3-MILE RACE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30396, 21 March 1964, Page 10

3-MILE RACE

Clarke Seeking Revenge Win (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) MELBOURNE, March 20. The Victorian runner, R. Clarke, now back to his best form, should take revenge over New Zealand’s W. D. Baillie on Sunday.

They will be meeting in the three Miles, one of the feature events at the Australian athletics championships at Olympic Park.

But Clarke and Baillie will probably not have the event to themselves. The fast and experienced A. Thomas, of New South Wales, also will be a danger. It was not the real Clarke who lost by a “whisker” to Baillie in the 10,000 metres at Olympic Park last Sunday. Clarke had not fully shaken off a bout of gastric influenza and he ran most of the race with a stitch. Clarke has scratched from the mile and Baillie from the six miles to be in top form for Sunday’s clash. Australian’s Problem It will be a problem race for Clarke. He knows that he is a stronger runner than Baillie over the longer dis-

tances but he has to consider whether Baillie has the sharper sprint at the end of a hard-run three miles. The race seems likely to produce a new Australian allcomers’ record, which now stands at 13min 17.6 sec. This was set by Clarke last January. A highlight of Saturday’s racing will be the appearance of the New Zealand champion, J. L. Davies, in the mile. The tall, bold-running Davies is the most promising miler seen in Melbourne since the former world mile record-holder, Herb Elliott. Davies has broken four minutes for the mile, but he will probably have to make the event a one-man affair if he goes for really fast time. The best of his rivals will probably be Thomas, but he was eclipsed by Davies in the 1500 metres lasi Sunday. Thomas has won the Australian mile title for the last two years. Davies should also win the 880 yards on Sunday. The Queenslander, Tony Blue, seems likely to be his only real challenger.