but provided the w- $ t T^ 0 a } l °™teA to -charities in Durban and Johannesburg., This suggestion did not meet with acceptance, for, naturally, the, W. in f" '. 0 1 took evor y that nothng should hanpen that might in any way ~«vl a n a °! ? 6 yoUn S ehampion/subSff 1 . rin an ?, t °« x »J em Pt was maife to bring Whfte »w n I? 05 " 6, Whon tte Hon - hSi,.; b racehorse owner art trainer, offered a cash prize of J?m for a ra», onV e «, n f r v Wa 3 a,S i ' later still TU*A %°\ h '% before leaving the Rand, a final offer of a purse of £W» I was puree none can question/' - eenuine After tho lamentable Shrubb and Duffv hu<ii highest commendation. S running under the Stars and S is Lcau/o letter shows how the American does ki this as m other matters, dearly love to take merf; unto lumself for conditionsWh are amounted ''natufar^^ 18 the' hiding 7f with Marathon races and other longclamed ft' •'' ,nd ? or nnd is ""* s v 1? of 'J"' Amer . ,c, "« have K°no back to the stjie of lunmng m. vogue hero twenty vea™ ?f; n w n V hat the^ "Yankee style" übS I E 6 ' ? ere is n " "PWon on the suDject l Happened across- Kxrpnf in «■*„. rare instance^American athlete t CJll feet the English style common in tho days of Tommy Conneff, Willie Day, Eddie Carter? and other famous, reconl-breakers. \ll these old i ß, S , n^h.^ th,the l0 « ra —1 that is, Kept their arms as muoh as possiblo below i IuZJhT (" n '" P H } ; sical "'"""lion made it was the result of an invasion of English runnors, whose success'set the American coaches to S ln t l ! " ll,l i^ ej ' l dcc, ' cled that the.BritoS ?»^ n ( fi nblllt J'. to "?rry speed long distances to tho way m which they swung their arms. Gradually this idea has bsen relegated to the scrap-heap. There is hardly a runner of note m this country now who dons not keep his hands j,p. and Alfred Shrubb, the greatest of thorn all up tn twenty miles, runs in the American style. Shrubb's aclion is as near perfect ns anything tliat has ever been seen on n truck. Ihc closest approach to him in this country -s George ■ Dnnhag. Bonhag has tho same short choppy stride ns the . Englishman, out Jus action is unequalled among American runners. The records Boniiag and Shrubb have hung up totween them is proof enough that the American style is tho best."