ATHLETICS.
THE CANCER IN ENGLAND. ' {Bl Hibcdbt.) October B—Athletic Carnival in Aid Boys' Institute Fund (Athlctic Park). Tho Big Approaching Meeting. intending competitors are reminded that entries for the big meeting at the Athletic Park, on October 8 .close next Saturday. . Tho chief event;for the track fraternity is. to be an. 880 yards' relay race,' open to teams Of four from any recognised amateur athletio body. In addition there 1 are to be place-kicking contests, exhibitions of - lacrosse, hockey, Association! basket-ball, tug-of-war—in fact, all branches are catered for. The "star" event of the day, however, should be the annual ; teams' race, the ■ management of which has been handed over to the executive, by the Wellington Centre. i "In past years this event—an extremely popular one both with , runners and tho public—has been run from , the Te Aro Baths to the Patent Slip' and back, but this year it will be included as one of the attractions at. the Athletio Park. "Mercury" understands that details have not ,yet been arranged, .but the idea is to start the runners at the Park,'dispatch them out towards Island Bay, and run the final: mile or so round the Park track. Farewell, the Harrier. Coincident: with the passing of winter lies the passing of the cross-country runner.., To-day's event. at Miramar, -the Brooklyn Harriers' Club; championship, will .wind lip the present season as' far as : the. official programme of. the local clubs, is concerned.' For a while the harrier has had his. day—and precious bad days eomo of them have been, too. But, it takes , more than a'bad day, 'or even a season of them, to daunt the enthusiastic harrier, and to his credit must it be said that the local article i 8 enthusiastic to a degree! ■As a,natural corollary, of this keenness j,there follows ; a correspondingly . increased" vitality in! the sport in Wellington..' ]fyr the first! time," since the inauguration , ofharrierism -! locally, . have two clubs been, in existence; and the new organisation—the Brooklyn . . Club—is of very -sturdy ' growth." It gave, evidence' of; its' precocity on Saturday . last at Miramar,; .when' its representatives supplied 'the ,first and second men home in ; a .ten-mile handicap promoted by the parent club., ,! The, race, and other , closing scenes of tho season, are described by ''.Mercury's . : regular: contributor as un'def.V: iLast Week's ''Ten Mile." i . tThe 'i Wellington Harriers' ..ten-mile, handicap race last Saturday'.was, in. every: way, a success, being contested by. a: good' ■number of runners, most of whom lasted outy 'the : journey without showing : ' any ill: effects.'. A, good.: spirit: wasshown by. ; the club in throwing the race open to. members of the Brooklyn Club,' and the latter:i showed'their appreciation; by. capturing' both first and second places, ■despite ■having, only .four r'unricrs'of.' the thirteen'; 'who '"competed. The .glorious; uncertainty of sport was 'proved!to apply, equally to cross-country running as to other " branches," by the reversal of. form on the part of. a,number of competitors, : notably Hodson; ; Twioe within the "past month he has : been decisively ■ beaten by lEowberry". over; five-mile ■ courses,' yet, on this' occasion, when in-receipt of an'allowanco of nearly throe minutes, from that runner, he . not ■'. only won -. easily, ' but also, covered' the ' .distance, , in fifteen seconds' less - than/! the " scratch,' -man." Certainly Rowberry ran in an unconvincing fashion/ especially over tho .second ; half, of ithe...course, where' he! Lost 1 some: of the ground which he had made up on his field 'in tho first part of, the ; journey. Which : only;. endorses' a " previouslyexpressed,.' opinion -that: Rowberry 1 cannot run as well when giving away big starts; as 'he, does'! in ■ championship, races. .' 1 :• : ,Two :laps .of the. five miles'' Miramar: course were covered, and, at the end of the - first round, Shaw was. in command,. 40sec. ahead- of/Power! -with Delaney and' Hodson - running; together ' another 40sec. behind. '■Bennett-and -Rowberry. went past- together, • having already, caught .and passed Press, who ,wai obviously' running below ; his;,form;!..: After: j this' a lengthy wait, for the numerous spectators ensued, but at 'last: a lonely figure, hove 1 inVsight entering ' the long; straight, and specula-, tion was rife as'to his identity. It was! however, soon proved to be Hodson,.who. had completely outdistanced his field in the . run for., home,', and, with !' tC . long swinging -, stride, ran in an" easy winner, a quarter, of a mile ahea'd of* ..Murray, Lambert-made- a : game effort to,; secure second , honours, 'but his - run was made too late, and he lost the place , by a few yards.;-'; After.', this, interest: centred' in the contest for the fastest-time trophy,; over which, either Rowberry or Bennett was-thought to hold an option,'but'both men -failed, to' finish within' tho period necessary: to deprive Hodson ..'of ! the honour. The actual , times, of the';three men were.—Hodson, 63min! 35sec.; Rowberry, G3min. ' Msec. ; ; Bennett, 64min. 'isec, This, is only : the . second season that .Hodson has been running in' crosscounhy races. He joined the .Wellington Harriers as a novice at*the beginning of last season, and resigned from that club' in order to aSsist\in\the',formation.' of the Brooklyn* Club early in the current _.seaspjt. 1 A Events.for To-Day. . v ■ liast. Saturdays race - was ■-the .closing run. of . tie -Wellington Club's season, , but, in -view; of .the ' coming Toad- race, it was decided to hold a .training run 'to-day, from Te; Aro Baths,; at-: which any intending, competitors will be welcomed.'? ..-. Brooklyn Harriers will; decide' their \ club championship at Miramar to-day. This, by'.the way,, will. / be the, fifth'run held by this club from 1 Miramar in six weekl, which speaks '.: largely. " for, the superiority of the country;in that.yicinity over other, .parts within/easy reach of Wellington . forVcross-country purposes. ' The "runs-irf" trophy, for the'highest aggregate for. this 'season' scored by members of, the 1 Wellington .'Harriers in the weekly, runs;.' has been won by C. Rowberry, with the . narrow margin! of one point from P. Wilton, with C. lamberg a good-'third.-; . Is Old England Decaying? _ The week, before last there appeared in . this column a copy of h .-very severe indictment , of English amateur -. athletic management culled from ' the "Athletic News." As i 6 only to be expected, the article caused no ,6mall stir-in athletic circles at'.Hotae, and though so .far. English files do not show that any official notice has been taken of the drastic: criticism'meted out *to those' in charge of affairs;.there has been'no lack of confirmatory correspondence received by the "News." As thore is a lesson to be learnt) by, our Dominion Executive from the exposure of the methods employed by those conducting .spdrts meetings in England and their consequent evils; the following letter to the author of the article from , an official of one of-the leading clubs will be instructive Sir,—l .have read with interest your notes on the evils of betting at amateur sports, and your drastic condemnation of the manner in which the officials of the N.C.A.A. close their .eyes to the breach of:the rules, and from my- own knowledge I am in full agreement with the whole of your remarks. But this evil is not the only one with which the officials of the N •, C - A 4- are full 7. cognisant. One of the rules of tho association states that competitors sending in entries. without fees are liable to suspension, and secretaries who accept such entries place themselves under the same ban. I make bold to say that the only,genuine sports' secretaries who carry this rulo out to the letter are those connected with small country meetings who are ignorant of the devices of introducing first-class competitors to their gatherings, and who aro afraid' of tho consequences of violating the laws of the association. It is from this source that tho majority of the "no entry fee" complaints are received. Therefore it is no wonder that an athlete is surprised' when ho receives a communication requesting before the district committee for committing such an offence at tho class of meeting referred to, when ho has competed at sports whoso secretaries have been officials of the- N.C.A.A. without, paying a penny piece.. Now, if- tho people who mako tho rules refuse to carry them , out, how can they reasonably .expect secretaries of minor clubs struggling toe a mere existence to do so f I do not
think your denunciation of officials is half strong enough. In'the meantime I hope you will continue with the great crusade in support of purity in the sport of athletics, and trust your efforts will meet with tho success they richly deserve.—L. N. Richardson, hon. secretary, Bury A.C. Bury,' August 3, 1910. A Good Mile. •An English file says:—"At the Manchester City Police sports E. R.. Voigt ran ' a very fast mile. , Starting from scratch in a field of -14 runners, tho champion completed the distance in Win. 19 i-ssec., which is the fastest time ever recorded for the mile in the North of England. Although Voigt accomplished such a fine performance, the handicaps served out to three other competitors enabled them to finish in front of him, the winner breasting the tipe in 4min- 16 4-ssec. Broil Voigt, the runner mentioned, is a good and consistent performer. His most noteworthy feat,, is the winning of the five-mile flat race at the last Olympic games—the one (and only running event won at that historic meeting by an English representative. In July last he won the English: two-mile championship. Statement Needing Correction. , The "Otago Witness" has-the following:— The world's record of 57 l-ssec. for 440 yds. over hurdles, established some time ago by John L. Davis, did not stand long, for the 'Sporting Life', states that at the. Crystal Palace sports recently G. R. L. Anderson made a successful ..at; tempt to lower; the ,440 Yards Hurdles record, and it is further'stated that, he .succeeded in • reducing' the time to 56 4-5 sec. _ The previous English record was 57 4-ssec., which time was accomplished by both T. M. Dunnivan and J. 'B.'Densham. -Davis's'best times were 57 2-sseo. and 57 l-ssec." . .In -jusfioe 'to that fine . New . South Wales hurdler mentioned, J. L. Davis, this. calls .for correction. , -My southern fellovr-scribe has evidently overlooked the' fact that the English "lepper" put up his . performance of 56. .4-seec. over the low" or three-foot.- hurdles. Therefore, the record. established by Davis in: Sydney last 6eason still 'stan^9. gxxid, being; over - the standard- or. ■ 3ft. ? Gin. fence. ■- .
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Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 931, 26 September 1910, Page 5
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1,717ATHLETICS. Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 931, 26 September 1910, Page 5
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