MILE RECORD BROKEN

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27274, 15 February 1954, Page 7

MILE RECORD BROKEN

ATHLETICS

M. G. Halberg Takes

4min 4.4 sec

SPECIAL ATTEMPT AT AUCKLAND

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 14. By running a mile in 4min 4.4 sec on the 440-yard grass circuit at the Olympic Stadium, Newmarket, on Saturday evening, a 20-year-old Auckland Teachers’ College student, M. G. Halberg, supplanted Jack Lovelock, the former world and Olympic record holder, as New Zealand’s fastest mile runner.

Halberg. the holder of the national junior record of 4min 17.2 sec. was making a special attempt to lower the New Zealand all comers’ record of 4min lOsec established by R. G. Bannister, of England, at the 1950 Canterbury Centennial Games. Opposed by three other runners—K. Downev, the Auckland mile title holder in 1952. W. Baillie, the present national 880 yards junior champion, and H. Rodger —Halberg gave a magnificent exhibition of sustrined pace and judgment to win by nearly eight seconds. He took 62sec for each of his last three lans. Downey was the early leader, and led the field over the first 440 yards in 58sec. Halb?rg s‘roce smoothlv just behind Downey. As they began the next lap Baillie went to the front and made the pace to the half-mile, which was reached in 2min. At this stage. Halberg raced through to the front, and although Baillie endeavoured to match strides with him, he slowly but surely widened his lead. Halberg took 3min 2sec for the thrqe-quar-ters of a mile. A huge crowd enthusiastically cheered Halberg as he ran the last lap. Racing down the back straight. Halberg seemed to falter momentarily, but. after a few yards, regained his pace and rhythm, and turned into the short straieht with the record well within his grasp He maintained his race right to the tape Although Halberg’s brilliant effort is only twenty-second on the list of ail great miles, it would have placed him fourth equal last year in the list of best miles run. It is the second fastest time in the world so far this vear—John Landv did <min 2sec a month ago—but it ranks as the finest athletic performance by a New Zealander since Lovelock's epic 1936 run at Berlin. Halberg’s time of 4min 4.4 sec approximates to 3min 46sec for the 1500 metres. Lovelock’s Olympic record was 3min 47.8 sec. Three-Mile Record Broken Also at last evening’s meeting. E. H Haskell broke the New Zealand threemile record of 14min 6sec, held by J. C Daly, of Canterbury, by covering the distance in 13min 55.8 sec. The Olympic broad jump champion. Miss Yvette Williams, failed in an attempt on the world record of 20ft 6in. held by Mrs Fanny Blankers-Koen. In six jumps, Miss Williams’s best effort was 19ft BJin. and her worst jump was 19ft

MEETING AT RUGBY PARK

G. WARD WINS DECATHLON With a total of 3751 points the Auckland University College athlete, G. H. Ward, beat his three opponents. D. A Tucker and D. Rutledge (Canterbury University College) and A. M. Harbott (Alarist) in the Canterbury decathlon cnampionship. which was concluded at Rugby Park on Saturday. When the earlier part of the programme had been completed on Friday, Harbott. with 2426 points, had established a slight lead. Rutledge had 2345 points, Ward 2202, and Tucker 2133. Ward, who had won the 400 metres on the first day, performed consistently, and finished ahead of Tucker (3701 points). Rutledge scored 3588 points, and Harbott 3514 points. Ward won the 110 metres hurdles and 400 metres, and tied with Tucker in the 1500 metres. The weather was fine and very warm, and the track was in good order for a programme in which fast times were the order of the day. R. Heaps did well to beat P. May and J. Kyle in the 880 yards in lmin 59.45ec; and D. Herman was in good form in the shot put, his distance being 39ft 2in. In the women’s division of the shot put P. Toon (University) broke the Canterbury record by Jin with 32ft 7in. The following abbreviations are used in

club events: C.A.A.C. (Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club), C.C. (Crichton Cobbers), M. (Marist), H. 5.0.8. (High School Old Boys), N.B. (New Brighton), Polytechnic (Poly.), Tech. (Technical College Old Boys), P. (University), B.H. (Boys’ High School), West (Westonian), Coll. (Christ’s College). Following are results:— DECATHLON

100 Metres.— P. D. Rutledge (C.U.C.) 12.3 sec (527 points) 1; A M. Harbott (M.) 12.5 sec (484 points) 2; G. H, Ward (A.U.C.) 12.6 sec (464 points) 3; D. A Tucker (C.U.C.) 13sec (386 points) 4. Long Jump.—Harbott, 18ft lOJin (456 points) 1; Rutledge. 18ft 6pn (433 points) 2; Tucker, 18ft liin (405 points) 3; Ward, 16ft 6in (302 points) 4. Shot Put.—Tucker, 33ft s|in (436 points) 1; Harbott. 33ft IJin (428 points) 2; Rut-

ledge, 29ft Ilin (359 points 3, Ward, 26ft 9£in (292 points) 4. High Jump.—Harbott, sft Bin (686 points) 1; Ward, sft lin (508 points) 2; Tucker, and Rutledge, sft (486 points) (equal) 3. 400 Metres—Ward, 53.1 sec (686 points) 1; Rutledge, 54.8 sec (540 points) 2; Tucker, 57.35ec (420 points) 3; Harbott, 58.5 sec (372 points) 4.

110 Metres Hurdles.—Ward, 17.7 sec (330 points) 1; Tucker, 17.9 sec (309 points) 2; Rutledge, 18.2 sec (272 points) 3; Harbott, 21 sec (24 points) 4 Discus.—Harbott, 101 ft 3Jin (396 points) 1; Tucker, 92ft OJin (334 points) 2; Ward. 92ft (334 points) 3- Rutledge, 90ft 9Jin (326 points) 4. Pole Vault.—Ward, Bft 9in (218 points) 1; Rutledge, Bft 3in (167 points) 2; Harbott, 7ft 9in (122 points) 3; Tucker, 7ft 3in (75 points) 4. Javelin.—Harbott, 122 ft BJin (316 points) 1; Tucker, 119 ft 9in (302 points) 2; Rutledge, 117 ft 3Jin (290 points) 3: Ward. 80ft 3ijn (121 points) 4 1500 Metres.—Tucker and Ward, 4mm 26.1 sec (546 points) (equal) 1; Harbott, srrun o.9sec (230 points) 3; Rutledge smin B.2sec (210 points) 4. CLUB EVENTS Senior Grade 880 Yards.—R. Heaps (C.C.) 1, P. May (U.) 2, J. Kyle (M.) 3. Time, lmin 59.45ec. •220 Yards.—P. J. Fleming (U.) 1, R. Heseltine (C.C.) 2, A. W. Reed (U.) 3. Time. 23.35ec. Shot Put.—D. Herman (Tech.) 1. Distance. 39ft 2in. One Mile Walk.—G. Monroe (8.H.5.) 1 Time, 7min 41.2 sec. Hammer Throw.—J. R. Brown (Poly.) 1, P. D. Rutledge (U ) 2, D. Herman (Tech.) 3. Distance, 137 ft 7in. High Jump.—C. W. Keeble (U.) 1, A. Harbott (M.) 2. Height. sft Bin. Long Jump.—P. Price (N. 8. 1, J. Murphy (Tech.) 2, A. Quartermain (U.). 3. Distance, 20ft 9in. . Senior B Grade 880 Yards.—M. Craighead (U.) 1. O. Everest (West) 2. J. Holden (C.) 3. Time, 2min 6.lsec. 220 Yards.—Section I: J. Breen (C.) 1, O. Everest (West) 2. B. Boland (M.) 3. Time, 23 7sec. Section II: P. Cosgrlff (U.) 1, E. Stroud (T.) 2. I. Holden (C ) 3. Time, 23.8 sec. Shot Put.—D. Yeung (Tech.) 1, C. W. Keeble (U.) 2, G. King (N. 8. 3. Distance, 32ft 4£in. Hammer Throw.—D. Young. (Tech.) 1. Distance, 120 ft Bin. Juniors 880 Yards Walk.—G. Tonkin (C.C.) 1. C. Kingston (C.C.) 2. Time, 4min 7.lsec. 100 Yards.—Section I: N. Woodham (U.) 1. R. Paltinger (U.) 2. J. D. Smith (Col.) 3. Time. 10.5 sec. Section 11-: B. Slattery fM.) 1. T. Bedford (C.C.) 2. P. Skerton (M.) 3. Time. 10.5 sec. High Jump.—L. Phillips (U.), scr, 1; B. Slattery (M.), 4in, 2; A. T. Park (Col.), sin. 3. Height. sft Bin. Junior 440 Yards.—Section I: B. Kerr (W.) syds, 1: M. Hunt (H.S.), scr. 2; T. Bedford (C.C.), 22yds, 3. Time, 52.8 sec. Section II: K. Howard (C.C.), scr, 1; G. Laing (C.C.), 10yds, 2; W. Dearsley (Col.), scr, 3. Time, 55.95ec. One Mile.—D. M. Bougen (P.), 160yds, 1; M. Smith (N.B ). 180yds, 2; M. Waldron (P.), 180yds), 3. Time, 4min 19.8 sec. Shot Put.—B. R. Mann (St. B.), scr, 1; M. Hunt (H.S.), 10ft, 2; B. Curie (C.C.), lOfj, 3. Distance, 43ft 9in. RO Yards Hurdles.—P. McNeill (W.), syds, !;• G. Kingston (C.C.), scr, 2; B. Paterson (W.), 3yds, 3. Time, 16.6 sec. Long Jump.—N. Woodham (U.), 4ft, 1; M. Hunt (H.S.), 3ft, 2; A. Park (Col.) 3. Distance, 23ft. Women’s Events 150 Yards.—Section I: M. Hickey (C.C.) 1, M. Chamberlain (Tech.) 2, G. Davies (C.C.) 3. Time, 17.4 sec Section II: D. May (U.) 1. M. McDougall (N. 8. 2. E. Maxwell (N. 8. 3. Time, 17.3 sec. Discus.—D. Carr (U.), scr, 1; B. Fantham. 2; R. R. Hames (Tech.) 3. ’ Distance, 99ft Bin. 80 Metres Hurdles.—Section I: H. Adams (Tech.) 1. G. Williams (C.C.) 2, G. Jenkins (C.) 3. Time, 12.7 sec. Section II: V. Slope (Tech.) 1, F. Mooney (C.C.) 2. P. Wallis (C.) 3. Time, 12.6 sec. Section III: L. Kennedy (C.C.) 1. B. Pavelka (C.) 2, H. McDonald (C.C.) 3. Time. 13.5 sec. Shot Put.—P. Toon (U.), scr. 1; D. Carr (U.), -2ft, 2; P. Wallis (C.). 9ft, 3. Distance, 32ft 7in (a Canterbury record).

JWO N.Z. REdbRDS SET AT OAMARU SENIOR POLE VAULT AND JUNIOR JAVELIN (New Zealand Press Association) OAMARU, February 14. Two New Zealand and 11 North Otago records were broken when the North Otago amateur athletic championships were held at Oamaru on Saturday. The New Zealand records were the junior javelin and senior pole vault. In the pole vault. M. Richards (Mornington) bettered his own New Zealand record of 13ft IJin, when he cleared the bar twice at 13ft 2jin and once at 13ft 4Jin. R. G. Ball, the national title-holder, threw the javelin 189 ft 9gin, to better 1. Grinder s New Zealand record of 184 ft 9 3 ,4 m. N.Z. HAMMER THROW RECORD (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, February 14. J. M. Carr set a New Zealand resident hammer throw record of 158 ft 7* z 4in at x Wellington provincial amateur athletic championships at the Basin Reserve yesterday. Carr broke S. W. White’s resident record by 6% inches. Two provincial records were broken. D. Thomson did the mile walk in 6min 37sec to better his own record by one-fifth of a second. H. MacNeilage won the junior mile in 4min 30.4 sec to break his provincial record by one second. AUSTRALIAN 440 YD HURDLES RECORD BROKEN BY TASMANIAN (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) SYDNEY, Feb. 13 A 17-year-old Tasmanian, David Lean yesterday set an Australian native record *? ec . in waning the 440 yards hurdles at the Australian athletic championships held on the Sydney Cricket Ground. Before today. Lean, who also won his heat, had never hurdled over this distance. Lean was the only competitor to break the Australian record.

In greasy conditions due to intermittent drizzle, John Vernon, of Victoria, cleared 6ft 6in to win the high jump title. Hector Hogan, of Queensland, who won the 100 yards and broad jump title? last Thursday, today won the 220 yards title in 21.6 sec. The great mile runner, John Landy, ran second last in the 880 yards final today, finishing 30 yards behind the winner, Jim Bailey, of New South Wales. Landy said later: "This run has finished me for the season. I have no punch left in my legs. I am a dead duck."