ATHLETICS Short Tour Of South Island By Australians

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28794, 15 January 1959, Page 7

ATHLETICS Short Tour Of South Island By Australians

Two young Australian athletes, B. Waters and G. Fleming arrived in Christchurch yesterday by air from Sydney for a 10 days’ tour of the South Island. They will make their first appearance at Rugby Park on Saturday. Waters will run in the 100 yards and 220 yards and Fleming will take part in the 880 yards and the mile.

Waters, aged 19, is only in his third year of competitive running. He has a best time of 9.ssec for the 100 yards and 21.6 sec for the 220 yards. Waters is the Australian Universities sprint champion and holds the 220 yards record with a time of 21.7 sec.

As a schoolboy three years ago, Waters returned 10.4 sec for the 100 yards and 23sec for the 220 yards. He was the New South Wales Public Schools champion. Waters said yesterday that the sprints were the only event he competed in because a knee injury from Australian Rules football prevented him from doing any jumping. Fleming, who is coached by Percy Cerutty, said that no-one really trained under Cerutty. Athletes went to Cerutty for advice and he gave it freely. “He is not as fanatical about training as

everybody thinks,” said Fleming. “He teaches us to enjoy running and to run hard and give of our best, but he has no set rules for training. He is keen on the correct running style, although he does not bother about detail. He concentrates on the fundamental principles of running.” Fleming said that this approach to training was intelligent, and athletes were never bored by repetition.

Fleming has excellent times for the middle distances with 4min 7.6 sec for the mile and Imin 51.7 sec for the 880 yards. He did not fun last year becausa of a rash and these times were set two years ago. So far this season he has returned 4min 10.7 sec for the mile and Imin 54sec for the halfmile.

Fleming came fourth in the inter-State titles recently. The race was won by F. O’Connell in Imin 54.65ec. Fleming returned Imin 54.8 sec. “It was a very close finish,” he said. The two Australians will appear next at Oamaru on Tuesday, January 20, at Alexandra on Thursday, January 22, at Invercargill on Saturday, January 24, and at the Dunedin Festival meeting at Carisbrook on Monday, January 26.