AMATEUR ATHLETICS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 142, 11 March 1919, Page 3

AMATEUR ATHLETICS

NEXT SATURDAY'S GATHERING.

Entries for the Wellington Provincial Championship Athletic Meeting, scheduled for next Saturday on the Basin Bescrvo, closed on Saturday evening. The result is gratifying ;to the. promoting bodies, the Wellington Amateur and Victoria College Clubs, and prove that as far as the athletes of the province are concerned tho meeting is to be a popular one. The sprint events have filled particularly well in both championship and handicap races.. That the interest in the meeting is not purely local is shown by the entrio3 received from tho country, clubs in tho Manawatu, Palraerston, and Wairarapa districts all being represented among the nominees for the various evonts. The Mastorton Club especially—in tho past always a keen competitor for the Provincial Championship Shield—has nominated strongly. Owing to the lapse of time since a meeting of this nature has been held in Wellington noccssarily tho bulk of tho competitors will bo new to the public, but that the standard of performance will be good has been guaranteed by tho form displayed at the' weekly evening meetings. The now contestants for. championship honours are well up to pre-war class, and the racing in the premiership events 'should be very keen. The frequency :of the small evening meetings since the New Year has enabled the handicappers to gaugo the merits of tho entrants for the handicaps, and good finishes are looked for in tiiese competitions. Given a fine afternoon and a proper appreciation by the public of tho important part played by, good amateur athleticism in the development of tho physical and moral well-being of our young raauhood, then will next Saturday's rovival be one worthy of the occasion.