Halberg, Mills Stars Of Melbourne Meeting

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29153, 14 March 1960, Page 14

Halberg, Mills Stars Of Melbourne Meeting

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

MELBOURNE, March 13. New Zealand’s M. Halberg yesterday beat a top-class field to win the John Landy mile in 4min 3sec on the first day of the Moomba Festival athletics meeting at Melbourne’s Olympic Stadium.

Running well within himself Halberg ran easily to the tape to win by 10 yards from another New Zealander, W. Baillie, who ran 4min 4.7 sec, with the New South Wales runner, I). Power, third in 4min s.lsec.

Halberg and the New Zealand team’s captain, L. Mills, were the stars of the day. Mills broke the Australian national records and Olympic qualification standards in winning the shot put and discus throw. He won the shot put with a pul of 56ft 9in and the discus with a throw of 174 ft 4in.

However, because Mills is not an Australian he cannot claim the record. New Australian records for these events were set by the Australian champion, W. Selvey, who finished second to Mills in each event, wtih a shot put of 56ft 4in and a discus throw of 168 ft. New Zealand athletes had a successful day, and among the other notable performances were: A great run by K. E. Williams to win the 3000 metres steeplechase in Bmin 56sec. A victory for tfle New Zealand 4 x 110 yards relay team in 41.7 sec. A great battle between the Australian champion, K. Gosper, and B. Robinson, of Auckland, in the 400 metres, with Gosper winning by a few inches in 47.1 sec and Robinson recording the same time. A fine performance by the Queensland doctor, A. Blue, to win the 800 yards invitation race in Imin 48.9 sec. The crowd of 6000 gave Halberg a great ovation after his win. Mills was also popular with the crowd, particularly when he added the shot put to his earlier win in the discus throw. His discus throw of 174 ft 4in was ssin more than the Olympic selection standard and his shot put of 56ft 9in was lljin better than the standard.

Williams 'was very impressive in winning the steeplechase from the Australian champion, R. Morgan-Morris. Williams stayed in second place behind MorganMorris until the second last lap of the long event, when he raced away to .win very comfortably. K. Gibbons (West Coast, North Island) cleared 12ft in the pole vault to be placed third behind the Australian champion, J. Filshie, who vaulted 13ft, and A. L; Wright of Victoria who also cleared 12ft but was placed second on countback.

In the 400 metres race, Robinson and Gosper were both smartly away, and there was little between the pair with 220 yards to go. Then Robinson seemed to gain a alight advantage, but Gosper fought back, and the pair raced to the line together in a driving flniah. Many spectators thought it was a head-heaK but the judge’s decision went to Gosper.

N. Read (West Coast, North Island) affectionately remembered by Melbourne athletics enthusiasts as the hero of the marathon walk at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, was given a great reception at the start of the 3000 metres walk. However,

Read found the shorter distance much harder to handle, and finished a distant third in the race, which was won by the Victorian, N. Freeman. The New Zealand sprinters found the Australians’ pace a

little too hot in the 100 metres race. Fourth in ll.lsec by B. I. Smith of Wellington was the best New Zealand performance in this race. G. Davy (Auckland), expected to be the main threat to the Australians, D. Tipping and B. Baker, was never prominent, and finished sixth. The race was won by Tipping

in 10.7 sec, with Baker second in 10.9 sec and M. Agostini, of Trinidad, third, also in 10.9 sec. D. Norris (Auckland) did well to finish second in the hop, step and jump with a distance of 50ft 2Jin. The event was won by the Australian champion, I. Tomlinson, who covered 51ft HJin. R. W. Williams, also of Auckland, was third (49ft 9in) and R. Thomas, of Northland, was fourth with 48ft BJin. P. Dallow, of Auckland, finished fourth in the 120 yards invitation hurdles. Dallow seemed beaten for speed early, but came home well to finish close behind the place-getters. The race was won by B. Primrose, of New South Wales in 15sec. Dallow, with a time of 24.35ec, finished third in the 200 metres hurdles, behind D. Prince, of New South Wales, and J. Chittick, of Victoria. Blue ran brilliantly to win the invitation 800 yards race in the smart time of Imin 48.9 sec. Blue raced right away from the field in the concluding stages of the race to win by 25 yards. His time broke H. Elliott’s existing Australian record, but Blue has a faster time waiting recognition. A feature of the two-day meeting is a contest between Victoria and the visiting New Zealanders, the first New Zealand men’s athletic team to compete in Australia for 37 years. In spite of the numerical superiority of the Victorian team, it had a lead of only 10 points oyer the New Zealand team at the end of yesterday’s events, when the score was 64 points to 54.

The meeting will continue tomorrow.