ATHLETICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 62

ATHLETICS.

FIXTURES. August 28—Poit Chakners to Dunedin Road SepKer 9.-N.Z. Cross-country Championship, Timaru.

% KOTES BY AMATEUB. On all sides ope hears, " Well done, fnWealth Scates were arrayed against each other. The most optinusfac -««»»£* ! us scarcely dared hope for such a fine series of performances as -were pu up by , New Zealand's ohanrnion<3. I TFTjera tire 2^-e.w Zeslsund team was tLPSt uTMoimceA, *and we looked dowo t&e ranks • of talent— everyone a onamipion in bis da<s— ho** rose high in human breast, but cs one aifcsr another gradually dropped oufc <riiil d the original team, selected ■four champions were left behind, it was wrtli feielings of uncertainty that tbe little tend of champions was given; a send-off. Thero •were, however, many optimists amongst us, and not the least of these was Dr Newman, of Wellington, president of tn» * New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, whose *nal .word of encouragement rmi=ifc have helped things *!ocg considerably. The members of th© team themseTws felt cheerful, optimistic," but d«atS in their hearts thjy recognified that in onder to retain the pxecniership honours won in Hobart last year every man. would Ivavo to be at his test. How well they perforated is now history to every enthusiast who takes an interest in amateur athletics. TiJcing the order of events on the first «lay the Three-mile appears to have been the first of the championship events on the (Wbgra-nxme. So far as we in this island were concerned over the Three-mile Flat, it was {not would the- New Zealand representative win, but by how much? lit was generally anticipated that, bar accidents, Miles • Dickson, tha New Zealand champion, would be too superior over the distance to anything the Commonwealth, could produce. The confidence wa3 not betrayed. 1 Diekson won easily by 150 yds from Blake, of Victoria, wi£h 'Laft'ren, of Victoria, 50yds away, third. Th© tim.3— lsmin 21 4-ss3c— is well und-ar standard, but sugg«et3 that Dickson was not pressed, or possibly that he was nursing his leg and taking no risks. j Our own distance runner, M'Knight, appears, after taking the lead, to havo rua himself out — probably a badly -judged race, for the Caversham man finished out of a. place.

. Woodger's dual win of the 220 Yards the first day of the meeting and the 100 Saris on the eecord are- noteworthy performances at the big gathering. It was ger*iraJ!y believed that' in thes* events ihe young Wellington flyer's roost danger- / bus vival would be Nigel Barker, of Svdaey,. wfco^ has been the mainstay of New South Wales in sprint events iox some years. Woodgor appear^ to have won very easily. It was generally believed that if he got off with the " gain " it would* be very speedy stuff that would catch him — a recollection of his greyhound run in the 220 Yards at the championship meeting on the Caledonian Oround a few months ago was the foundation for this belief, and it would seem quite correct. In the 100 I was ius-t afraid the more experienced Barker would beat Woodger "off the mark," for it was no State secret that Woodger is slow in getting off. However, there is no suggestion of hesitancy in Brisbane. WoodgCT, we are told, won his heat comfortably, and " held " hi 9 opponents in th© final for the- first 50yd«. then, drawing away, won by half a yard in lOfeec. ' x The Pole Vault was fairly open, but New Zealand pinned its faith to Len if'Kay, the ex-Dunedin athlete and footballer. M'Kay did not vault so well as at the previous Australasian championship, Hobart, and had to be content with dividing honours with Walker, of Victoria. The standard of 10ft was beaten by 3in. M'Kay's previous best was the Australasian amateur record, of lift lin, at Hobart. _ Despite the warnings concerning the ability of Harley. of Sydney, to lower the colours of the New Zealand champion Kerr in the mile and three-mile walks, the Wellington man appears to have held too many guns for the Sydney man, whom he defeated easily in the two events. Kerr walked grandly, according to the cable, and was never in trouble at any stage. His times are excellent for both events — 22min 2 3-ssec for the three-mile, and 6min 33 4-ssec for the mil*. In the Half-mile and Mile there was nothing better than Wheatley, of Victoria, Mid with Haskins diopping out of the New Zq&land team, there was really only the

Victorian in it. Wheatloy does not appear to have been extended, as his times would ; show. Under the circumstances it would have been really interesting to know how Haskins would have performed alongside the Victorian. \ The reaJ surprise of the meeting was the j win of G. P. Keddell in the Quarter Hurdles. Even his most optimistic sup- | porters scarcely gave ( him a win in the 440 yards over sticks, 'and it was with the ' greatest pleasure that they read of his vie- j lory even if the time Was poor. This gives j pause to say that Keddell had little inten- i tion of competing in the Quarter Hurdles, and it was onlj on the suggestion of an j esteemed friend and member of the Otago Centre that he decided at the last moment ' to let his name go forward for that event. It was fondly believed that with Davis, of Victoria, not competing, Keddell would i have a good chance in the 120 Yards Hurdles. This proved an honest tip, for Keddell won comfortably in 16 2-5. The Dunedin man is said to have taken the hurdles alone, so that he was not pushed, otherwise .he jnight have clipped a second or two off the time. w In the one event which we did look to Keddell to win — the Broad Jump — he only succeeded in getting second place to Smith, of New South ,Wales, with ji jump of 21ft 4£in. Smith went s£in better. I fear me that Keddell found his "taking off" faulty, j and while he really may have junped up j to form, would be severely handicapped j with a bad take off. '' With. OrteH l*ft faghied 3Jew Zealand did not have a chance in the. High Jump, | and it was supposed that tins event would be divided up bsrtweer New South Wares ami Victoria. All the jumps were good, Smith winning with sft lOin— the same jump with which Orbeil won the championship for New Zealand last year. Keddeil I did not compete. j In the weight and hammer there was j no riling in it birfc O'Reilly, of New South j Wales, who annexed both events— the I weight with 39ft sin and the hammer with 130[t lin. . | New Zealand; was not represented in -he ' Quarter, the ksv.e being fought out bsi twesn New South Wales and Victoria, ; Barker scoring his -only win for the former ] ! Sbat?, beaiing "Wheatley, of Victoria, » vi ' . 50 2-ssec. ! ! M'Knight doss not appear to have run i in the Marathon, for we ere tcld that i " Meore rspresoiued New Z*aJ«nd," and ! finished ninth in 3hr 33min 39sec. Ta-3 I v.inmer's time was 2br sSmin 15 2-ssee. ' ' A. C. Palmer, of Dunedin, the London Hospital crack three-quarter, greatly a.s- ; si-sted his hospital to retain the Ititer-Hos- , I pital o'naUe.nge Shield, for which five Lon«Lor. Institutions competed at Stamford ' Bwdg© th© otter day. Felmer won die , lono- jump at 21ffc 3£in, carried off premier , honours in thi Quan^r-mile after a. clo^> , struggle with T. H. Juet, of "Eart," who j wai btafcen a (oat in 53see, and ran third to EvaTi^ and Stokas. of Guy's, in the 220 Yards, Y.v-an* winning by inclMS only, w.th Palmer lees than a foot tiahind Sfcotoss. Ano^her New Zealander who hd'ped London, i to victory was P. I*. Fcct-e, who threw ! the hammer lO^ift, and won bhat event from th.- holder, Tucker, of Guy'e, the N«w Zea- ] lander's irargin beimg 2£r. Buj. Tub London Hospital claimed fiva first* and three i escor.de. and won ths shield by 59 points i to Guy's 55 (four firsts, five seconds) and Bartholomew's 29. London Hospital has now won. th« trophy five times in the last six yeews. i The nx>st interesting feature of the present *?eason in England is the vastdy-im-proved form shown by the University of Pennsylvania sprinter. "Nat" Cartmell. For ; the past three yeare Cartnisill has made a practice of sponding the summer in England, and two years ago altractad attention i by running J. W. Morton very close in osveral 100 yards races. Last year at the Olynrpis Games he was one of the four to qualify in the 100 metres final, but was outclassed by the other three.— Wa.'ke,r. Kerr, ard Rector. This year he starts:! off remarkably well by running B. E. Walker to a focfc in the 100 Yard* Scratch . at Crewe. the distance being left behind in lOsec. On Jvme 26 he proved that his performan r e against Walk-er «s^ due not to any pocd hick bat to st«rlrn-cf running liy tWcatinijr t.h.3 Canadian hundred and fu--long and Olympic 200 metres champion in the ICO Yards Invii-at. ; on Scratch Race at ih^ Wolverhampton Charity Sports. Cartm.?U "aiTiv«d" jvst on the pest, and beat Korr by inches in 10 l-s=^ec. The sen.re afternoon h.3 added furth?ir to his laurels l>y capturing thi 300 Yards Scratch Race by ljyds in 31 ASz^ec — splendid time. Fiu.l%. at th« English champion -hi pc on July 1 3. he again ran Walker rlore, tho South African wiwning tlie 100 Yard-, by a fcot from tlie Pennsylvanian. It i^ r^iC3i\able that "Walk-eir was not in his be^'t form, but. even admitting that, the improvement in Cartmeiir« runnine in so short a tsnie is little short of amazing. Last Saturday afternoon decided the Dunedin Anelican'Harrkrs' Championship and Sealed Handicap at Tahuna Park. Out of a field of 17 starters it is worthy of note that 15 finished the distance. The race was contested in a stronp nov'-easrerlv wind, which considerably militated ajrainst fast times bfindr put up. The track, j though sli?hrly cut up by the horses, was j a decided improvement on irs condition j or two months ago. when the -Edmond Cup ; was fought out. Wilson, this y par's chamjjion, thoroucrhly de-s°r%es his win, as he had the misfortune the previous season of being unaLle to run owing to an iniurv to his lepr which he received at fooTbaH. It is a pity thot Netman, who made a name for liiinself in thr- Edmond Cup, strained his knee a fortnight aj<o, and has hecn unablo to train '•ince. otherwi B " a close finish would have teen witnessed between Wilson and Notman. As it is. Notman is to be conprratuktpd on finishing second. W. D. Riitheiford, who finished third in the Championship, proved himself to be tha making-; of a good runner, and caused somewhat of a surprise by finishing only a second behind Notman. With reference to the Anglicans' Championship, the secretary regrets that his report was .sliphtly incorrect. Hp makes it appear that Wilson led the whole distance, whereas he learns that Notman, with Wilson close to him, was in the lead until they got outside the park, and it was owinjr to Nofman uettinsr caught in a barbed fence that Wilson drew away from him. On again entering the park, Wilson was leading easily, and owing to Notman bping troubled with the stitch on the beach side of the track Wilson drew farther away from him, and eventually finished fully 100 yards ahead. CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP INSTITUTED. BRISBANE. August 19. The Board of Control of the Amateur

Athletic Association of Australasia reI solved that lists of reinstatements of amateurs be furnished to the board by the various associations; that the rule prohibiting bartering or realisation of trophies be supplemented by prohibiting pawning them; that no amateur be permitted to issue or allow to be issued on his behalf a. challenge for money cr against a professional ; that the all-round individual championship in connection with the biennial Australasian Championship meet- | ing be allowed to lapse. It was decided to hold an Australasian cross-country championship every two years, the distance I to be five miles, with the understanding that the distance should be open to reconsideration after the first two races had I been run. The race was allotted to lasmania for next year, New Zealand's turn coming in 1918. Provision was made for holding javelinthrowing events. The question" of allowing pole-vaulters to malce holes for the insertion of the poles was referred to the State associations. WALKER AND HEFFERNON INVITED. BPvISBANE, • August 19. The athletic conference decided, with a view to arousing interest, to bring E. C. Walker, the sprinter, and Heffernou, longdistance runner, from Durban, at the jointexpense of the affiliated associations. They will make four appearances in New Zealand and two in each of the Australian States.' New Zealand guarantees up to £100. Walker and Heffernon will arrive about Christmas.