HARRIERS R. STEVENS WINS SENIOR HOLLOWAY RACE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29537, 12 June 1961, Page 8

HARRIERS R. STEVENS WINS SENIOR HOLLOWAY RACE

One of the most popular wins of the cross-country running programme was scored when R. Stevens won the senior section of the Holloway memorial races organised by the Rover Scouts’ Club over a circuit through the Opawa-St. Martins district on Saturday. Stevens. the Canterbury title-holder, shared the pacemaking with a former champion, J. K. Macdonald, during the first two laps of the 12.6-mile event, but raced away over the final lap to win by a substantial margin in 77min 46sec. Having completed deliveries on a postal round before the race, last year’s winner, C. F. Reece, did well to take third place behind Macdonald in 80min 44sec, which was 85sec faster than his time last season, when conditions were much worse. The senior race was run at such a fast pace that the leading runners did the first and third laps faster than A. Bayard did in winning the junior event run over one circuit of the senior course, and the middle lap was only 23sec slower. Although Stevens and Macdonald were together until after the start of the final lap, Stevens was officially credited with leading past the finishing point on each of the laps, which were timed at 35min 31 sec, 26min 33sec, and 25min 42sec, compared with Bayard’s time of 26min lOsec. Olympic Too Strong Once again Olympic proved too strong for its rivals, taking both first and second place in the senior teams' match, computed on the scores of the first three men to finish in the four-man teams. Olympic runners dominated the major placings with its representatives taking the first five places, while the last man of its B team. W. Hobbs, who ran probably his best race since coming from England in 1957, was seventh. Entered in the Olympic B team, C. Reece prevented Olympic A from scoring the minimum number of points by coming in ahead of K Richards, who was fourth The first representative of another club to break the Olympic sequence was L>. Hill (Timaru Presbyterian), who was running as an individual. Winner of the teams’ section last year, Christchurch fared comparatively badly, with its B team'doing best in sixth place. The sealed handicap was won by G. Smith (Presbyterian). Given a good start in the teams’ section with Bayard’s first place in the junior event, Anglican was a good first from Christchurch A. With R. Inder, fifth, and T. Bennett, tenth, Anglican had its three men counting for points home before any other team had even its second member finish, while the fourth Anglican runner, R Lloyd, was eleventh. The first of the other clubs to have two members finish was Christchurch, whose A team took second place with fourth (A. Dyer), twelfth (R. Piper), and fourteenth (M. Smith), for a total of 30 points. The Races As the field settled down in the senior race the early leaders were Macdonald. Reece. Stevens. Hobbs (all Olympic). W. Richards (Technical), A. Buckley (Mar Ist), and J. Stuart (Anglican). After crossing paddocks. Macdonald. Stevens, and Reece had sorted themselves out as the leaders as they set out along the road leading to Murray Aynsley hill. They then held a 30yd break on G- T Wilson. the Canterbury marathon champion, who was heading the rest of the field. Except for Macdonald and Stevens alternating the lead. , these four held their posiitions until near the end of ■ the race. The only change (was the relegation of Wilsou to fifth by K. Richards (Olympic), who moved ! steadily through the field after starting in a very ' modest fashion. Richards : was not among the first j dozen during the first two > miles. I In the junior race. R. Reekie (Technical) was an early leader from two Anglican competitors. Bayard and T. Bennett, with last year’s

winner, R. Allen (Presbyterian) fourth, followed by C. Wood (Methodist) and A. Dyer (Christchurch), who was second last year. Bayard took the lead over the first lot of paddocks, however, and was not headed again. Allen and Reekie had a tussle for second place about 50yds behind Bayard over the closing stages, with Allen gaining the decision by about six yards. Dyer moved through for a good fourth, after having lost ground by running off the trail for a short distance. Detailed results:— Senior Individual. R. Stevens (Olympic). 77:46.0, 1; J. K. Macdonald (Olympic), 78:42.0, 2; C. F. Reece (Olympic), 80:44.0, 3: K. Richards (Olympic). 81:42.0, 4; G. T. Wilson (Olympic), 81:40.0. 5; L. Hill (Timaru Presbyterian), 83:39.0. 6; W. Hobbs (Olympic), 84:29.0. 7; R. Alcorn (Methodist). 84:27.0, 8: D. Lucock (Presbyterian), 84:46.0, 9; R. Perry (Christchurch), 85:42.0, 10. Teams.—Olmpic A (R. Stevens 1. J. K. Macdonald 2, K. Richards 4), 7 points, 1; Olympic B (C. Reece 3, G: T. Wilson 5, W. Hobbs 7). 15, 2: Presbyterian A (D. Lucock 9, D. Lavender 15, A. Candy 24). 48, 3; Technical A, 53. 4; Olympic C, 69, 5: Christchurch B, 70, 6. Sealed Handicap.—G. Smith (Presbyterian), net time 69:17.0, 1; R. Alcorn (Methodist), 69:27.0, 2; D. Lucock (Presbyterian), 70:46.0. 3. Juniors Individual.—A. Bayard (Anglican). 26:10.0. 1; R. Allen Presbyterian), 26:20.0, 2; R. Reekie (Technical). 26:21.0. 3; A. Dyer (Christchurch), 26:44.0, 4; R. Inder (Anglican). 26:50.0, 5; C. Wood (Methodist), 26:59.0, 6. Teams.—Anglican A (A. Bayard 1, R. Inder 5. T. Bennett 10), 16 points, 1; Christchurch A (A. Dyer 4, R. Piper 12, M. Smith 14). 30, 2: Technical (R. Reekie 3, D. Tranter 18, P. Coughlan 21), 42, 3: Presoyterian, 43, 4: Olympic, 46. 5: Methodist, 48, 6.