Athletics Tours Made Too Early, Says N.I. Scott

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30342, 18 January 1964, Page 11

Athletics Tours Made Too Early, Says N.I. Scott

Q VERSEAS athletics tours of New Zealand are being made too early, said N. I. Scott, of Auckland, when he competed in Ashburton last Saturday. “They should be made in March, after the national championships,” he said. This season, the Agfa, provincial, and national events would be all held in one month. Although this might be all right for middle distance runners, those who ran distance races had the edge taken, off them. Few Auckland runners would be competing at Drmedin on February 8 for the Agfa tournament, said Scott. This date clashed with the Auckland championships, which will be held on February 8 and 11. Scott, who is now 28, is attempting to better this season the world 5000 metres record of 13min 35.2 sec, held by V. Kuts, of Russia. He will be trying for times at the Auckland and national championships, but

if conditions are not right he will attempt a good time in March. After doing marathon training since February, Scott has run 1800 miles in the last 17 weeks. For the first nine wekes he did jogging, then four weeks of hill work, and then four weeks of jogging and speed work on alternate days. This week he will switch to speed work each day. Although the run in Ashburton was his first race this season, Scott believes that he is as fit as ever, and certainly much stronger. “I have done 4min Usee for the mile in training, which is my best ever effort in training.” Last year his best time for 5000 metres was 13min 47sec, and he was beaten by G. Pyne, of Canterbury, in the three miles at Dunedin in a little over 13min 31sec. Although he considers Pyne a “fantastic and intelligent” runner, Scott considers that he is attempting the wrong distances. “Pyne should have run

miles for about two seasons, reducing his times to about 4min 2sec or 4min 3 sec, before attempting longer distances.” R. Maddiford, a 16-year-old athlete from Auckland and present holder of the national junior cross-coun-try title, is, in Scott’s opinion, New Zealand’s best prospect. “Already Maddiford has run 9min 2sec for the two miles. “He is an intelligent athlete who races to win. Most young runners try to win by as big a margin as possible, and this leaves them without the ‘killer’ instinct when they are older.” Scott, who was surprised by the quality of the track in Ashburton, said that conditions in the south were more favourable for training during the summer than they were in Auckland. “A runner should train here during the summer and in Auckland during the winter,” he said, as he prepared to jog home on one of the few fine days Ashburton has had this year.