Athletics

In spite of the weather, the contest for the Athletic Shield proved to be one of the closest and most interesting for many years, and those who braved the elements were well rewarded. Although without the services of some of our best men—notably Sceats, who had broken a bone in his foot and was unable to compete—V.U.C. succeeded again in winning the shield, but only by a narrow margin. In the circumstances we had foreseen that we would be faced with serious opposition from the two Southern Colleges, and such proved to be the case. Before the last event of the day, the Relay Race, the points for the shield stood, V.U.C., 11½; C.U.C., 11½; O.U., 11. But V.U.C. won the Relay—and the shield. It is interesting to note that this is the first time since the Medley Relay was instituted as a championship event that V.U.C. has succeeded in winning both the Relay and the shield. In 1922-3-4-5 we won the Relay, but could fill only second place to O.U. for the shield. In 1926 and 1927 the positions were reversed—we won the shield, but lost the Relay to O.U.

The winning of the shield this year has again given V.U.C. three consecutive wins. It now remains to win next year and thus equal O.U.'s record of four consecutive wins, and then again in 1930, and beat O.U.'s record.

The individual events this year resulted very much as anticipated; there were few, if any, real surprises. In the 100 yards and 220 yards Malcolm Lead-better, C.U.C. (late V.U.C.), was easily favourite and scored two easy wins.

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J. N. Goodson, V.U.C., ran very well to fill second place in the 100, and third in the 220. Couper of A.U.C. a runner who would do very well with proper training, ran second in the 220. The 440 yards flat and the 880 yards were responsible for two of the closest and most exciting finishes seen at the Tournament for many years. In the 440 only inches separated the first four men. E. B. Smith and E. K. Eastwood, both of V.U.C. were placed first and second respectively. Before the race it was doubtful if Eastwood would be able to complete the course as he had hurt his side a short time previously, but he rose to the occasion, both in this race and also in the relay. In the 880, E. B. Smith was again concerned in a great finish—dead-heating for first place with Bain of Canterbury. Smith is to be congratulated on two very fine efforts. If a word of criticism might be permitted it is this; that he is inclined to get too far behind his field and to leave too much to the final sprint. In these two cases it came oil—one day it will not. The soft ground was responsible very largely for the fact that Priestley did not this year win any event. In the mile he was beaten by that fine runner, E. B. Taylor of Canterbury, who ran a great race in excellent time considering the circumstances. But he would have found Priestley (second in the mile) a different proposition on a firm ground. The same reason can be assigned for Priestley's failure in the 880. In the three miles, Taylor again showed what a fine runner he is, by winning easily. Tizard, A.U.C., clung to him well until the last lap but had nothing to show against Taylor's final sprint. As expected, Ramson, V.U.C., had no difficulty in winning both hurdle events, although in the writer's opinion he was still suffering from staleness. The High Jump was robbed of a great deal of interest on account of Sceats being unable to compcte. There is not a single other jumper in the 'Varsity who can be compared with him. In the Long Jump, Tetley, A.U.C., (1st), and J. D. Mackay, (2nd), jumped well considering the state of the ground. Alley, C.U.C., won the Shot Putting by a narrow margin from Lindsay, O.U., and in the Hammer Throwing, J. G. Leckie, O.U., won and is to be congratulated on creating a record. G. S. Cabot, O.U., won the Walk very easily from his brother, R. H. Cabot.

As stated above everything depended on the Relay Race and the V.U.C. men rose to the occasion magnificently, thanks chiefly to Priestley who ran a great half-mile and gave us a 10 yards lead (plus the moral effect of an excellent start, which was worth at least another 10 yards). The remaining runners, Eastwood (440), Ramson (220), and Goodson (220), increased the lead to 30 yards, and thus settled all doubts as to the residence of the Relay Cup and the Athletic Shield until Easter, 1929.