TWO GOLD, TWO SILVER MEDALS FOR NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29990, 27 November 1962, Page 8

TWO GOLD, TWO SILVER MEDALS FOR NEW ZEALAND

Snell, Halberg Win Thrilling Races

“The Preu" Special Service

PERTH, November 26. Two gold, two silver that was New Zealand’s glittering tally of medals in the Empire Games athletics events at Perth today. The golden runners were New Zealand’s world record-holders, P. G. Snell and M. G. Halberg. The silver medal winners were the national women’s sprint champion, Miss D. H. Porter, and the long jump specialist, D. S. Norris.

Snell, with a performance reminiscent of his memorable Olympic 800 metres victory, won the half-mile in a Games record of Imin 47.65ec. Halberg, using similar Rome tactics, jumped the field at the start of the last lap to win the three miles in 13min 34.25ec. Norris improved on his personal best to take second place in the men's long jump with 25ft 4 J in. Miss Porter ran magnificently to finish second in the women’s 100 yards in 11.2 sec, one-tenth of a second behind the European champion, Miss D. Hyman, of England.

Snell's time was outside his world mark of Imin 45 1 sec, but improved H. J. Elliott's fames record, set at Cardiff in 1958. by I.7sec. In second place, was the man who offered the greatest threat to Snell, the Jamaican. G. Kerr. His time was also inside the old record, Imin 47 Bsec. The third place, after a courageous run, went to Australia's A. Blue, in Imin 49sec. Blue was the previous holder of the Australian record of Imin 48.6 sec, set at Brisbane in January, 1960. Gave A Haka Wildly excited New Zealanders jumped the fence around the arena and gave a boisterous haka for the crowds on the terraces to celebrate Snell's victory. The crowd gave Snell a huge ovation as he mounted the victory dais to receive his gold medal from the former New Zealand Olympic medallist, Sir Arthur Porritt

The race evolved into a watching affair in which Kerr apparently abandoned his plans to dictate the race and instead gave Snell the privilege of being the prime mover.

At the start Snell was placed in the outside lane and not able to see Kerr, who was back tn the third lane, but he knew, or he thought he knew that Kerr would be coming at him with the intention of running a blazing first lap. Racing Start Kerr settled low as if in his pair of blocks and Snell, for the first time, could be seen using a racing start on the outside when the gun sounded. He wag away running hard around the outside but Kerr just watched him go as they came out of their lanes into the back straight. Snell suddenly found himself at the bead of the field. He let a little Kenyan, P. Francis, go tearing through on the inside and the Englishman, M. Fleet, follow him.

Snell was running wide and anxiously he glanced across to look for Kerr on the inside. He turned and searched

the field and saw Kerr running laM. So they ran the whole of the first lap, the pace allowed to remain just as fast as the little Kenyan made it, which was a moderate 54sec. Shifted About Around the top bend Snell shifted about to avoid being boxed in. Kerr was running five yards wide around the corner, but as yet had made no challenge and now they were entering Snell’s favourite killing ground—the back straight—with a 300 yards sustained sprint staring them all in the face. Then, Snell gathered himself and thrust forward. Kerr, running as always as if sitting in an armchair, was on his heels. Snell forced his way around the corner and still Kerr stayed behind. Turning out of the corner Snell glanced back on his inside, instantly realised his mistake and whipped his head around to see Kerr challenging at his outside shoulder. Kerr came almost level. He had Snell sweating, tossing his head slightly, but then Snell was holding on his iron strength and iron determination showing through. Slowly he ground the life out of Kerr until 20 yards from the line Kerr abandoned the chase to lei Snell win by the small but definite margin of two yards.

Snell said after the race that he had tried to “burn Kerr off" before they hit the straight

“I'm always frightened of a man who is 3sec faster than I am over a quarter-mile,” he said. “When the first lap took Msec I knew I had to make it tough for him at the 300yds mark. Didn’t Pass Me “I knew I had him when he ran up to my shoulder and didn’t pass me.” Snell said he had now beaten Kerr seven out of eight races. “George has tried every way to beat me," he said.

“He always threatens to go out and set the pace, but he never does it—only a mug would do that”

It was the first time he had run a half-mile in under Imin

50sec since he competed in Hawaii in May, Snell said.

Asked how he felt about the mile event, he said he would be going out to wih, not to run against the clock —though he hoped to break four minutes. “Great going, Peter arepetition of Rome," said Sir Arthur Porritt. Halberg was seen in the most invincible form of his career. No-one in this field, no-one in the world could have lived with him. In the past months Halberg, after his defeat by B. Kidd in America, has attempted to decry his training performances and strengthen the suggestion that he was past his best. Did Not Worry He appeared confident of naming the race the way he had planned. He did not worry about the men who took the lead or the slow pace they set He started just behind Kidd’s shoulder on the outside, then directly behind Kidd on the inside. Gradually the young Canadian drifted to the back of the field, and there at the tail, running behind each other, were Kidd, Halberg and the Englishman, M. B. S. Tulloh, three men with the shocking actions who were expected to dominate the race from the front.

In the last mile Kidd moved around the field, followed easily by Halberg. Twice Kidd made a dash, each time Halberg, like a sheltering cyclist, jumped after him so suddenly that he had to hold himself back as he closed too quickly. He used Kidd as a shelter until the field, which was alarmingly bunched, entered the top bend of the last lap. Halberg then moved wide around Kidd and burst clear down the back straight Five yards opened up immediately, 10 by the end of the straight He must have looked back three times as he came down the straight but none was a desperate glance. He won by 15 yards after a last lap of 53.95ec and when he had broken the tape he stood smiling and delighted with his hands on his hips. The New Zealand contingent in the crowd came over

the fence again for an impromptu haka. "I didn’t care how they ran the race—l knew I was the fastest runner in it,” Halberg said. “1 regarded Kidd and Tulloh as the most dangerous. I shadowed Kidd—l knew that if Tulloh broke, Kidd would go with him. That way, I didn’t have to watch both of them.” Halberg said that though he was “rising 30" he had no intention of retiring. “But I will admit—Herb Elliott found it—that it does get harder. “You get to a stage where you begrudge the time you spend training and conditioning.”

Halberg said that last night he and Snell had decided “to put the old firm into bustnes again.” Within an hour of each other, the two have won races at the Rome Olympics, Dublin, the World Games at Helsinki—and now at Perth. First Silver Miss Porter won New Zealand's first silver medal of the Games for an excellent second in the women’s 100 yards final. Miss Porter, who showed out well in her heat and semi-final, could not quite match the brilliant Miss Hyman. A photograph was called to separate Miss Porter and the Australian girl, Miss B. Cox, in second and third placings. Miss Porter, a 21-year-old Auckland girl, became the first New Zealand woman sprinter to take a major placing at the Empire Games.

She was also the first New Zealand sprinter to mount the victory dais since Don Jbwett won the 220 yards championship at Vancouver in 1954. Norris took second place behind M. K. Ahey, of Ghana, whose jump of 26ft sin set a new Games and Australian record. Third was W. Clayton (Jamaica) with 25ft 4"4in.

Two other New Zealand field events competitors, R. D. Tait and L. R. Mills, filled fourth and fifth places in the men’s discus, won by W. P. Selvey (Australia), with a Games record of 185 ft 3jin. Tait’s best was 165 ft 8 J in, and Mills threw 162 ft. Second Final Miss Porter also qualified for the final of the 220 yards by finishing third in her semi-final. The Otago runner, Miss N. Bond, did not qualify. The two New Zealand entrants in the women’s high jump, Miss L. Curtis and Miss P. J. Burnett, both dropped out of the competition at a fairly early stage. Miss Curtis cleared sft sin and Miss Burnett sft 3in. The event was won by Miss R. Woodhouse (Australia) in the Games record of sft lOin. B. C. Robinson rounded off a triumphant day for New Zealand by running second in his heat of the men’s 440 yards in 48.6 sec to qualify for the semi-final. Robinson, who competed with a heavily bandaged right thigh, was beaten on the post by K. Roache, of Australia.