V. P. Boot.

A great champion is not necessarily a great sportsman … it is when you get a combination of both that you get the Real Champion. Such a champion is Pat Boot, British Empire half-mile champion who is now Second Lieutenant V. P. Boot. Pat, in thanking the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association for its expressions of goodwill on his marriage, sent this letter:

“Would you please convey to the members of the Council my sincere thanks for their very kind expression of good wishes to myself and wife on the occasion of our marriage and also their congratulations on my appointment to commissioned rank. I would also like to take this opportunity of thanking you all for the generous consideration you have shown me during my athletic career and for affording me the opportunity of competing overseas. Without these opportunities I feel sure I would not have been able to improve, and I can assure you that when time permits I will do my bit to pass on the knowledge which it has been my good fortune to gain. I intend to keep up my athletics in the Army, and, if the opportunity arises while I am overseas I do hope I will be able to put my best foot forward.”

To appreciate the true value of Boot's gesture of thanks it must be realised that he nearly missed selection for the 1936 Olympic team because the Council of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association did not consider him up to the required standard. This is not a “knock” at the N.Z.A.A.A.—I was one of the members who voted against his original inclusion—but merely a desire to put in the proper perspective the sporting gesture of Boot's letter of thanks.