THE O'LOUGHLIN HUNT FOOTRACE.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1608, 2 October 1885, Page 2

THE O'LOUGHLIN HUNT FOOTRACE.

{Grey Jiiver Argus.) • A QUARTER OF A MILE FOR £200. This interesting event came off on Tuesday last, and resulted in favor of the local man. A better day for him, according to popular opinion, could not have been manufactured by ■ i the clerk of the weather, nor a much | worse one for the stranger. In fact ! . Hunt was desirous of putting the race ' off till the following day, but O'Longh- J lin for certain good reasons declined j to forego any ndvanUgo the rough i weather was supposed to give him. To i the townspeople a postponement would i not have mattered much ; but ; Brunnt.rton had turned out to such an I extent as to stop t!ie mines, which would have remained idle even if tlw race had been postponed until the next day. Hid the day been line there j would have been a very large atteu- j dance, of townspeople. Indeed a« a i matter of fact nearly 100 people who | csi.me up in the train just as the race ! was completed wore iuu::!i disappointed, | and complained that the race did not i come off according to the originally j appointed time. The objection was j not without grounds. ; hut the alter- j a'ion was niadeto:ice>niiuodate Hurt's ' bicker, Mr Dwyre, who was tied to time, and had to catch the tra'ii so us to enable him to catch a sten ■■tier for the North at Lytte.kon. At midnight on Sunday the weath'-'- was not disx j piriting, but at six in the morning a j downpour set in which with slight J intervals kept on all day. The course j was in a very Fad sfcite. The ground j was soaked t!:oi-ouglily, and pools of water covered til • surface, and give it thfi appearance of a scries of smill liigo'ins. When the men stripped and went to the starting point a heavy squall was on. the rain coming down in torrents. Both men wore covered with umbrellas as well as possible. Both men were naked, except at the waist. Mr Morse acted as starter, and both men were sont awrxy on the same jump, neither having an inch the advantage. In a stride or two it was clfarly discernible from the grand B :and that O'Longhliu liad taken the

leadiYointhestai-L. He increased it steadily until 200 yards had b-en covered when lie «-n3 between oight f and tau y^'ds ahead of his opponent. i Hunt, who appeared to think that 1 O'Lougliliu was bursting himself, put i his best rV-iH. f .imih.sl, and at about 70 i yards from home had got almost alone:- < side O'Tj'vujliiin— he was at his shoulder but the effort was too lniuh foi him. He was not able to keep it up to the tape, while O'LougliUu doggedly held on, and apparently could have held on for another 50 yards, thongh he had not much left in his bellows when he breasted the tape. The time was taken variously, but if we give it at r»6|**cs. that may be accepted as a fair average amongst times ranging from 56secs to 57 {. The win of the local nun was undoubtedly very popular, especially | with the Brunnerton people, w'u > | wagered nearly every shilling they could command on O'Louglin, more apparently, out of sentiment — because he was a Jkunuer boy — than on account of his prowess as a runner. He was backed to that extent that the storekeepers will rejoice that he has won. Tiie Hunt brothers and their j friends freely backed their m\n all j through, taking moderate odds until the last. But on the ground before the raeo they increased the odds from 5 to 4 3 to 2*to 2 to 1, in fives, tons, or fifties. Some of these were taken, but to a great extent it acted as a chill on I the backers of o'Lou;.;h!iu, who fought shy, fortunately for the Hunt circle, who thereby saved at least £200 or £303. From the moment that it was seen O'Loughlin was leading the lungs of Brunnerton opened and pealed out i a triumphant note, which did not cease for halt' an hour after the race was \ finished ; and when the crowd could not work off their enthusiasm by ' carrying Tommy shoulder high— be- ' cause he objected to such a tribute of I admiration — his trainer Robert Peel had to suffer the infliction instead. t Altogether the race was one of the best ever seen on the Greymonth racecourse, or probably on any other course. The result was to a very > large extent in accordance with otn- } prediction yesterday. But although Mr Hunt was beaten he ran a grand f race, and showed that he was well worthy of being backed It must have "been a surprise to him to see " O'Loughlin, a quarter milo runner. 1 take the lead from the, start — and r keep it. His own friends and most . ! enthusiastic backers never exppcted ii J hut they did expect that if Hunt took i the lead, and O'Loughiiu collared him, fc j that Hunt would never reach the. f ! tape first. Judging by the way both f j men ran, through a succession of pooh f I all the way, with their shoes full of water, it was generally considered by those who profess to lie judgos in snch matters that given trie, weather the " i di-> .v». * would be covered in 52 i seconds. r a Three events between Mitchell and Guy were 100, 150. and 200 yards. Th<: latter was run fivst. It was 3 ' very tight raco ; but Mitchell won by a 0 j enuple of yards. Time 27 seconds, s Th.; other two events— loo and 150---were a gift to Guy. It was quit' evident that Guy was better at i\n> i short distances and Mitchell at the j long ones.