LAND AND WATER

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 58

LAND AND WATER

SCULLING.

i PALMERSTON N., August 12. I The Manawatu Daily Time* announces that Mr S. Messena, of Foxton, to-d*y |oab)ed to Mr Coombee, of Sydney Referee, ijlrifehd-rawing- the stake deposited for „ the poollLag match Whelch v. Day on the Manapwtu River, ac it was not covered in time. jjSlr Messena, in conjunction with another sSToxton •portoiuun, has decided instead to an sutuuiai international sculling .WmiT on the- Manawatu River, three fjdttn and a-half above Foxton. They will Nput xvp £200 in stakes, to whioh will be idded 20 p*K cent, of gate money The jjjgate money is not to exceed 2s 6d per head, 'and nrMtng«ments liave been made with ; -w4iiole proprietors that the fare out to the aovno of the race, to which there is a good toad, shall not exceed 2s 6d The course, -which will bo visited by Arnst on the 19th met., is straight dead water with level banks 4ft high, permitting an uninterrupted view. 'The proposal is to hold the event in the first week in December if the tide suite that itreek. The preliminary heats will he Slowed on the Wednesday, and the semifinals and finals on the Friday, other sports occupying Thursday. It is understood that -Dick Arnst, and probably also his brother, -Cogwell, Pearce, Whelch, Day, and, it is fcoped, Webb, and all the prominent scullers ;will take part.

SWIMMING THE CHANNEL.

LONDON, August 15. . Holbein, in 12 hours, covered 20 miles in Jjis Channel swim, but failed to cross owing to sickness.

NOVEL ROAD RACE.

' The Tuapeka Times reports that Joseph .Williams, miner, undertook for a wager of ;-'iß2s aside, to sover the distance between Lawrence and Beaumont (go as you please) in an hour and 45 minutes, and accomjpl&hed the task with seven minutes to >parc on Friday morning. The distance is 12 miles. The exact time of the journey was lhr 33min, or an average of Bmin lOsec t»r mile, -which must be considered a very ood performance for a man 52 years of ftge. The first five miles were run at an ♦yerag-e of about 7min, Williams was in

no way distressed on reaching his destination, and thoee who witnessed the race are confident that he could have maintained the same pace to Rae's Junction, and also that had he chosen he could easily have reduced his time to Beaumont by five minutes.

GREEN ISLAND CLUB. "The Green Island Gun Club held its usual S&frmxSay afternoon sparrow and cla-y-bird competition at Abbotsford. Baffling winds caused the lively little sparrow to dart ground wards, which made the sport very tricky, and after an exciting . sweepstake was shot, Mr Hines had cleaned tihe traps out without a, miss, with " Starlight " runner-up, Mr Campbell also using the walnut very sma^tlj* The next round was one of clay bards, for a trophy p resented to the club, and " Nobel " ran right through without a mies, with " Starlight " close at hand, most of the other shots being baffled by tSe choppy wind, which caused the clays to be very erratic in flight.