John Williams May Soon Equal Feats Of Kerry

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28630, 5 July 1958, Page 5

John Williams May Soon Equal Feats Of Kerry

VyiTH four of Canterbury’s inter-club harrier races now decided there seems every possibility that the Williams brothers, Kerry and John, may create further athletic history, by being the first two brothers to share the national senior and junior eross-country titles. Kerry Williams has the distinction of being the only athlete to win both the junior and senior national crosscountry titles. Earlier this year he and John became the first brothers to win the senior A and junior sections of the Kennett Cup races and recently they again shared the honours in the Holloway memorial races. In addition, in the two relay races, the Hagley steeplechase and the Anglican block relay, they recorded the fastest lap times for senior snd junior competitors, respectively.

The standard of junior distance running in Canterbury is high at the moment, for in the last two years the junior provincial team has won the New Zealand championship shield. Anyone capable of winning races in Canterbury must rank as a likely winner of the national title.

Several years ago Kerry Williams. who has now won the national senior title three times, •aid his younger brother. John, had greater potential as a pmner than himself. Now there is every indication this is the case. John Williams’s time was

just outside the record made last year by the New Zealand junior one and two-mile champion, D. Dixey, and was 38sec faster than Kerry Williams’s tirne in 1951, the year in which he won his national junior cross-country title. John is fortunate to be able to benefit from the experience of his older brother, who is super-

vising the training. This is apparent especially in John’s ability to take the obstacles, always one of Kerry’s strong points in crosscountry races. How discouraging it can be for a runner reduced to clambering over a high fence or some other obstacle to see an opponent gracefully vault or jump it with ease. John’s training would stagger some of Canterbury’s senior athletes, who could perhaps be excused for wilting at the thought of an 18 to 20-mile run on a Sunday. >