PREMIER ATHLETIC CARNIVAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 200, 2 December 1910, Page 7

PREMIER ATHLETIC CARNIVAL

ATTRACTION OF AXEMAXSHIP. While sports promoters and throughout.Taranaki liave of late years (been deploring an unexplainable' but nevertheless waning interest in athletics, in so far as "running and cvcling are concerned, it is remarkable" that meetings that include in their programmes items for bushmen have had a much more pleasing experience. Particularly is this the case with the premier axemen's carnival in Australasia, that held annually at under the auspices of the New Zealand Axemen's Association. There are no doubt many reasons for the deep interest evinced in this two-days' carnival by the public, chief among which may be the purity of the sport. The prizes given by the Axemen's Association run into several hundred pounds, and arc such as to attract practically every first-class exponent of the axe and the saw in Australasia. There is no more exhilarating sight in the arena of athletics than honest competition between highly skilled straight-going muscular giants. And assuredly of all branches of athletics there is none that numbers amongst its exponents so high a percentage of the finest specimens of man- j hood. -Theirs is a public exhibition oftheir honorable vocation, and as compared 1 with the prowess of the sculler, the cyclist or the runner, is incomparable in its usefulness. There is, further, to the town-dweller, a glamor of the bush over those who toil in the solitude of our forests, which ■ undoubtedly is an additional magnet drawing crowds to the busliman's holiday. This year the Eltham Carnival has attracted as big entries as ever, and not a single champion of the day is missing amongst the nominators. The presence,, amongst other redoubtable Australian wielders of the axe, of Charlie Miley, the champion of the Commonwealth, this year adds greater interest than ever to* the contests. Already the Railway Department, guided by the experience of the past two years, when they have been called upon to handle enormous crowds from both the north and south of Eltham, have made complete arrangements in anticipation of a greater incursion than ever. Given fine weather (and it invariably has been fine for this gathering) there is little doubt the Department will find it has not overestimated its requirements. On Boxing Day and December 27, so far as Taranaki is concerned, all roads will lead to Eltham.