ATHLETIC NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19996, 13 January 1927, Page 4

ATHLETIC NOTES.

Bx Amateub, Over the holidays there was nothing in the way of sports meetings in Dunedin, but many of the local athletes were, competing at the country fixtures as well as at Tirnaru. The next two months will be busy ones for athletes, and encouragement for training is being given in the shape of evening meetings. At the first of these the 300 yards championship of Otago will be decided. Olsen’s last few races should tune him up If there is one man in New Zealand who should be keyed up by the visit of R. W. Lamb, it is O. Grose, the young Canterbury crack cyclist. His name has been submitted to the Olympic Council as one who shows promise oi developing to Olympic standard by 1928, and it rests with nimself in his meetings with Lamb to prove that he is up to the opinion formed of him by the Council of the N.Z.A.A.A. If hp performs creditably against the Australian, who is undoubtedly among the world’s best. Grose can rest assured that he will be well in the running for a trip to Australia, for the Olympic Council in particularly keen to have New Zealand represented in as many different spheres as possible. Peter Munro is slowly getting back to form, his 150 ft siin with the javelin at a recent meeting in Wellington being decidedly good. CENTRAL AMERICAN GAMES. The first games—actually an Olympiad, although the term may not be used —01 Central America tvero listed to take place in Mexico from October 12 to November 2, although so far no results have come ’ through. This meeting is the first of a 1 series to be held every four years, and the ; Games have been placed under the patron- ; ago of the 1.0. C. The contracting parties I are Cuba, Columbia, Mexico, Venezuela, I the Republic of Central America, ana Carr.bee. and the Board of Control is composed of four members of the National Committee of each country. The programme is very much on a par with that of the Olympic Games. OXFORD RELAY CUP. The Oxford University Relay Cup was finalised at Oxford on November 17, Balliol College winning with the low score of 16 points, followed by Christ Church (25), and Trinity (26). Amongst those present as ■ spectators were Vv. M. Abrahams (C.U.A.C.) and two ex-presidents, E. P. Hewatson and A. E. Porritt. Amongst the competitors were several Rhodes scholars, including A. R. Callaghan (N.S.W.). ATHLETICS IN U.S.A. At Baltimore on November 16 the National Amateur Athletic Unions’ Convention approved of only one of six applications for foreign athletes to enter and compete in the United States. The Convention decided to allow a combined team of Swedish and Danish boxers to tour the United States in 1927. The Finnish runner, Paavo Nurmi, was not allowed to compete in tfie United States. Other rejected applications included those from Wide (Sweden), Petlzer (Germany). Martin (Switzerland), and Baraton (Franca). THE DUNN SHIELD MEETING. A start was made at the Dunn Shield meeting at Sydney with the discus throw, in which R. W. B. Thomson’s (holder of the Australian and New Zealand title) most dangerous opponents were expected to be W, F. Payne and the Swedish athlete, B. Rydbech. Allowing for. the greasy state of the circle, the throwing was not bad, Payne, who had. won with the javelin on the first day, winning well from Thomson, with Rydbech a close third. _ ■ The 440 yards hurdles final, in,- which S. Wheeler did not start, although eligible (owing to a mishap in the heat), fell to IC. Heugh, the holder. B. R. Heath elected to win all the way, and actually was still in the lead at the last flight, but Heugh had too much pace from thence to be worsted. Heugh, who won in 59 4-Ssec, is tall, and, with a thorough preparation and coaching, should make a champion at the game —i.e., over 440 jards. Heath ran really well, and so, too, did his youthful club mate T. G. Melville, surely a champion in the making. There was a mild surprise in the first heat of the 220 yards, wherein the holder (N, R. Burns) met with the first defeat he has sustained in this State for many a day. It was unfortunate that Burns and the Manly crack, A. Walker, should be drawn together, as,- apart from R. J. Winn, they stood well out from the'opposition. Without saying a word to the detriment of' Walker —the “find” of the season amongst our sprinters—l think Burns was _ a trifle unlucky to lose. Firstly they ran in lanes, and, with sharp curves as obtain at the Sports Grounds in two places in the 220 yards course, the inside track is hardest to negotiate, and this has been realised by the Internatonal A.A. Federation, which lays down that the inside track—i.e., the one nearest the flags, must be 30 c.m. wide, and the others each 20 c.m. ‘ At the Sports Ground the tracks were all the same width, and negotiating the greasy turns was not easy—Burns appeared to half pull up twice when almost alongside Walker entering the final straight, and from that on to the finish it was nip and tuck the Manly champion, a very resolute finisher, getting the award by a foot. In the final R. J. Winn, on the extreme outside, had the best of it, Walker on the inside, being unable to gauge his actual position with Winn until the final straight was entered. Winn went hard all the way and won by a good two yards in 23 l-ssec —a capital run under the prevailing conditions. With the holder, W. J. O'Reilly (he won last year at 47ft lin) an absentee, A. W. Winter's chief opponents in the running hop, step, arid jump were A. C. Wood and the Eberts— C. M. and 0. F, The run up was holding, and Winter did well to win, without much apparent effort, at 47ft bin. Of the others, A. C. Wood did best. With some coaching from the. champion Wood should considerably improve bis figures—he takes too lengthy a step and becomes unbalanced for the final Jump, and it is the final jump in which Winter scores. With the hammer, R. W. B. Thomson stood out .on his own, with veteran Carl Ferguson second, just ahead of Payne. Thomson gets in three turns, Ferguson contending himself with two. R. D. Norman made no mistake in the £BO yards. Colin Macdonald and H. Walker took the field along good and hard, but 300 yards from home Norman shot to the front and won sprinting. 11. S. Grandemange started and qualified for the final—he was unwise, for he had a very poor chance over so short a distance, whilst he looked “good” for the three miles—and the three miles race followed the final of the half-mile. Grandemagne turned out for the long race, but naturally his halfmile efforts settled his chance. George R. Parker won the mile walk decisively—he won by a dozen yards, but appeared more intent on coaching F. 0. S. Chapman into second place than in paying attention to time. And Chapman succeeded in defeating R. J. Latham, although very groggy at the finish. Once again Chapman was the stylist of the party—just ahead of the champion in this respect.