ATHLETICS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1995, 28 February 1914, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

EBt SlEHcmtr.] THE AMERICANS' RETURN. To-day—American "Return" Meeting, liasin Reserve, March 4—Provincial Championships (M'Yilly Shield Contest). Ne.wtowi'i Park. March 17—Hibernian Sports (Lower liutt).

At tho Top Qf their Form. Oil Thursday morning Manager Eustace Peixotto ars.d Ills siiwli, but able, contingent from the States read© a welcome reappearance ijt WeHingtotu This afternoon at tlio Basin Reserve the public will again be offered an opportunity of seeing our American cousins in action, and this time, under happier auspices than when they were- with us at Christmas time.

Their performances were good thenGeorge Market's beautiful sprinting will he remembered—but they were then undoubtedly feeling the. effects of their throe weeks of sleet- and rain in the South Island, and the resulting greasy and heavy tracks upon which they had been running. Colds a.ud strained musoles were all tod mafty in the little? band, although, as events proved, the members thereof rose supenßF to their misfortuues in. the main. Now, however, all that is changed. The month spent under the sunny skies of An-s- : tralia has been an excellent cure-a-li. The performances- of tho members of the team through the whole- tour On tho other side have been Erst, class. Championships have fallen to their lot galore, and the individual feats right up to Saturday last have -shown tic truo njotier of tho men, . Perhaps the o&st- of these individual performances Was-_ Tenmleton's polfe vault of lift. 6-Jiti., which sets a main that, unless h.e beftts it himself during tho present return visit to the Dominion,, is likely to stand for some considerable time. His best previous effort since leafing America, was lift. 21-lGin., at Masterton on New Year's Day, which, although not passed by the Union, constituted jiri Australasian record. The later effort supersedes this, but there i<i no reason, now that Templeton lias struck form, why he should not eclipse even; this this afternoon, should the elements be propitious.

Reg Caughev, too, has beaten Australasian record flgujps with the. shot since leaving onr shores. It will be remembered that, at the Athletic Park on Boxing Day lie equalled the existing Injures of 44ft, 3iii. Jn tk-o recent NewSouth Wales ChauipioAsiiips ho won at43ft. O.Jin., but in two subsequent "nuts" lie registered 44ft. S.Jiu.', and 44ft. BJin. •

Somo Who Will M?et Tiwm, The entries and handicaps lior to-dav have been published. Besides the loc.il talent the nominations include: 11. J. Martis, of Wanganui, asid W. Harvs*. of Masterton, the Dominion's sprint mid pole vault champions. Martis is meeting Parker ofl lerei terras in the 100

Yards and the quarter, and has 2yds.. from him in the 220 yds. "Jimmy" Wilton also comes into the quarter on the scratch mark, so both our New Zealand champions bare "man-sizo" tasks before them te-dav. Both, however, oyi present fofiu, aro worthy of the work sot them, a.rnl win or lose, the esperi* eneo of meeting a tried man like the California!* crack.oil even terms slioHld bt> an invaluable one.

Oilier Dominion champions engaged aro; I'. Doyle and A. Hudson. Tho former's appearance will ensure far Tcinpleton's worthy opposition i» the hurdles, and, to a less extent, in tho .high jump, while Hudson's appearance in the three miles will bo fall of interests as it will be his first run over the distance since he won his championship.-

Wslcome the Hutt Ctub. An important happening in local athletic circles last week was the formation. of a club at tho Hutt. The new body cattle into being a very vigoreaS infant indeed, and already the mombership_ roster numbers seventy odd. The moving spirits in tho good cause were our old friend, r. J. Fitzgerald, exchampion walker, and Mr. E. J. Mingle, the latter of whom is at the hotel as honorary secretary. The new club is fortunate in having the sympathy of the municipal atithort tics strongly with it, and at the inaugural meeting, the Mayor of the borough, Mr. % J. Bunny, gave his assurance that all that lay in his council's power Would ho done to rnako the movement a Success, . Hutt has a very fine recreation ground, situated practically at the doors of members, and, with the _ co-operation of the Borough Council, it will be available for training purposes, . It was suggested at the meeting that a permanent jumping pit be laid down for the uso of eluh membets, and with this adjunct to the ground the Valley athletes would be afforded alhround training opportunities now denied to their town brethren.

A start with the active side of the venture will be made on St. Patrick's .Bay, March 17, when the Hibernian Society is conducting a meeting. The events under N.Z.A.A.A. riles include 120 yards, 220 yards, 440 ,vaids, and half-mile and handicaps, so that in addition to the new club's members tlwsre should bo a good entry from the- City runners. Entries close with Mr. M. J. Hotlgtus, Lower Hutt, on March 10.

Tiio Handicap Misohlof. Last week "Mercury'' ir-printed fronta- Sydney paper an. article setting forth the views of the members of the American team on tho system fff handicap' running so much in vogue in Australasia. It will be remembered, that tho visitors expressed themselves very strongly against the handicap system, tho objection being that it was not so likely to develop ife highest abilities of competitors as continual scratch racing. This matter lias been taken tip by experts in Australia and some remarks by ,-i writer in the "Sydney Horn hi;; HeraW" on the subject, are worthy of attention White not agreeing entirely -with the suggestion of Mr. Peixotta, manager of the American athletic team, to delete- handicaps from the list of events, it must be admitted . that participation m scratch races tends to the. iittaiiifneiit of high-class rimuiugj earlier tlian a succession of events in which the competitors are allotted starts. On tho other hand there is a distinct advantage in handicap rasing, inasmuch as it enneyrages the doubtful performer to try his bawd, a-.nd from tj:e ranks, l-iavo come some of oii.r moat noted performers- Tho Americans euitfvato inter-club und inter-Umversilv contests, am.) in- this class of competitroii lies the seefct of their siic* cess. For instance, every tve.ck ■ there is Competition for the fastest " men ift every institution, and the . fact that, points eottnt for all the places gives at least* three men from each club a chance to perform in every event. t'ndonlrtcdly, scratch events aro going to improve our standard; but lit the same 'time the body charged with': administering the , spjrt must not, overlook'tile fact that- the. inferior performer must tw catered for, as the objert of all a«atW sporting concerns should be to increase rather than decrease the number of active participants,' Club contests would no doubt fill the gap existing fa>day 111 regard to {.lie Inek of scratch- everts, but handicaps should also be bold.

What Nigql Bar Ivor Thinks of if. Among the objectors', too. is Mr. Nigel Barker,, tho famous Sydney recordholder. Interviewed . on the subject, he admitted that there was a lot to )»e said for the Amertam viewpoint and continued"l. agree that an .excess of handicap running is a had tiling, but there is rcom for the handicap for all that, if only as a stepping-stone- to bring meninto a better class, 'tlio man starting running would have 110 scope at alt unless there were handicaps. To mv mind..' however, there should be two division's of handicaps, or even three. A man, for instance, who wants mo.ro than seven yards start in n hundred has no right to bo ill the same class as the scratch- men.

"So. far from abolishing handicaps altogether, | think tho limited handicap is a tip-top thing. In America it is all Tery well to have scratch events, -for tliero yon find a great many men of nearly equal capacity; but if you had. a series of scratch races here you would find the- samo half-dozen Or so competing ©very time. Some of tho races I lmvo enjoyed most ] -were limited handicaps, promoted at tho time Duffy and Sbrnbb were out hero.. When a mail is beyond a certain range he is 110 help, to y<su as a pacemaker, and is apt to mak-o you strain to lessen his start too quickly; but you faii. give a man five, or ©yen seven yards, and enjoy tlio ra<&. I don't agreo with tlio American visitors that a man can always do best against other scratch men.

"What I think .should be encouraged hero more than anything else, -however, are team and relay races. They should be made a bigger feature at sports tlia.u they- aro at present."

Provincial Championships. The annual M'Villy Shield contestin other words, tbo Wellington Centre's Provincial Championship Meeting —is set down for March 4at tho- Newtown Park. The gathering is to formone of tho attractions of the Citizens' Car-nivalf and if tho competition for the shield makes £o.r as good a day's sport as has been tho oaso for tho past two years it will, bo -a notable attraction indeed.

The keen struggle between tho shield bolder—tho W.A,A,o.—and tlfe raiding cantinpent from tho Wairarapa last seasen will bo long remembered. On that occasion the countrymen were in the lead up to the last quarter flat—i» groat win by "Jhway" WU» to landed tho City elub home as winners by one sbiitary point. This time tho countrymen are sparing no effort to break their secj-i'ionco of second places, arid hy all nppoArAiusca their day has conic at last. M'lvwmr-. Rradbiirv, Sfes.'ieiißftr, Hafroy. and Co.. from tho W;'.irar:>pn, are plrdinc; lip their loins, arid it is said in MaStorton thai if thsy do not got that shield this time they need not conic home. Mnste-rtoii wants that M'Villy Shield, and it is an open secrci. that nothing would pleasm Mr. M'Villy more, than to see that,' district got it.