BRITISH EMPIRE GAMES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 208, 18 September 1937, Page 18

BRITISH EMPIRE GAMES

- SYDNEY PROGRAMME

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Details of the programme for the British Empire Games, to be held in Sydney from February 5 to 12, 1938, are as follows: — Saturday, February 5. — Grand opening ceremony, track and field athletics, swimming. Monday, February 7.— Boxing and wrostling. Tuesday, February 8. — Cycling. Wednesday, February 9. — Diving, rowing, swimming. Thursday, February 10. — Track and field athletics, boxing and wrestling. Friday, February 11. — Swimming. Saturday, February 12. — Track and field athletics, cycling. Conducted in conjunction with the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Australia, these Games will be the greatest athletic carnival yet attempted in the Southern Hemisphere. More than 400 athletes will compete, including near 200 in visiting teams representing 18 countries cf the Empire- Selected athletes will travel from England, Malta, India? Ceyion, Newfoundland, Bermuda, Trinidad, Jamaica, British Guiana, Fiji and Hongkong, to compete with the best athletes from all parts of Australia. A team of at least six athletes, swimmers, and a trainer-manager will represent Trinidad at the Games; keen competition is expected for positions in the Canadian swimming team, for which trials will be held at Victoria, British Columbia, on December 10; and British Guiana will, almost certainly. be represented by the worldfamous athletes, Dr. Phil Edwards and Walter Spence. Dr. Edwards must be considered as one of the greatest half-mile runners in the world as he filled third place at the Olympic Games at Los Angeles in 1932 and also at the Berlin Olympiad in 1936. In 1934 he won tne championship at the London Olympiad. Walter Spence is a champion allround swimmer who has on several occasions won U.SA. free-style, breaststroke, and back-stroke and medley titles. At one time he held the world's records for breast-stroke swimming at distances of 100 and 200 yards.

New Sports Ground for Empire Games Cycling. Kenson.Parkj a new Sydney sports arena with accommodation for 60,000 people, will be the scene of fhe track cycling events of the British Empire Games of 1938. A modern two-story grandstand has just been completed, and the cycle- track has been bitumen surfaced and banked. The track is 510 yards to the lap, and provides a finishing straight of over 100 yards. Powerful lamps, shaded direct on to the track, make Henson Park ideal for the night racing events to be contested on February 8 and 12, 1938. A road race of 100 kilometers (62.14 miles) will be included in the cycling events of the British Empire Games, and, in view of the high standard of distance cycling in Australia and the fact that overseas teams will also be competing( it is anticipated that the race will be keenly contested.