LYDIARD BREAKS WITH SNELL

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30156, 13 June 1963, Page 9

LYDIARD BREAKS WITH SNELL

“Want Nothing More To Do With It’ 9 Coach (.Veto Zealand Press Association) , AUCKLAND, June 12. The athletics coach, Mr A. L. Lydiard, has “completely dissociated” himself from the preparation of P. G. Snell, the world record-holder, for the half-mile and mile. Mr Lydiard, who returned today with M. G. Halberg from a United States tour, made this statement in reference to remarks attributed to Snell in the American national magazine, “Sports Illustrated.”

An article on Snell’s triumph in the Modesto mile quoted him as saying that, although grateful to Mr Lydiard for supervising his marathontype training, he does not feel that Mr Lydiard knows quite as much as he does about the half-mile and mile.

“He (Snell) believes that he has been able to combine what Lydiard has given him on distance running with what he himself knows about middledistance running,” states the article.

In a statement today, Mr Lydiard said: "I have always been prepared to help Peter to the extent he wants me to. The last time was before the Empire Games when he was in trouble after injury. Little Influence ‘'Lately, I have been exerting very little influence over

him. Now I want nothing more to do with it.

"I don’t claim my training techniques to be infallible. But it will be interesting to see if Snell can improve on these by, in turn, taking a group of boys and training one of them to be Olympic champion.

“In my long connexion with Snell I found he was an athlete who needed to be driven in his training. I stopped driving him after the summer season of 1961-62, when he trained very thoroughly. “He set his world records in this period, even though he sharpened up with his speed training far too abruptly. I believe that another six weeks of final train-

ing would have produced much greater things. "At the time it was my great hope that he would be the first to run a mile in 3min 50sec, which is the great new target, and it has ever since been a disappointment that he has never seemed likely to realise his true potential, which I have always considered to be about 3min 48sec. Going Downbill

"Since that time Snell has been racing on the backlog of the heavy conditioning he achieved in the previous years. His fitness has been ebbing and returning, but generally he has been going very gradually downhill. , “That mile record could have been down to 3min 48sec. but instead it is very insecure at 3min 54.45ec. The Americans are really on the trail of it now. All over the country they are realising the need to do the hard work with long running. “I'm sure the record will be 3min 50sec within two years.”