ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 764, 12 March 1910, Page 13

ATHLETICS.

181 SlkrouiiT.)

FIXTURES... •To-day.—Petone A.A.C. mooting. .March 17—Levin sports.meeting,'; iHarcli Patrick's Celebration sports (Basin Reserve). , V . (Easter Monday.—Now Plymouth Calodonian Society's gathering.,. ; "V iEaster Monday.—Slanawatu and West . Coast Caledonian 1 .Society's .: sports - (Palmerston; North).. (April—Feilding A.A.C, meeting. lApril.—Woodville AA.C. meoting. last Saturday's meeting, the combined feffort of the W.A.A.C, and P.N.A.A.C., X?as quite up to the standard tho Wellington public now looks .for at tho Basin Beserve. . For tliis happy consummation jdl credit is due to Messrs. P. Crowes and iW. Dunn, the respeotivo'club. seorotaries. Certainly some of ow best-known performers were absent from tho ranks of fiie competitors, notably W. A.' Woodger, 'Jl Evonsen, J. Wilton, li. M'Kay, and £F. F. Wilson. Of these, oil but the last Darned,, who. is holiday-making in Anek-. land, were incapacitated by- the exigencies of the recent tour—tho popular champion sprinter as muohsoi that ho Is un-. der a medical edict not to train or -run {again for at least six months,'. As against these absentees, there were nrcsont Opie and Murruy, the Cantorfcory cracks, D. Wallace, the. Auckland Shammer-thrower, E. E, Fisher, the 1908 and 1907,220 yards champion,. Guy Hardling, the champion quarter and half-mile r from.Napier, and last,.but far from least, £hs Wellingfon walking idol, H. Kerr, ffrom Taranaki. - 0...

. • \As ; regards the important question of . )*gate, w . this was .not quit© up to expectations. That Ib, not up-to the expectations of the morning,' which held forth promise of an exceptionally. large attendance. At '2.15 p.m., however, the time of starting, the ■writer's expectations $wero mainly for a heavy loss to theclubs |&nd a wet skin for liimeelf—neither; of jwhwh, happily,., was . realised. Despite, the heavy downpour at this, the mt«t .tmpropitious hour of the day, the public taustered well—just well enough', in fact, Ao .ensure - the .'financial: success of the . Venture and no more.; . .. ;As for the standard of performance,'it twas worthy of - the ; performers. This much, however,, must be said,- that, ex- . «ept in the case of Opie in the 220 yards the really, splendid efforts of 4he "cracks" were- nullified by the exces(eive generosity conceded to the - long •markers in the way ,of- handicaps in the .Tunning . races.: A glance, at the times •recorded by . the winners proves, this. The . waa won in 9 : 3-ssec;, the .in/ 50sec. dead, the 880 in lmin; 67'1-ssec., and the inilo in" 4miri. 27 1-ssec. • Need more •be said ? • That our runners &ro good must; be admitted,- but, ; after all,. they are only—well; runners. ■ An analysis ,of the-performances of the . . back-markers affords an interesting study las : contrasted-with the.winning times recorded • above.' llius, 'in the 100- yards, Opie, off•: 1£ yards, was beaten two yards 'in 9 S-ssec.i making him run half" a' yard inside evens, which, even on he down- . till track, and "with; the slight southerly' eeems 'flattering/ although he has'proyed •that he is only a' yard worse than Wood-, ger. . 'In. the "quarter" Harding was tiome ten or twelve yards away in 50gcc.,£o . that he would have, run nicely under *52. In the half-mile he. was timed to run, 2min. 0. 2-ssec. Thus, his perfor- , mances over, his pet distances "stand beyond/cavil. . In the : inile, Heifer likewise : yaf ; beyond. rep^ch;-'viHe.\mi'third:-in- . 4min;.' 27 • l-ssecV'his 'actual 'time' being 4mm; 30 2-ssec.,, and-, this, .after getting V third^-'plaoe"-in-the-'-half-mileV off ;20 y.ardSi. his .time i out at ' about ; <2min. 46ecJ

• After H.- Kerr's walks, of : which • more anon, the performances that most • spectators were .those of R.. Ojpie, the young • Canterbury sprinter. .Hisr /hundred ;ha S already, been dealt with. His win in the 50. yards scratch ra.ce was a great effort; It 6eems. absurd to say that a runner can "spurt"- in a 50Dnt that is how it seemed to be with Opie. When the gun went Dawson was already, well on ' his journey (Leslie is not : often. beaten, .but ? the wily certainly "aiid emphatic.ally caught him napping m this'instance), at, 40 yards' Opie" had' all of two w catch. How he caught it is still a-puzzlei to the onlookers, but catch it he -did, 'and sis 'inches ■ more. ; Hence "the ' e^ Thathe was moving >i'° from .the gun is evidenced!by , the .time, yet in the first 40 yards he only gotback'a yard of Dawson's "flyer," and ; '.as stated above, made up'.two more in the last ten,. When; it-, comes' to explaining / that sortof thing, "Mercury''' passes—jximet >5 2-Ssec.

■' Although not such a good run as 'his ■ -60 yards, Opie's 220 • performance, by virJtuo.of its greater spectacular-effect, made # greater impression on. the • onlookers, t • f ng n to Woodger V absence, he started •{"nrtual off three yards, and won /a. splendid race in his heat in. 23 1-5*56..-ten effort which lie eclipsed in the final r'Jy '-coming, round; on the outside 'with a : and 1 -, sustained run, •"which landed him home a winner by ; a ;,yard from Secretary; Dunn. The time was ..given as 22 4-55ec.,. ; although' one of the .timekeepers made it 23sec. In Opie,' there »as no doubt that the Dominion has the .wakings of a great 6printer, and it is vP le s .bad luck. that .he has happened along contemporaneously with a Woodger. ;SSP»' however, is only a temporary: condition. Opie is. barely 19 veaTs/of ago, fno w strong, and can run all day, so, that .with care he should be just the man to .succeed the champion. "With care"' is written advisedly, because it' is: just, this : (faculty of being ablo to run.'all' day 'that snay yet spoil the young sprinter. It is .now that lie should', bo careful not to overdo things, not to let his enthusiasm And the plaudits of tho multitude carry iim beyond: the bounds of discretion. Many a young and - promising runner has Weft his running on the'track" from this ;samo excess of zeal. : One" has., only to look at the after record of matiy a. school champion to realise this. -': If Opie is ,con-.-rant with a moderate amount .'of work, to meet with a moderate amount of. success Bow, to stick to his sprinting, and not in** his distances and have a'shot at any thing that comes along,. then. we will i-jiavo in lum later on a runner of whom the Dominion will-be justly proud. _ D.' Dinnie, tho youthful winner of the half mile'.from CO yards and tho , mile from 110 yards made a* good.: impression, albeit far too generously treated in the way of handicap. He is the son of a one-time well-known" "ped" and his '.father has: been: training him on the reeerve . soino time _ past with results that have justified his, pains. T.Eigg, who ran second in the half mile oil 50 yards, made his. first appearance this season in this race, and "Mercury" is glad to see this very promising young runner in action again. last season he was Very, prominent in mile and three-mile events, and he has apparently turned out again in view of the inter-universjty .tournament'at Easter. Another Victoria College man, in tho _person of G. H„ Strack,' made his maiden appearanco for the season thus 1? , e day, and by good fencing won the 220 hurdles, from the "owe 7 yards" mark. ■

St. Aubyn Murray, the Canterbury champion hurdler, was somewhat perturbed at not being placed second in the 2-Oyds... hurdles.; And in tho .writer's opinion he had reason for his soreness. From where 'Mercury"-saw the finishan excellent position for the purpose— Murray certainly beat 1 Kitto for the place,. an opinion that was. also held by one of the judges and the. majority of the by-scanders. However, the other two juuges ruled otherwise, and despite a protest to the reforee the disappointed "long" one had perforce to be more or less content with t'ho third position. . And now to that never-ending source of argument—the walking events. Ono approaches the subject with decidedly mixed feelings—pleasure at the reallv fine display Kerr gave us, oven if he did err in the mile, and regret that a section of th<} public should have so far forgotten itself as to the walking judge

for penalising Kerr for his error. Whether or not Kerr did era this deponent does not pretend to know, although it must bo said that tho weight of evidence is to tho effeot that ho did. In any caso this does not affect tho '"booing pbasp of tho case. What the writer does Known is that such an exhibition was unsportsmanlike and utterly discreditable to those taking part in it, Whether mistaken or not, Mt. Boss only did what he considered to bo his duty and that lie did it in the face of popular opinion only provos him to be in that respect the right man for tho position he held. ICerr is a fine walker and an excel jont "sport" and is deservedly a popular athlete, but this is not to say that ho is not liable to orror—"oven as you and I" as Kipling says. Moreover, thero would bo very tow of that section of the crowd that "demonstrated" on Saturday that would bo capable of detecting that error, and perhaps still fewer that would have had the courage to have penalised it had they boon ■in the judge s place when detecting it. To express sympathy with a 'man in his bad .luck is one thing—and a : commcndablo. thing—but to hoot and jeer at an official'.who is conscientiously and capably doing his duty to tho best of a by-no-means small ability, is another.

Ono turns to tho three-mile'walk with pleasure. This event was practically what liorr came down for. After his defeat in Auckland ho doterminod to try to get the record for the distance in default of the championship title. Ho made a. most determined bid to this end, and 'only missed his goal by throi-fifths of a second. Moreover, , again according to the experts, his gait was beyond roproach. Ho certainly made hacks of the opposition —and it was not a weak opposition as walkors go; far from it. Tracy was out on the limit with -170 yds., Cashtaan, Fitzgerald, arid Marshall, sturdy walkers all, had good long.marks, but with all they were no uso to the . Taranaki express, who made every stride tell, and got to the front half a mile from , tho .finish, and eventually won by 175vds. Had he boen pacod over the last half-mile by the opposition, there is no doubt' the existing record (not Wilson's Auckland figures) would have been "outed."

Kerr has not yet finished with that three-mile recorcl. Before leaving for his home on Tuesday last, he told "Meroury" that now he is fit and well he intends having another shot at it, .to which end ho will be down for the C.Y.M.A.A.C. meeting on March 19. This is good news, both for tho- public and for tho club' 6 .officials. These gentlemen will no doubt see to it that'everything necessary in the way of a proper survey, etc., is attended to, so that Kerr will navo all assistance in his attempt.

■ From the list of fixtures at the head of this column, it-will be seen that there is yet plenty of work.for the enthusiastic runner before tlie . present. season closes.. From 'Tat" Webster, of New Plymouth,' comes a-copy of the programme 'of the Caledonian meeting, there.on Uaster Monday. "Pat" promises visitors from Wellington, "a good track and a-good time," and is especially desirous of seeing a local walker or two make the trip. The events, open .to amateurs are:—looyds. Handicap—First, trophy, .£2 10s.; second, trophy,. 10s.; nomination, 15.., 120 yds. Ladies' Bracelet—First,. trophy, £2 ■ 10s. ; second, trophy, 10s.; nomination, 2s. Gd. 220 yds; Handicap—First, trophy, £2 10s.; second, trophy, 10a.; nomination, Is. 140 yds. Handicap—First, trophy, £2 10s. j second, trophy, 10s.'; nomination, Is. 880 yds. Handicap—First, trophy, \£2 10s.; second, trophy, 10s.;- nomination, Is. One Mile Walk—First, 'trophy; jM-.105.;-, second, trophy, 10s;;' nomination,' Is.; ..and probably a high jump. ' . . The Manawatu Caledonian .Society's programme for Easter Monday is also to hand. . Thero are three amateur events, .100, 220, and 880 yards, trophies valued at ,£3, .£l, and : 10s. for each distanco, with ■an entrance fee of 2s. each. The sports will be run at Palmerston North. That amateurism is spreading- ;in . the North ■ Island is' happily', indicatedii by' the frequent applications' for " affiliation' by new. clubs brought before, the council of the N.Z.^;A.A..-.On Monday last news was received of two ■ additions to the roll—one from Woodville, where a club has actually been formed, and. intends holding a meeting early, next month, when the process of affiliation has been, duly completed, and the other at Levin. It is the intention there to' get under way with, the formation of a- club at once, and to. give matters a start 1 a list of .amateur events has' been inoluded in the programme of the sports gathering there on St. Patrick's Day. lAny of. our runners that. can make the trip could' spend a pleasant day in the little lake-side - town and be happy in the knowledge that their presence was helping ; along the good cause.

South Africa in general and Durban, Natal, in particular, is losing one of- its idols in the person of Beg. •E. Walker. The wonderful little sprinter has' taken a position in London, a change that, on account of the better company and keener competition now available, should make for even more : wonderful sprinting efforts than ever. The sad effect of this news to us;is that it would appear to effectually settle any dream of getting Walker to pay the Dominion ' the visit that fell through last: season. 1 Messrs. W, G. Talbot, hon. secretarytreasurer' to the ; N.Z.A.A.A., W. A. Woodger,'-and G. P. Keddell, the Australasian champion sprinter and hurdler, represent the Dominion in the portrait seotion of Spalding's Official ' Athletic Almanao for 1910. "Mercury" acknowledges with many thanks, two . official programmes of the sports in connection with the Hobart carnival from Mf. A. E. Brooke, the hon. secretary, by this week's mail-. All the States appear to have .been represented by more or less strong, contingents, and the pity ie that:_a squad, from the .Dominion was not in action there, too as the times appear to indicate that 'the majority of the events would have been at the mercy of our : performers. The exceptions were tho two jumping events and in these really first-class performances were established—especially 6o in the high jump. In this event E. H EuKell bore out the promise of his great performance of last October, when ho won the jumping championship of the publio with a leap. of sft. lOjJin, and the .120 hurdle champio'nsfP } n , 10 l' ss «- clearing tho bar at 6 feet, thus breaking P. J. English's long standing Australasian record of sft. UJin.—a truly great performance for a sohooiw. Russell is a pupil at Geelong College. TheJjroad jump was won by Queenslander H. V. M'Cabe, who leaped 22ft. iin. '

The other ohampionship events were as indicated above put through in times that vary from medium to slow-thus iillia (Victoria) won the 100 and 220vds fnr th' • in ' 2 1 2^ scc ; (tho for the 100 yds. given). J. Bradley Wew South .Wales) the ilOyds. in a "i r n r ? ll « 111 4min - 53sec.1 he half pile, fell to H. Davies (Tasmania) m 2min. 17 , i-ssec.—won by a foot~and the .3 miles to W. Murray (Victors-time not given. The winners ? lH m P s also accounted for the hurdles—E. H. Eusseli , (Vic.) winning the 120 yards in 17 l-ssec, and H V MCabe (Queensland) the U0 yards in bs <i-ssec. Both walks were won by tho iasiuaman representative, W. Ellis—the S^tSeJ'liles) 5560 - , (n ° Hme giTCn fOT /'i n f! la „'?, eferee " 'Mr. E. Coombes t Irodigal ) has something to fay of the walking times at the rccont New Zealand cha'mpionship meeting, and Binco his observations are based oniy on the cabled reports, and cannot in nny way have been' influenced by the discussion that has since arisen they havo a peculiar value, quite apart from tho absolute impartiality as between the centres of Mr. Coombes's point of point. He says: "I will go. straight to tho walking events. Let me commence with the three miles, the Australasian record for which is 21min. 36 l-ssec. by n A. O. Barrett (Victoria), while tho Now Zealand record is 21min. 37Sec. by F. H. Creamer. I hold somewhat pronounced views about these figures, and others too, but that is neither here nor there. Tho cable tells us that P. Wilson won in 20min. 58sec. We will examine these figures. Wilson won the mile walking championship of Australasia at Sydney in 1897 (thirteen years ago) in frniin. 41$ sec., and the. three miles at tho samo time in 22min. 37 l-ssec. In 1901; at Auckland, he won the mile in 6min. 38

l-ssec., and tile three miles in 22min. 21sec. In 1910, after a long retirement from the track, he wins the three miles in 20min. 58sec., and the mile in 6min. 42 t-osoc. In 1897, on the Sydney Cricket Ground, he went in fine free style, but the new rules of walking wore not then in existence. In 1901 he did not shape so well, and, had the now rules been onforcod his final efforts in each race might have got him into trouble—into the same trouble which followed somowhat similar work in the mile championship of Now Zealand decided a few days before. Frankly, the figures established in the three miles event last Saturday astound me, and I am, of course, taking it for granted tho judge (or judges) kept the competitors rigidly to tho rules. Tho Petone meeting to-day, the second of the series, is being woll supported by the town, athletes, and will well repay visitors for the trouble of the journey out. Last year tho mooting, held on the same day as the championships at Dunedin, was a very successful and enjoyable affair, and the present occasion promises to quite cclipso the club's firßt effort. As is known our runners are now keyed up to concert pitoh, and with the prospect of the meeting on March 19 and the Easter featherings to keep in training for there will be no "let up', about their work to-day.