N.Z. HARRIER TITLES

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28347, 5 August 1957, Page 16

N.Z. HARRIER TITLES

Senior To K. Williams

(From Our Own Reporter) FEILDING, August 4.

Recording his third consecutive win in the national senior harrier championships yesterday, K. Williams showed he is the greatest cross-country runner New Zealand has had. He beat at Feilding the strongest field of distance runners ever assembled for a race in this country. The performance of J. Herrick, of Timaru, in winning the junior title for Canterbury was as meritorious aS Williams’s effort. Only 16 years old, he was competing against considerably more mature Yunners. In the junior race the Canterbury champion, D. Dixey, was a good second, and with R. Farmer and D. Reece in sixth and seventh places the team scored 16 points, 31 ahead of Auckland in second place. It was Canterbury’s second successive win and the third since the junior title was instituted in 1944, giving the province second place, equal with Otago, behind Auckland (five) as the winner of most teams’ events.

With the best provincial team ever sent to a national contest, Auckland had just as fine a win in the senior teams’ event, with M. Halberg (2), N. Scott (3), J. Julian (4) and M. Hellier (6) scoring 15 points to Otago’s 25. It was Auckland’s seventh win since the contest began in 1903. The course of three and one-eighth miles included every type of going, as well as 18 high fences. The senior race was run over two laps and the Junior one. Williams took the obstacles beautifully, gaining yards each time.

Halberg found difficulty in negotiating the jumps, and after being up with Williams at the first one had dropped to thirteenth on the other side many yards back. He ran beautifully between the fences, however, and was up to fourth at the end of the first lap. The run of the 1500 metre Olympic representative, Scott, was surprisingly good, for he was not expected to perform well over such at difficUl course. After being in second place for most of the race, he was pushed back to third when Halberg came through with a fine finishing run over the last mile. e

Third last year, Julian ran consistently again for his fourth. P. Sidon (Otago) began drifting' from his second position late in the first lap, but held on well for a good fifth. Hellier rallied well to gain sixth. A former Auckland 10-mile champion, he made a determined run from eighth in the second lap. He had a great battle with G. R. Smith (Otagol, one of the most improved men in the race, before he was certain of his position. Smith, who was only seventh in his provincial race, took the same place again. B. Magee Unfortunate

B. Magee was one of the most unfortunate competitors. The national six-mile champion and

record-holder, he has been indisposed since before the Auckland title and he had a further set-back when he fell after two miles and dropped from eighth to the late twenties. He finished sixteenth. The best that could be said for the Canterbury senior team was that it was consistent, finishing second to last again. J. K. Macdonald was eleventh, A. W. Richards twentyeighth, R. Stevens thirty-eighth, and R. Green thirty-ninth, for 116 points. Junior Race In the junior race Dixey lead the field over the first half-mile, but was displaced by M. Sexton (West Coast, North Island), who ran into the lead by 50 yards across the flat after the first hill. R. Wheeler was challenging Sexton strongly on the last hill with half a mile to go, with a good break to Herrick, who was having a close tussle with Dixey, followed by Farmer. Reece was eighth at this stage. Dixey and Herrick made a determined run down the last hill and were in the lead a quarter of a mile from the finish by a few yards from . Sexton and Wheeler. Herrick outsprinted the bunch to win by more than 50 yards. J. Williams (Canterbury), 'a brother to K. Williams, who was third in the early stages, drifted to seventeenth at the finish. Results:— Senior

Individual. —K. Williams (Otago), 36min Isec, 1; M. Halberg (Auckland), 36min 14scec, 2; N. Scott (Auckland), 36min 29sec, 3; J. Julian (Auckland), 36min 32sec, 4; P. Sidon (Otago), 36min 47sec, 5; M. Hellier (Auckland), 36min 53sec, 6; G. Smith (Otago), 37min 2sec, 7; H. Wilson (West Coast, N ort h Island), 37min 16sec, 8; H. Rodger (Auckland), 37min 18sec, 9; R. Jones (Waikato), 37min 24sec, 10.

Teams.—Auckland (M. Halberg 2, N. Scott 3, J. Julian 4, M. Hellier 6, H. Rodger 9, B. Magee 16, R. Puckett 24, L. King 41), 15 points, 1; Otago (1, .5, 7, 12), 25, 2; West Coast, North Island (8, 13, 19, 21), 61. 3: Waikato, &4, 4; Wellington, 99, 5; Canterbury, 116, 6; Hawke’s BayPoverty Bay, 131, 7.

Junior Individual.—J. Herrick (Canterbury), 18min 17sec, 1; D. Dixey (Canterbury), 18min 26sec, 2; R. Wheeler (Wellington), 18min 28sec, 3; E. Davis (Wellington), 18min 34sec, 4; M. Sexton (West Coast, North Island), 18min 39sec, 5; R. Farmer (Canterbury), 18min 48sec, 6; D. Reece (Canterbury), 18min 49sec, 7; J. Robinson (Auckland), 18min 50sec, 8; M. McDonald (Waikato), 18min 54sec, 9; T. Hansen (Hawke’s. BayPoverty Bay), 18min 54sec, 10. Teams.—Canterbury (J. Herrick 1, D. Dixey 2, R. Farmer 6, D. Reece 7, W. Kennedy 11, J. Williams 17, J. Sinclair 31, P. Watts 44), 16 points, 1; Auckland, 47, 2: Wellington, 51. 3; West Coast, North Island, 63. 4.