Winter Athletics at the Domain

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 105, 25 July 1927, Page 10

Winter Athletics at the Domain

ELLIOT’S BRILLIANT WIN

KELLS IN FORM AGAIN By leaping the last three yards, A. J. Elliot, Auckland sprint champion, won the 75 yards handicap event at the Amateur Athletic and Cycle Club’s sports meeting on Saturday afternoon. Five yards from the finish Roper was leading, but Elliot took another stride and then hurled himself at the tape to win by the closest of margins. It was a brilliant finish to a close race, and strengthens the claim of many that “A.J.” will be a formidable rival for Leadbetter at the next Dominion championship sprint. Out of ten starts Elliot has now won this event on seven occasions. Roper, formerly from 3£yds. and now from the 3iyds. mark, makes things hot for the champion. The proverbial finishing order is A. J. Elliott, first; H. S. Roper, second; won by a touch. THE STEEPLECHASE The starters in the two and a half miles steeplechase found the ground heavier than usual, and those who were not in form soon dropped out. Clark, who is well past the half century mark as far as age is concerned, showed the younger runners a clean pair of heels for the first three rounds, but the pace in the last lap told. He continued o fight on gamely but three others preceded him to the tape. KELLS’S GOOD WIN By winning this event from the scratch mark, Gordon Kells, the 1926 Dominion cross-country champion, showed fine form. It was pleasing to see him win such a close race, and showed that staleness is the only thing wrong with his running. Now that he has decided to take a rest before participating in the Auckland cross-country championship meeting on August 13, he should be a hard man to beat by then. OTHER PERFORMANCES N. F. Cooper acted as a pacer for Kells throughout the race. They were never separated by more than five yards and ran together for the first few rounds. In the last lap, however, Kells took the lead and although Cooper made strenuous efforts to overhaul him in the last two hundred yards, he failed. Henshall, who always runs consistently well, was in better form than usual on Saturday, and although not conspicuous early in the race finished in a splendid manner. A SCHOOLBOY’S RUN Another good performer in Saturday’s steeplechase was O. D. Mills, of the Mount Albert Grammar School. This was his first race for the A.A.A. and C. Club, and he certainly created a good impression. Following are the results: 75 YARDS HANDICAP A. J. Elliot (scr.) 1 H. S. Roper (3‘3yds.) 2 R. G. Kirkwood (6£yds.) 3 Won by the closest touch, with inches between second and third. Thirteen started. Time, 8 1-lOsec. STEEPLECHASE About 2i Miles. Gordon Kells (scr.), 15min 34 2-ssec 1 N. F. Cooper (12sec.) 15min 34 3-osec 2 K. P. Henshall (45sec.), 15min 59 2-ssec 3 A. Clark (155 sec.), 16min 8 3-ssec. .. 4 C. Scown (32sec.), 16min 14 3-ssec .. 5 O. D. Mills (llOsec), 16min 22 2-ssec 6 Won by four yards after a close race up the straight. There were ten yards between Cooper and Henshall. PUTTING THE SHOT R. G. Kirkwood, 33ft 10in 1 D. H. Grant, 33ft 3in 2 G. Gilchrist, 32ft 9in o THROWING THE DISCUS G. Gilchrist, 99ft 2in 1 J. W. Shirley. 99ft lin 2 Eizzard, 97ft sin 3