Amateur Championships. (Special to Free Lance)

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 78, 28 December 1901, Page 6

Amateur Championships. (Special to Free Lance)

U r ( KLAXT), Monday FORTUNATELY the* bad weather experienced eaih in the week ck'arod up b\ Fndd\ The mteiest taken in the New Zealand championships on Wediiesda\ was not gieat As was expected Auckland easil\ won the bannci tlien t a H x being B">i points (anteibui\ sennng 3dl points Wellington 19 and Otago 3 Tlie standaid was leaclied nine times the weathei being, all in favour of recoid breaking; Smith «a* one of the henoGS of the gathering He won three championships on the Wednesday and was not extended in any of them. Great interest was taken in Webster's appearance. In the. 100>ds his disp^ was disappointing but m the 220 yds and 410 yds he ran light up to the foim credited to him He had hard luck in the Australasian 440vds championship He had a bad passage all the wav otherwise he would have won Simp&on (Canterbury) is a champion of champions. He was not once asked to gallop in either of the four events he won but it remained for Satui day's racing to show what a 'dandy" he >s The daA was a perfect one, and, making all his own running, Simpson made the pace in the Three Miles Championship a "elmker," and put np the time of 14mins 49sec — only losecs outside the world's amateur record for the distance It is haid to say what time he would have put up had he been oushed and there is no doubt about it that he is the finest long-distance i miner ever seen in New Zealand. He received a great ovation from the spetators on completing his run. Simpson is a man ellous. sta^ er His last charter miles in all his races were the fastest, and the last 100 yds were all finished at top and he i>ulled up without, showing the least distiess Blake (Victoria) was supposed to be a good thing for tlio long-distance Australasian championships but he had to play second fiddle to Simpson Moar (Victoria) was too much class m the lOOvds, which he won in lOsecdead, beating Smith b\ two yards. The walks went to New Zealand Wilson was disqualified on the first daj , in the mile, but made no mistake after that He fairh walked Bairett (Victoria 1 ) to a standstill. Smith stood head and shoulders abo\ c his opponents in the hurdles The only apparent opposition was m >X 440 yds event but this he won easily, putting up the great tame of .">9sec — 1-ithsec outside the world's record made by Arthur Holder (Wanganui) in Napier a few years ago Smith received a great hearing from the spectators Madill (Auckland) had practically no opposition in the New Zealand championships and won easily, but, through the death of an uncle, he was prevented from taking pait in the Australasian championships O'Reilly is unquestionably a champion, and the go between him and Madill would have been very interesting Henderson (Wellington') ran two fine races in the 440 yds hurdles, and was only just beaten for second place in the Australasian by Gardiner (Victoria) D'ArcA Wentw orth's half-mile was a beauty, and equalled the Australasian remord (lmm o9 1-otlisec). In this event Harper ran up to his best performance, and got mside the standard. New Zealand scored 8 points. New South Wales 3, Victoria 3 and Queensland 1. The judges of the walks were very strict. Thieo out of the four competitois were put off in the New Zealand mile The walking after the first day was very fair. Barrett tried hard to walk Wilson off his feet, but the latter's spurting powers were too good. Keating (Canterbury) ran disappointingly and Dunedin made a poor show only scoring one place in the New Zealand half-mile. The attendance on Wednesday and Friday was only moderate but there was a good muster on Saturday The visiting athletes were taken for a fishing excursion on Sunday which was enjoyable, though marred bv ba-d weather