ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 924, 17 September 1910, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

I, October B.—Grand Athletic Carnival,; in aid of Boys' Institute (Athletic Park). WHAT. BEFELL AT INVERCARGILL. i~'. : : (81. MEECOET.) Come and Gone. 1- •.:.'' The two big Antipodean-winter amateur athletic .meetings—th? Australasian and New -Zealand cross-country championships—are.! over ' now. -That . which mostly concerns .us, for- this season at least, .is the Dominion fixture, although; it'- is, to be hoped that, on future occasions, our. athletes' will. be' taking more ■ than ■ a mere sympathetic interest in the bigger event, i'or various causes, mainly financial, it was found impossible . for the Dominion to be represented on; this, occasion,, which, by the way, is the first of what .is to be a biennial series. It. was - not expected in Australia, however, that our cross-country runners would endeavour to emulate the successes of their : track brethren—for .this time, at least. Tho ■ N.Z.A.A.A.'s delegtaes at ,the Australasian Board of Control at Brisbane 1 list year, made this, quite , when tho-event was brought into being, but there should be no reason why we should 'not-suciire representation at ,the. next meeting. -; -'' ' '■ , ■ By that time the, financial difficulty should have been removed. There will be no .Australian, tour to finance, as was the:casß.last year. Moreover, the'profit from the Australasian championship meeting, to be held in the Dominion early in 1912, .should provide the sinews of war. We have the men now, but we lack the 'wherewithal.. By then,: with ordinary luck, and good management, we should have .both,/ and then—we shall see. ■' -! '. "Down South." To return to ;our championship. - As; renders are aware, it was conducted battle Southland Centre, and well conducted, too.; , True, only:.three of the five; centres were represented, Canterbury and ; .Auckland being; tho absentees', and,, true; again, it is that it did not meet with the! display of general, .publiu interest thai : sucli ail event should. These. drawbacks;; however, are remediable, and, with the' sttady growth: of harrierism, should not! exist for long. •'A!s far as local interest: is concerned, thero: was plenty in- luvercargill.:. The finish, on the football, ground track, was witnessed'by a crowd' of.upwards of two thousand—a goodly,/ muster; for a centre at which' amateur' athletics have" been for some time I .in a more or less moribund condition. . Otago, sent ":a very, hot combination,; headed by Beatson, the present uiree-.' mile champion, and M'Knight, one. of. New Zealand's victorious team in iris-: bane last year.: .The Southland: team; was'.a fairly: average one, and the Wellinton representatives were considered 'to.have a good ' fighting chance,. especially' in. the individual championship. As itproved, Otago was .far too strong for: the opposition, and Southland beat our men for second place which they ; filled last year at .Timaru. ' - , -. In justice to tlie Wellington team, it must be said , that they 'were unlucky, in. this respect, - as- they . only lost second placo by . three points—a margin more than accounted for, by Curry's bad ankle' and Rowberry's ill-forunte on.the' tape— v which is described later. Curry, wbo was looked: to for a good display, on the strength.' of his performance last - year, could not produce, his l true form on . account of the ankle above mentioned. - In' the Wellington Harriers' five-mile' championship, a fortnight previously, he sprained his .foot rather badly, and the, lack of training due to the consequent rest cure, told badly when the pinch came.-'. 1 /-. : ;;' '

®!0 local men describe/ thecourse as "true: cross-countrjr,". and varied at that..'; Generally, it was flat,. but. was broken in its by ■ the übiquitous barbed-wire fence in plenty, scrub, tussocks,' gorse, railway gates, mud, and a section of hard. road,so it will be seen : that it was not an occasion for record-break-mg.' .' ~i. :;

The Competitors and the Crowd, ; ' It, appears 'that Rowberry, the hope of the: Wellingtonians,--was prominent from the start. He made the pace a hot one right .away, and held an excellent position throughout. On the soft going, however, he was headed by M'Knight, whowas never again troubled.. On entering, the finishing ground the Otago representative had'a comfortable lead, and won handsomely. The next on to the track .was'ltowberry, with Beatson, Otago, in ,close attendance. This was the position right/up to-striking distance at the. tape, and here it was that the Wellington man made the error that cost Imu second place. 1 It happened this way: The spectator's, crowded on to the tape after iVl'lCnight had finished, with the result hat a mass of. humanity was/pressed close up to the finish. ~ Rowberry evidently had qualms about charging headlong into this human wall, so slacked up in the last few, yards. Beatson, -very rightly considering that, ■ as the crowd vul .no right to be there, it had no feelings to be considered, evinced no such scruples. Instead, he hurled himself at the tape, and incidentally the crowd, and his "shock tactics" carried him past Rowberry, and secured him the place by a few, inches. The finishing order ,of "lie other Wellington representatives was Bennett tenth,. Hodson eleventh, Murray fourteenth, and Curry fifteenth. Regarding the social side of the affair, the returned speak in. most complimentary terms of the hospitality • extended to them, both in Invercargill and Dunedin.

The South African sprinter, It. E. Walker, now in England, winner of the Olympic 100 yards, and ex-English 100 yards and 2?0 yards champion, arid world's record-holder, found himself ill a, for him, peculiar position at a recent

mulish meeting. This was on the four yards' mark in the Surrey County 220 yards championship. The scratch man' was Ramsdell, the American University sprinter, who, however, did not 'start, valker won-easily, and, as he also captured_ tho 120 yards event on the same afternoon in 12 l-sscc., it will bo seen that the handicapper was asking the American to do something pretty phenomenal. But the chances are that ho could have managed it, as on the following day, August 2, tho men mot again at Stoke, Victoria, when liamsdoil, running into a strong wind, beat V/nlker by 2| yards in a scratch 300 yards, and repeated the performance byiO yards in " >io 220 yards in 22 l-Ssee. World's Sprint Championship. The London "Sportsman" says:—"The mooting of J. Donaldson (Australia) and C. E. Holway (America), in n match over 130 yards for .£IOO a-side and a purso of ,£2OO, drew to the Talf Vale Park, Pontypridd, on Monday, August 1, some 8000 spectators. During the decision of I the preliminary sports 2 s ami 5 to 2 were [ freely laid ou Donaldson's .chancy whilst

when tbe men were on their marks B's on wero the rato of odds that were accepted by fielders about tho Australian. Donaldson wus first out of bis holes, and held a slight advantage at tho start, but it was Hulwuy that wus first balanced, and got' into his running. He. held a slight advantage ut .seventy yards, and seemed to improve on this during tho next thirty, where Donaldson mado a big effort, but just failed to reach Holway, who won by four inches. The time of 13Jsec. may bo accounted for by a fairly strong breeze that blew obliquely .on tho runners' fact's. Donaldson, whose right leg was bandaged, palled up lame." On this Australian defeat the. "Referee" comments thus: "Private advices from Pontypridd state that the defeat of Donaldson and the regaining of the title (lost in Johannesburg) by Holway, caused quite a sensation amongst followers of professional pedestrianism. .The day was very fine, and v the track (acknowledged to be one of the fastest in Great Britain, if not actually the fastest) in good order. The runnel's had o face a fairly strong wind,-but even allowing for this, the time (13! sec.) was a complete surprise. Donaldson was a hot favourite at about 3 to 1 on, whilst 7 to i was freely offered against Holway. After the race it was stated that Donaldson had broken down a week , before the race, although he ■showed no signs of same during tho contest. The break-down was kepi secret, and the first intimation to the .general public of anything being umiss with tho champion was given when he was seen at the post with a bandaged thigh. Doubtless those who ridiculed Donaldson's reputed 1 phenomenal times in South Africa, and predicted they would never be repeated to the timing of British watch-Holders, are now 'doing a. bit' in the talking line." Referring again to the recent Australa? sian championship cross-country meeting, "Mercury" has to acknowledge with many thanks the receipt of Tasmanian papers with very full descriptions and illustrations of the events, and also of a copy of the official programme for the day from Mr. E. A. Brooke, hon. secretary of the Tasmanian A.A.A., under whose control the "affair was conducted. '