Harriers HOLLOWAY RACE TOMORROW

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28321, 5 July 1957, Page 5

Harriers HOLLOWAY RACE TOMORROW

N.Z. Selector To Attend

One of the selectors of the New Zealand harrier team to visit Australia in August, Mr L. Bradshaw, of Dunedin, will watch the running of the Rover Scout Club’s Holloway memorial race at Opawa tomorrow. All the leading runners, including the Canterbury champion, J. K. Macdonald, have entered, and C. McGuire (Christchurch), who has been prominent in past seasons, will be having his first start in Christchurch for the season.

While the presence of Mr Bradshaw will no doubt stimulate competitors to their very best, it is in some wavs unfortunate that he has chosen this particular race to observe Canterbury runners. No-one from outside Christchurch has entered and the usually wet, boggy nature of the course prevents it from always being a reliable guide to choosing championship teams, especially for the type of course likely to be encountered in Australia. That is not to say, however, that the course is not an excellent one for ordinary inter-club competition.

Because the Canterbury championships have been held unusually early this year, tomorrow’s race has been shortened from its usual distance of more than 12 miles to 8.2 miles, to assist the Canterbury selectors in choosing the Canterbury team for the national titles in August. The club also had in mind that the shorter distance might encourage increased entries and with 15 fourman teams and 11 individuals entered, there has been some improvement, but some of this is most likely accounted for by the race being used as a selection trial. For the junior race of 4.1 miles, run over one lap of the senior course, which is the same as last year, 11 teams and three individuals have entered.