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

even better if he could be persuaded to take his running a little more philosophically. His style is effortless and nice to watch, but his breathing could be improved. Giligrass promises extremely well, and is blessed not only with a good style, but with a great amount of energy. Haysey was disappointing after last year, and we hope for better things in the future. Shepherd is versatile and will, we hope, develop into a very useful middle-distance runner. Besides these, there are a good many really promising athletes in the School, particularly amongst the Juniors and Intermediates—far too many to mention here—who, with coaching and hard work, can do much for the Athletics of the School by making themselves into really good athletes, raising their standard of performance, and encouraging others to do the same. There are at present too many people in the School whose ultimate aim is a low standard in as many events as necessary.

Finally, a word of congratulation to the Relay teams. The art of Relay racing lies not so much in the speed of the teams as in their ability to cut down to a minimum the time lost at the changes. We still have a lot to learn, but there were signs this year that we realise at least how to go about it.

We are grateful to Mrs. Davison, the mother of the Captain of Athletics, for coming from Durham to present the trophies at the end of the Sports.

The result of the Inter-House competition was 1. Rise ... 2991 points 2. School House ... 265 points 3. Temple ... ... 225 points 4. Manor ... ... 1901 points

The detailed results are given in the following table:-

1. Senior Mile.-1, Ringrose (S.); Harper (T.); 3, Peaty (R.); 4,

Duffield (R.). 5 mins. 35.6 secs. 2. Inter. Mile.-1, Shepherd (R.); 2, Ward (T.); 3, Owen (M.); 4,

Washington (R.). 5 mins. 52.4 secs. 3. Senior 100.-1, Hart (R.); 2, Penniston (S.); 3, Davison (M.); 4, Dench (T.). 11.4 secs. 4. Inter 100.-1, Haysey (R.) and Ward (T.); 3, Marx (R.); 4,

Hobson (M.). 12.2 secs. 5. Junior 100.-1, Gillgrass (S.); 2, Hardisty (T.); 3, Newdick (T.); 4, Lennard (M.). 12l secs. 6. Senior High Jump.-1, Sheriff (T.); 2, Davison (M.); 3, Steele (R.); 4, Norris (S.). 5ft. 1 in. 7. Junior Long Jump.-1, Clark (S.); 2, Baker (R.); 3, Dodsworth (T.); 4, Hardisty (T.). 14ft. 111 ins. 8. Inter. 1-Mile.-1, Shepherd (R.); 2, Owen (M.); 3, Inglis (T.); 4, McKinney (S). 2mins. 371 secs. 9. Senior i-Mile.-1, Ringrose (S.); 2, Harper (T.); 3, Penty (R.); 4, Duffield (R.). 2 mins. 24 secs. 34

10. Senior 220.-1, Hart (R.); 2, Penniston (S.); 3, Norris (S.) ; 4,

Bulmer (T.). 24.6 secs. 11. Inter. 220.-1, Haysey (R.) ; 2, Marx (R.); 3, Legat (M.); 4,

McDermid (S.). 26.8 secs. 12. Junior 220.-1, Gillgrass (S.); 2, Dodsworth (T.) ; 3, Baker (R.); 4, Hardisty (T.). 26 secs. 13. Senior Long Jump.-1, Hart (R.); 2, Penniston (S.); 3, Goodman (M.); 4, Sheriff (T.). 18 ft. 4 ins. 14. Inter. High Jump.-1, Bodington (T.); 2, Smith (M.); 3,

Washington (R.) ; 4, French (S.). 4 ft. 6L ins. 15. Junior Cricket Ball.-1, Rodger (R.) ; 2, Blackburn (T.) ; 3,

Clark (S.) ; 4, Rayson (R.). 68 yds. 2 ft. 6 ins. 16. Senior 440.-1, Norris (S.); 2, Duffield (R.) ; 3, Ringrose (S.); 4, Hey (T.). 631 secs. 17. Inter. 440.-1, Ward (T.) ; 2, Haysey (R.) ; 3, Marx (R.) ; 4,

Hobson (M.). 69 secs. 18. Junior 440.-1, Gillgrass (S.); 2, Dodsworth (T.) ; 3, Baker (R.); 4, Newdick (T.). 64.4 secs. 19. Inter. Long Jump.-1, Shepherd (R.) ; 2, McDermid (S.) and

Spink (S.); 4, Washington (R.). 15 ft. 5 ins. 20. Junior High Jump.-1, Norwood (S.); 2, Rodger (R.); 3,

Drummond (M.) ; 4, Jones (M.). 4 ft. 21. Junior Relay.-1, School House; 2, Temple. 1 min. 28.8 secs. 22. Inter. Relay.-1, Rise; 2, School House. 1 min. 24.8 secs. 23. Senior Relay.-1, Rise; 2, School House. 1 min. 19.4 secs.

CROSS-COUNTRY.

This year it was found possible to run a Cross-Country again, and on March 4th we ran it over the war-time course of two years ago. House teams of eight were run, with six to count. The race was a very good one, and we saw some good packing, especially from the Rise team. The individual winner was the Captain of Athletics, Davison, who emphasised his versatility by adding the Crossountry to his variety of events of last year. Ringrose and Harper started the rivalry which was to last to the end of the Sports, with Harper just the little bit behind which made all the difference. Penty ran extremely well to finish fourth, and with Duffield and Corry packing behind him, made the race certain for the Rise, The time was 22 mins. 15 secs., and the distance about 3 miles. Placings :- Manor. Rise. School. Temple. 1 4 2 3 9 5 8 7 16 6 10 11 26 12 15 13 27 14 22 20 28 17 24 21 Totals ... 107 58 81 75