HARRIERS Olympic Club’s Notable Win In Motukarara Race

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29271, 1 August 1960, Page 6

HARRIERS Olympic Club’s Notable Win In Motukarara Race

The Canterbury senior harrier championship at Motukarara on Saturday was a sweeping triumph for the Olympic dub- It provided the individual winner, R. J. Stevens, and filled the first eight places, becoming possibly the first club to record the minimum number of points for the teams' event, decided on a club's first four runners home. In addition, its No. 2 team was second in the teams* section. The honours in the junior race, run over one lap, went to the Anglican club, with A. Bayard taking the individual title in 18min 2sec and the teams' event being won by two points. Although Umaru Presbyterian was provisionally placed second on the day. Hover Scouts were subsequently promoted to this position, one point ahead of Timaru Presbyterian. Rover Scouts fared even better in the colts’ race, taking first place with 57 points, five clear of Olympic. The individual winner was M. Jones (Technical). Winner of the recent interprovincial match against Auckland, Miss M. Dixey had a good win in the junior women’s race, in 20min 21sec, 54sec faster than Miss A. Kennedy took for the senior race. For Stevens it was a culmination of seven years of seeking championship honours, for although he has Canterbury track and marathon titles, this was his first win at the six miles and a quarter crosscountry event. Stevens showed excellent judgment, keeping a little back in the field in the first burst from the start and taking more than a mile to work through to second place. After that he gave J. K. Macdonald a worrying time by dogging him until about half-way round the second of the three mile and one-eighth laps. The day was not without its misfortune for some, one of these being Macdonald, who returned to Canterbury earlier this year and was making a bid to regain the title he held before leaving the province. Just before entering a pine plantation round the back on the second lap, Macdonald misjudged the height of one of the jumps and catching his foot in the top wire sprawled on the ground. Although Stevens had been slowly closing a short gap to Macdonald at this stage this allowed him to draw level in one burst. Although circumstances may have been fortunate to Stevens. Macdonald said after the race but for the winner’s encouragement he would not have got up so soon, and fought back for second place. Former Champion Sixth The race was notable also for the eclipse of last year’s champion, R. Farmer, whose sixth place after his outstandingly confident win in the match against Otago a month ago was most disappointing. He was another who took a tumble on the fences, and this may have contributed to his comparative failure. Leading the field with Macdonald approaching a triple jump of a fence, a ditch, and a fence about half a mile from the start. Farmer crashed on the second fence, landing heavily on his shoulder. This put him back to ninth place and cost 20 to 30 yards. The first man to break the Olympic procession at the finish was G. Wyatt (University) in ninth place, 100 yards clear of A. Evans (Technical), who fell on a steep rocky section coming off the hill on the second lap. Right from the start of the senior event, it was apparent Olympic would ■ dominate the race, and after about half a mile Farmer and Macdonald led a very strong group of fellow club men, among whom were J. D. Macdonald, B. Curie, Richards, and G. T. Wilson and D. Reece. The only men to break the Olympic grouping were J. Williams (Christchurch) in fourth place and J. Power, who was running level with Reece. Then Farmer fell and failed to regain his position. Going off the racecourse proper. J. K. Macdonald led his brother and Curie, with Stevens, now in fourth

place, moving up. with Richards. Williams, and Wilson still handy. By the time the leaders entered the first pine plantation. Stevens was in second place. Coming on to the hill the first time round after about two miles and a quarter. J. K. Macdonald and Stevens were together with a 50yd break on Richards, followed by D. Reece. Curie, with a gap to S. Jelley and Wyatt. Macdonald opened a gap going off the hill, but over the second lap Stevens began closing that again When Macdonald fell. Stevena closed the gap and then went ahead and. reaching the hill again, was 30 yards in front. Positions were well established at this stage and there was no change over the next mile to the finish In the first 10 placings. Results:— Senior Individual.—R. J. Stevens fOlympic). 33min 53sec. 1; J. K. Macdonald (Olympic). 34min 9sec. 2. K. Richards (Olympic). 3*mln 18sec, 3. B Curie (Olympic). 34min 45sec, 4; R. Reece (Olympic). 34mln Slsec. 5: R. Farmer (Olympic). 35mln 9sec. 6; C. Reece (Olympic), 35min lOsec. 7. S. Jelley (Olympic). 35min 17sec. S; G. Wyatt (University), 35mln 37sec. 9: A. Evans (Technical). 35min SSsec. 10; J. D. Macdonald (Olympic). 36min Usee. 11: W. Richards (Technical). 36 min 13sec. 11 _ _ Team.—Olympic No. 1 (R. Stevens. J. K. Macdonald 2. K. Richards 3. B. Curie 4). 10 points. 1: Olympic No. 3 (C. Reece 7. S. Jelley 8. J. D. macdonald 11. S. Payne 14). 40. 2: Technical (A. Evans 10. W. Richards 12. D. Vaughan 19. D. Greig 23). 64. 3: Christchurch. 72. 4: Timaru Presbyterian. 108. 5; University. 122. 6. Junior Individual.—A. Bayard (Anglican). 18mln 2sec, 1: A. Dyer (Christchurch), 18mln 14sec, 2; E. Bell (Timaru Presbyterian), 18min 26sec, 3; M. Dukes (Olympic), Ulmin 32aec, 4; R. Allen (Presbyterian), 18min 39sec, 5; G. Smith (Presbyterian ), 18min 41sec, 6; C. Woods (Methodist), 18min 49sec, 7; R. Allen (Timaru), 19min 2sec, 8; D. Tanner (Technical), 19min 3sec, 9; D. Knight (University), 19min lOsec, 10. Team.—Anglican (A. Bayard, R. Lloyd, G. Bennett, T. Bennett), 65 points, 1; Rover Scouts. 67. 2; Timaru Presbyterian. 68. 3; Methodist, 83, 4; Presbyterian, 84, 5; Timaru, 86, 6. Colts Individual.—M. Jones (Technical), 16min 38sec, 1; K. Connell (Baptist), 16min 53sec, 2; G. Clarke (Olympic), 17min 3sec, 3; K. Brown (Rover Scouts), 17min ssec. 4; J. Thomas (Rover Scouts), 17min 26 sec, 5; D. Good (Christchurch), 17 min 27sec. 6; R. Stringer (Timaru), 17min 31sec, 7; D. Hutt (Timaru). 17min 31 sec. 8; D. Allen (Timaru). 17 min 37sec, 9; H. Thomson (Presbyterian) 10. Teams’ Race.—Rover Scouts (K. Brown. J. Thomas. R. Johnston, B. Keeley, C. Cook, T. Bankier), 57 points, 1; Olympic I, 62, 2; Presbyterian I, 64. 3: Timaru, 65. 4: Technical, 74, 5; Christchurch, 93, 6. WOMEN Junior Individual.—M. Dixey (Pioneer). 20 min 21sec, 1: E. Atkinson (Anglican), 21min 42sec, 2; R. Macdonald (Pioneer), 23min, 3. Teams.—Pioneer (M. Dixey, R. Macdonald, J. Oakley), 11 points, 1; Anglican, 12, 2. Senior Individual.—A. Kennedy (Pioneer), 21min 17sec, 1; P. Lovell (Anglican), 22min 14sec, 2; M. Macdonald (Pioneer), 22mln 35sec, 3. CANTERBURY TEAM SELECTED Although the Olympic club’s members filled the first eight places in the Canterbury senior harrier championships, one of them, S. L. Jelley, has been dropped from the Canterbury team for the New Zealand championships at Trentham on August 13 in preference to G. Wyatt (University). Wyatt was ninth and Jelley eighth. Those chosen for the team are:— Senior.—B. Curie, R. Farmer, J. K. Macdonald, C. Reece, D. Reece, K. Richards, R. J. Stevens, G. Wyatt. Reserves: S. L. Jelley. G. T. Wilson. Junior.—R. A. Allen (Presbyterian), R. Allen (Timaru), A. Boyard (Anglican), E. Bell (Timaru Presbyterian), A. Dyer (Christchurch), M. Dukes (Olympic), G. Smith (Presbyterian), C. Woods (Methodist). Reserves: D. Tanner (Technical), D. Knight (University).