HARRIER RACING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 191, 30 August 1937, Page 7

HARRIER RACING

H.B.-P.B. _ Provincial Championships EYENLY-CONTESTED EVENTS On Saturday the Hawke 'S BayPoverty Bay Provincial Harrier championships were held over the Hastings Club's course, of miles, commenciug from the racecoufse. There was a large gallery of spectators to witnpss the progress of what proved to be two most evenly-contested and highly interesting races. The A grade event was contested by one team eaeh from Hastings and Napier, and in the B grade the Hastings Club fielded two teams, and Napier and Dannevirke one each. In tho A grade event Napier proved successful by the narrow margin of two points, dnd in the B grade the Hastings Club turned the table to win by eight points. lndividual honours in the majoi event went to the Napier club champiorij A. G. Hughes, with A. Lord of Napier, runner-up, and I. Dyer, of Hastings, filling third position. In the B grade event the winner was J. Mclntyre (Dannevirke) with A. Taylor (Hastings) second, and R. McGregor (Napier) third. THE RACE DESCRIBED The 12 runners in the A grade weut away to a good start, and for the first 14 miles remamed fairly well bunched. At this stage Hughes (Napier) was ltading, followed closely by Dyer, Anderson, Aobertson and Hunt. At the 2J-niile peg Hunt had moved into first place, with Hughes, Anderson, DyCr, Lord and Robertson in close order. At the end of the first lap Hughes had regamed the lead, his time beiug 19 nuns. 3 secs. After 44 miles Hughes was leading from Dyer by 2(J yurds, and at 10-yard intervals came Robertson, Hunt, .Lord and Anderson. At tho 54-mile inark Hughes had increascd his leqd over Dyer to 50 yards, aud 15 yards i'urther back came Lord, followed closely by Robertson. Over the last rnile several changes took pluce, Hughes eveutually beating Lord , by 38 secs. Dyer aud Lord had a keen tussile for second position, tlie latter defeating his oppoiient by five yards. B GRADE EVENT In this event 24 runners faccd the starter, and from flie gun a good pace was set. Mclntyre immcdiateJy took the lead, which he maintained throughout the race, A. Taylor being the only man to seriously challenge liiin at any stage. Mclntyre, at the end of the first lap, had cloeked the good time of 18 mins. 53 secs., which was 10 secs. faster than the A. grade time for this lap. The leader was steadily increasIng his lead over Taylor until at Ihe 5-inile peg the distance botween these two was 100 yards; McGregor, who had been lying well back, had now come into third position, and following hira were Johnson, Marshall, Barner, L. Dyer and Manley in that order. The first six positions remained unchanged to the end of the raco. Detailed results are as follows: — A GRADE A. G. Hughes (N) 38mm 5 sec .... 1 A. Lord (N) 38.43 2 I. Dyer (H) 38.45 3 A. Robertson (H) 39.8 4 A. Hunt (H) 39.10 5 J. Hatch (N) 39.38 6 B. Anderson (H) 40.9 7 B. Reid (N) 40.31 8 B GRADE J.MacIntyre (D) 38.9 1 A. Taylor (H) 39.27 2 R. McGregor (N) 40.31 ....(. 3 R. Johnson (N) 40.48 4 H. Marshall (H) 41.16 5 P. Barrer (H) 41.44 6 T. Manley (II) 42.0 7 A. Harper (D) 42.9 8 Points.— A Grade: Napier 17, Hastings 19. B Grade: Hastings 20, Napier 28, Dannevirke 50. THURSDAY DIVISION The final run for tho season for the Thursday division,was held l»st Thursday from the racecourse. Meqfbers completed two laps of the track proper, and owing to unfavourable weathef conditions there was only a poor attendance of members. The final sprint over the last 150 yards saw A. de Frere beat T. Manley by a fow yards.