Falkingham Breaks Two Ice Skating Records

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 14

Falkingham Breaks Two Ice Skating Records

Two New Zealand records were broken by the young Christchurch skater, R. Falkingham, during the Canterbury long track speed skating championships at Lake Ida yesterday. In the men’s events, he clipped 7s«c oft the New Zealand 5000 metres record with an outstanding time of 9m:n llsec. He then won the 10.000 metres championship in a New Zealand record of 18min 59.1 sec and must now stand a very good chance of taking the coveted men’s combined title at the national championships next week-end. Falkingham also won the Canterbury aggregate title from the veteran. J. H. Havenaar. Normally such two long and testing events are held on separate days but snow blocking the access road to the lake on Saturday prevented any racing on that day and all events were held yesterday. A grader was needed to clear a path and the lake itself was covered with very hard, black

Although Falkingham was unexpectedly superior in the longer events, he had to be content with runner-up position in the 500 metres and 1500 metres championships. A first year senior, R. Montgomery, took the 500 metres title, whiSe Havenaar won the 1500 metres in the very good time of 2min 39.1sec—exactly a second faster than Falkingham. The 160 metres straight sprint was an exceptionally close race. T. Skerton just managed to cross the line a tenth of a second ahead of Montgomery. Miss J. H. Bayne, the New Zealand women’s champion, won every race in the women’s championships, and Miss F. Lyttle was runner-up. Results were: Men

Men’s 500 Metres.—R. Montgomery, 50.7, 1; R. Falkingham, 51.3, 2: A. Lyttle. 51.4. 3; J. Havenaar, 51.6, 4. Men’s 1500 Metres.—Jan Havenaar, 2:30.1, 1; R. Falkingham, 2:40.1, 2: D. Lvttle, 2:45.8, 3; D. McLochlan, 3:0.7, 4. 5000 Metres.—R. Falkingham, 9:11.0 (N.Z. record), 1: R. Montgomery. 9:28.9, 2: J. Havenaar, 9:51.2, 3; D. Lyttle, 10:0.0. 4. 10.000 Metres.—R. Falkingham, 18:50.1 (N.Z. record). 1: R. Montgomery, 19:26.3, 2; J. Havenaar. 20:1.5, 3; D. Lytt1e,20:49.6, 4.

160 Metres.—T. Skerten, 17 1, 1: R. Montgomery, 17.2, 2; J Havenaar, 17.8, 3; D. Lyttle, 18.3, 4.

Aggregate.—R. Falkingham, 1: J. Havenaar, 2; R. Montgomery,

Intermediate 500 Metres.—P. McLachlan, 59.2. 1500 Metres.—P. McLachlan, 3000 Metres.—P. McLachlan. 6:55.2. 5000 Metres.—P. McLachlan, 11:42.4. Aggregate.—P. McLachlan. Women 500 Metres.—J. Bayne, 57.5. 1: F. Lyttle, 1:27.3, 2. 1000 Metres.—Miss J. Bayne, 2:17.6, 1; Miss F. Lyttle, 2:48.6. 2. 1500 Metres.—.!. Bavne. 3:33 5. 1; F. Lyttle, 4:28.6, 2. 3000 Metres.—J. Bavne. 8-14 7 1; F. Lyttle, 9:26.3, 2. 160 Metres.—J. Bayne. 19.3, 1; F. Lyttle, 22.9, 2.

Aggregate.—Miss -J. Bayne, 1 Miss F. Lyttle, 2.