ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1166, 17 June 1911, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

L'AFFAIRE WOODGER-AND OFIB. j I (Bv Mekcdbi.J ' FIXTURES. Co-day.—ATellington Harriers Palmer Cup • Competition. runo 21. —Festival ot Empire Sports, London. August 12.—New Zealand Cross-country Championship, Auckland. The Foresight of our "Captains of Sport." That the cabled announcement of W. A. Woudger's indisposition in London, and his consequent withdrawal from competition at the Festival of Empire Sports on June 21 created a feeling of disappointment in town goes without saying. 'JL'ho regret will not ]>h coniincil to Now Zealand, for, in Australia, Woodgcr is thought a lot of as n sprinter, since his defeat of Nigel Barker at the last Australasian Championships. Besides, on this occasion, our sprinter was to have figured as an Australasian rather more than as just a New Zcalander. However, bad as the news is, it might have been worse. It- might have meant that we had been deprived of all representation in the two sprint events. The fact that this is not so, is due to the foresight of .Air. Arthur Marryalt and his energetic Festival of: Empire Sports Committee in sending Ronald Opic Home as AYoodger's understudy. It is true that the young "Cantab." may possibly have played the leading part in tho pieco in any case, but. the writer thinks that, at his best, tho AVcllington man is faster than his young rival. However, lie is happy in tho conviction that there is so little between the two, that the runner who can beat Opic could beat AA 7oodger, or, to put it the pleasanter way, that if AA'eodger could have won Opio still can—always provided, of course, that ho saddles up iit and well, and is not hampered by that strained tendon which the cable man mentioned last week. The Cross-Country Championship. Since being informed that it has been granted the honour of carrying out the big winter event in the athletic calendar, tho Auckland Centre had taken hold of the situation with both hands, and is already up and doing. The other centres have been circularised to ascertain whether they intend sending teams, and the following queries, which wilt indicate the Auckland Centre's intentions, have been submitted to the N.Z.A.A.A. Council by its secretary, Mr. Harry Frost:— Is it permissible to have a sealed handicap in connection with the championship? If so, could we allot special prizes for Ist, 2nd, and 3rd? Docs the course have to be surveyed, or has the distance to be as near live miles as possible? What does the term "true cross-country" mean? AY'ould the Ellerslie steeplechase, course, for instance, be "true cross-country"? It would be about as still' a piece of cross-country as the most greedy could wish for. We contemplate running this championship in conjunction with, and with the assistance (not monetary) of the Auckland Rugby Union. On August 12, Auckland play Thames on Alexandra Park, and our idea is to time the race to finish, about 3 o'clock in front of the grandstand, just before tho commencement of this match. There is always a big crowd at this match, aud the people present would therefore have amateur athletics brought directly under their notice, and the advertisement would certainly tend to benefit us for future athletic tgatherings. Our present'intention is to start the race somewhere adjacent, or on, the Ellerslio racecourse, round the steeplechase course, and across country to Alexandra Fark, over stone walls and fences, and, say, twice round., the trotting track, taking fences en route, and finishing, as I say, in front of the grandstand. It will be seen that our Auckland friends are "on to their job," and, provided they can secure tho co-operation of the southern centres in the matter of representation, that they intend to do tho thing thoroughly and well. Brooklyn Club's Scaled Handicap. From my esteemed harrier colleague comes the following::— . . -V record field for the Brooklyn Ilarriois faced tho starter last Saturday on the occasion of the annual three miles scaled handicap race for club trophies at Miramar." From a good start, effected by Mr. It. A. AVrighv, M.P. (club president), C. Murrav shot out in the lcad-a position which'he held for tho first half mile. Ho was then displaced by F. Byrne,' who had his brother, V. Byrne, closo on his These three runners kept in the van throughout, the Byrne duo getting a break on--Murray, who was labouring heavily at tho half distance. Rearing the straight F. Byrne put on the pace, his brother trying hard to respond, only b crack up in the attempt. Meanwhile, the tired Murray had found his second wind, and was making a valiant effort to overhaul tho leaders, but the distance was too short to make up the deficit in, and he had to be content with third P The finishing times of the place-getters were:—F. livrne, l'min. Juscc; V. Byrne, ISmin. ssce.'; C. Murray, 18min. 13sec. Hodson and Don followed in ISmin. 30sec, and lDmin. 3scc. respectively. No ono of this quintet, however, was fated to carrv off tho trophy for the Sealed Handicap, which was lifted by "Sam" Murray, who finished ninth in SOmiii. ssec, or (nfter deducting his time allowance) in 17min. 30sec., thus winning from Byrne by 15scc—a good handicapping. Indeed, the handicappors, Messrs. W. 11. Philp and I'. Wilton, ought to bo quite pleased with tho result of their close studies of form, as they produced (in addition to the closo finish for first place) a dead-heat for second place between F. Byrne (scr.) and A'. Byrne (20sec), and a further tie for fourth place between C. Murray (scr.) and .1. Don (50soc), while Hodson just managed to beat Pointon by one second for fifth place—an excellent allotment, truly. S. Murray was a "surprise packet" and, in view of the improvement which ho has made since last year, was thoroughly deserving of his win. Tho success of tho Byrne brothers, who are both novices, should have the effect of causing a searching inquiry on the part of last year's cracks—Murray, Hodson, and Don —as to the cause of their reversal of previous form. Don, in particular, has shown a falling-oft which a little serious attention to training should soon remedy, while the other rlair appear to bo overtrained. To-day the Brooklyn club will run from AA'yalt's Kiosk at AVorser Bay, when a punctual start is to bo made in order to finish tho run before darkness sets in. Wellington-Why This Thus-ness? Last Saturday the Wellington Harriers' register recorded one of the best musters of the season, twenty-one runners turning out from tho Tliorndon Baths for their weekly run. By comparison with the musters of the preceding few Saturdays this was a highly satisfactory state of affairs, yet tho question crops up: Why should there not bo over twenty runners on any Saturday? "Willi the Palmer Cup race in view to-day every active member should have been in his place last week. A'et we find quite a number of entrants for this race absent, and this number, alas, includes the club's vice-captain. 'Selection of a course was left to "Alpinist" P. Dement, and F. Rollo, and (he pack followed their trail expecting nothing of less altitude than the crow's nest on the Kaka Range. However. Percy risked the loss r.f his reputation by making for AA'adeslown by means of the easy gradient of the newly-formed tram track, thcnre through Wilton's Bush In Karori and, by a comparatively easy climb, to the top of the Tinakori Hills, and back to the finishing place, via AVadeslown. Paced by IT. .T. Pollock, and whipped in by AV. Press, the pack was kept well in hand throughout the run until within half a mile of the post, when the "runin" commenced. The Rowherry Bros. FPcnred the first two places Chas. aud Felix finishing first and second respectively, with Press a good third. A feature of the run was the good display of_ (hat consistent trainer (yet most inconsistent

runner) the popular "Bob" I'eid. Could licid only reproduce last Saturday's form to-day, the Palmer Cup is at his mercy, although the course is somewhat short for one who aspires to nothing less than the full Marathon distance. Should all the onlrants for the Palmer Cup go to I lie post to-day there will be a record held for the event. The present holder,

C. Lamborg, will create a big surprise if he runs as well to-day ns he did last year, as he has completely.neglected training operations this season.

Should 11. A. Lamb secure a win today the Palmer Cup will pass out of the Club's possession, hn being the only runner who has hold it on two previous occasions.

Tho services of Mr. Chas. Lamberg as lion, secretary of the Wellington Harriers have boon lost to tho club, as he has resigned his position through stress of business. At the conclusion of tho last weekly run a general meeting of members elected Mr. E. O'Neill to fill the vacancy. At the same meeting arrangements were put in train for tho club's annual dance, a sub-committee of five members being appointed to carry out the function. l)uving the week a meeting of tho combined committees of Wellington and Brooklyn Harriers was held to draw up a series of combined runs and social functions for the remainder of tho season. Next Saturday will see the end of tho first syllabus of each club, so that little time remains for the second schedule of runs to make its appearance. Athletics at tho Exhibition. Good sport and ;v good house was the order of the night at the Stadium on Wednesday last. Tho niilo final, held over from the previous week, resulted in a good win by 10 yards or so by Frank Turner, who after running a heady race in the rear for most of tho journey put in a hard run three laps from home, and passed tho harrier man, who had been well paced by his confreres from Brooklyn. Eight of the" nine who qualified started, and the distance was covered in dmin. 59 3-s?ec. ' The walk was another good race. Seven started, all our best-known pedestrians being engaged, with Cashman on scratch and Fitzgerald and Turner on the 25 and 35 yards respectively. As seems usual the contest resolved itself into a contest over tho deciding stages between the two back-markers. Cashman eventually winning by a yard from Fitzgerald. The other athletic items, a relay race and high jump, were well_ contested, the former proving very exciting. Pcole'n pursuit and passing of Kitto in the final stage being a most dramatic effort. M'Namara won the high jump at sft. 3in., not at all a bad performance off the I asphalt.