ATHLETICS. The weather this year has been excellent for Athletics, but it has been equally good for the many other activities of this full term. On many occasions, therefore, the rival claims of Hockey and Boating, to say nothing of the House Concerts, interfered with our programme. Nevertheless, there was no falling-off in the standard of performance, and the turn-out, although still capable of improvement, was as good as last year. Each boy had, whether he took it or not, the chance to try each Standard at least three times. In the Standards competition, the Rise once more finished ahead, with an average of 9.05 points per boy. School House were second with 8.09, and Manor and Temple were closer than the approximate figures of 7.51 and 7.50 suggest. Only six boys (as compared with ten last year) obtained four or more High Standards, and of these, Gillgrass, with six in the Junior events, deserves special mention. A comparison of the results with those of the last two years is interesting. Whereas last year the number of High Standards had risen by twenty, the increase this year was a mere six, from 94 to 100. Moreover, the performances on Sports Day were, in most cases, the same as last year. These two facts would seem to suggest that natural ability in Athletics has taken us as far as it can, and that in order to force up the standard of our performance, a good deal more coaching and hard work, particularly amongst those with athletic talent, is necessary. Sports Day was fine, except for the cold wind which so often troubles us on these occasions. Once more we ran the Sports on the team basis, and each House entered two boys for each event. The Rise had a commanding lead in Standards, and started to increase it with every event, for with Hart and Shepherd, backed by Haysey, Marx and Duffield, they were scoring at least one place in every event. Nor was the fight for second place as exciting as it has been in the past. School House had no difficulty in maintaining a respectable distance behind the Rise and in front of the other two Houses, and the final result was the same as in Standards, except that Temple and Manor changed places. Of individuals it is only necessary to say a few words to emphasise what has been said above. In Hart we have a very good sprinter and jumper, who makes up for his lack of size with a remarkably fast action and a zest which many would do well to imitate. Ringrose ran well, but would do 33
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