50-KILOMETRE WALK

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29292, 25 August 1960, Page 5

50-KILOMETRE WALK

Start Not To Be Changed (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) ROME, August 23. The Olympic 50-kilometre walk—on September 7—could not be held in the cool of the evening because the contestants might cheat, Italian Olympic officials said today. They were replying to a request from the Australian athletics manager, Mr J. Patching, to stage the event at a new time. The race is timed to start at 1.30 p.m. when the temperature is about 90 degrees. N. R. Read, of New Zealand, had commented it was ‘‘ridiculous’’ that the event should start at the hottest time of the day. Mr Patching told the officials that the weather would be too hot for the walkers and said the race should be held later in the day. The officials said that if the race was started much later than the present scheduled time it would finish in the evening and it would be impossible in the failing light to check on lifting and other aspects of walking, which had to be watched carefully. They said that some athletes might take unfair advantage of this and it would not be fair to the others. However, the officials assured Mr Patching that the course was mainly along a tree-lined route and it would be much cooler than 90 degrees. They said that a fleet of water tankers would spray the course to keep the road temperature down and make it easier for the contestants. Mr Patching said: “We are not very happy about all this, but we have accepted their explanation.”