ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 280, 7 August 1909, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

(By Murcuky.)

FIXTURES. August 18 and 21.—Australasian- Championships, Brisbane. September 9.— N.Z. Cross-country Championship, Timaru. Soptembcr 18.—Wellington Harriers' Club Championship. '' November.—Wellington Centre Marathon llace, Kaitoko to Basin Reserve. : An ox-New Zealand, champion walker— F. Ra>s—after being in retirement for two yeays will next season again bo fount! competing in 1 heel and toe events. Pressure of business and ill-health havo' been' the cause of his lengthy absenco from the track. Mr. Ross, who declares his confidence in his ability to strike his old form, also intends going back on to the Wellington Centre, and this should be welcome news to that body, which lost most of its best workers when the hondmiarters of tho council were transferred to Wellington.' , ' ' ■ S. W. Moore passed through Wellington on, his .way to Brisbane hist week. Though ho .will be a competitor in the three miles championship, Mooro's special mission is tho Australian Maratlion,_ m which, as he states ho. is iugood condition, ho should run a k good race..'. Of a strong'but light build, Mooro strikes tho oye as almost tho ideal typo of a Marathon runner, even more so than Dickwhoso brilliancy is probably greater than his strength, despite tho fact that ho finished tho 18 miles of the Ashburtdn Marathon with no signs of distress showing. Moore will not ' return ,to Now Zealand,': nis present intention being, to take up land in Queensland. While on: the subject of Marathon races, it is interesting toinoto that tlic Australasian .Council has 'formally decided that' "in view of tho special circumstances surrounding tho running of the alleged Marathon'races at Ashburton and' Auckland, the, competitors' status should not .be affected, notwithstanding Rule 21." Tho fears;of the New Zealand Council that some one of tho Austral- j asian States might enter a protest against I Dickson,. Mooto, arid. M'Knieht competing in Brisbane, on the ground of .their having competed for trophies.of greator value than tho ten/guineas allowed by Riilo 21 of the Australasian Union's laws, should he allayed by' this decision. It;is riot,at"all likely that any State in Australia would have raised such a quibble, but the council was right in appealing.to tho-head body. Where an athlete's, amateur .status is at stako there is no. such.;thing as. being too careful. The hopes of the Wellington Centre. that ; the'council would see its' way clear!..to' r e- ; commend tho Australasian Union .to alter* Rule 21 so as to allow a trophy : up to tho value of '£25 being' given for a Marathon race .have been' dashed to tho ground- by the rofusarofjthe'council.to instruct its delegates, to vote in favour of tho proposed alteration. Apparently tbo' councillors wcro all , of.opinion that ten guineas is quite enough to ; 6ffer for. any event. ', No doubt, from a .strictly 'amateur point of view.their action is to bo commenced,' but so, too, would be an adherence to the old,rule of tho N.Z.A.A.A.-.liriiiting-trophies for handicap events'to five guineas—a rille that the present council itself proposed to alter. a month : or, two. back'_ by raising, the'limit to ten guineas;'ln America, and if ■I mistake not, in England, too, thero is -no limit to the' value of trophies for scratch races!. ..The - trophy ■which J. 3: ■Hayes secured by .winning tho last Olympic: Marathon, was a very. valuable one, indeed,' and. the. gold ..'cup presented'' to Dor'ando by the Queen,was.probably, worth at'least forty or ; fifty guineas. '.The New Zealand-Mara-thon winners will thus have the ■ somewhat cheerless, satisfaction; of knowing-that, if tho standard of amateurism is the smallness of . tho value of trophies, they are probably the purest amateurs in tho world.- To'my way of thinking, twenty-five guineas'. worth of trophy is little enough to offer anyone who can win,:a Marathon raco. The only danger trophies of increased value would create would be a tendency to pot-hunting, but by limiting theso trophies to; Marathon races, of; which ; there will' not,' or. ought not; to be, more than.threo or four each'year. in. the Do--mihlon; ; 'this dinger- would...bo-non-existent. ■ .;' Strenuous efforts are being made-in Mel-; bbiimo to enable 'J. L, Davis to attend at leastthe,first day:of the Australasian.championship meeting. The 120 yds. hurdles and : broad jump will be v amongst the, events set down, for decision on this day, so Davis, if . he'attends,will have a. chance-.of securing two ,\yias; In-both'events, now : that C. P. . Stowart is a; non-starter,, his strongest opponent, will be .G. V. Keddell, "of ours." In the absened of.. Davis,' Keddell' would probably be a double winner, with a possible chance of securing the quarter hurdles as well.'; :, '-„ . '..";.' !; George Blake; ;was boaten by inches in fho.y. A. A. A: tihrcp lnHes test at Mel-, bourne, in 15min. 3350 c., good time, but riot . good onough . to' • give.: him . much . chanco against Dickson or M'Kuight. In the Marathon. raco : be. stands a. much better chance, the more so as ho appears ■ to bo running even .better thair three years ago, when he put up such a ■ sensational performance'in tho first 18. miles of the Olympic Marathon at Athens; In -the. absence of Davis, .Victoria appears likely to "win not more than three championships—the half and niilo (which;aTO practically certainties for-Wheat-ley),'and possibly tho 100 yds. with'the aid of Morgan. ,' , '

/The New .South Wales 'selectors' final choice of'a team to re'presput, tbo' StateBarker, O'Reilly, Morgan, Smith, Lainrock, Harley,.'and "Wintors—is 'a good one, aira the; team is likely to. carry ; off premier honours. The hammer and shot appear to he certainties for either O'Reilly or Morgan. Tho 440 yds. flat is the best of good' things for Barker, and ho should just' about, win the 220 yds.. Harley and Winters'' will take a power of beating in both, walks, thougfc 1 fancy Kerr will just about beat them;!' Lamrock is a good hurdler, though hardly equal to Colin Stewart, 'and therefore not at all Jik"ely to beat Davis..'. ,

The chances of our own-representatives are fair. During tho past fortnight Woodger has been running well at Potone. An effort' was made to arrange ! a few nins for hjin with C. J. Morris, .eTc-professional cham-: pion of the Dominion, but owing ;to tho latter'having to leave town oarly'this week, it was unsuccessful. However, Woodger has been running in cornpany w.ith, a local "pro" for tho last few days, and'with a smooth trip across, and a few runs in Sydney and Brisbano with good 1 men, he should go down to the mark in something.like his best form.- The other local representative, M'Kay, will have to depend more on Ins natural pole-jumping ability, than condition. Kerr, if in good health, will be in good form, since ho takes practically no training to got well. Dickson and-Keddell are'in good condition, and both likely winners. After the experience of the last month, it is no wonder that the New Zealand Conne/'l decided-at its meeting last Monday to support the Tasmanian Association in its endeavour to get the States to agreo that all future .Australasian championships b 3 xheld in the summer.

C. L. 'Orbell, New Zealand and Australasian high-jump champion,'broke bone' through his horse falling with him in a steeplechase last week.

Tho aunual steeplechase race of the Wellington Harriers last Saturday at Trontham. was an even greater success than the previa ous one.,. Rowborry was ,the only, entrant who failed, to keep his engagement, and ho was taking no risks with a' heavy, cold which he had caught. Those who aro familiar with the Trentham course would; have been surprised had they witnessed-the clean maimer in which the formidable water jump in front of tho stand was cleared by the majority of the runners,, although of course a few of the men contributed to tho gaiety of the occasion by floundering in.after,soaring well above the brush fence. A heavy shower of. .rain greeted the men on their arrival at the course, but shortly afterwards the sun shono again and good weather prevailed for tho rcmaindor of the afternoon. . After tho amount of "mud-larking"' which tho harriers have indulged in of late, it cainc as somewhat' surprising to them to find that they had still worso ahead of them than anything previously, met with... Tho harsh treatment meted out to the soft turf by the hundred odd horses engaged in the race mooting during the previous week had turned tho course into a veritable sea of mud, and all possibility of last year's time for the distance being broken was voted as being out of tho question. ,Tho race resolved itself into a caso of the "survival of the fittest," as a

number of men whoso ehniiccs (on o dry ground) would liavo boon excellent, wcro unablo to hold out against tlie boiler-trained men ovor tho final quarter of' slush, F. Hodson onco again proved his quality by. winning the raeo with only 10 seconds start. Ho lias run in only thrco races, yet ho has won two and finished second in tho othor. Last Saturday's win, in view of tho big starts which no was giving away, was probably his most meritorious performance. If he can run live miles as well as ho docs the shorter distances, his place in the'team for Tiiuaru is assured. Tho second man—F. Wilton —spoilt a prnbablo winning chance by making his oli'ort too late. 11. Lamb showed that his l'almer Cup form lias not deserted him by tho manner in which ho raced past Pollock and Salek at tho "business'end" of the run. A testimony to tho interesting nature of. the race is tho fact that an experienced. timekeeper like Mr, 'J; 11. Pollock bccaino so excited at the sight of eight or nine inch cntoriiig tho straight in a bunch that ho-forgot to snap the winner's time, which, howover, was taken by a second watch-holder. ,•','■■■

. Great interest is beiii" manifested in.tho tost race set doivn for'decision at Miramar ,to-day, Tho keenness of. members to secure places in the club team for tho cross-country championship can bo gauged from the fact that about a dozen men intend contesting for tho fivo places to-day in a, five-mile scratch race for which no trophios aro provided.