Miss S. A. Flynn Breaks N.Z. Javelin Record

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30984, 14 February 1966, Page 17

Miss S. A. Flynn Breaks N.Z. Javelin Record

v A 16-year-old schoolgirl, Miss S. A. Flynn (Technical), broke the Aew Zealand women’s javelin record by 7ft 7in during the first day of the Canterbury track and field championships at Rugby Park on Saturday.

Her title-winning throw' of 155 ft 9in made her third in rankings for the event and a candidate for the Empire Games in Jamaica.

Miss Flynn won the senior women’s national javelin title last season with a best throw of only 119 ft 7fin. She was also the top-ranked woman javelin thrower last season with a best performance of 134 ft 4iin. , On Saturday Miss Flynn

returning later for hesr final throw of 139 ft lin. New Zealand’s 800 metre bronze medalist at Tokyo Mrs M. A. Stephens, showed a return to her best form when she broke her four-year-old Canterbury record in the women’s mile with a splendid run of 4min sO.3sec. This was the fastest time recorded in New Zealand. Moves to have it recognised as an official New Zealand record may be made. Mrs Stephen ran the entire distance alone. Miss J. Horton (New Brighton), a young athlete of some promise, was second in smin 23sec and her twin sister, Miss C. Horton,

was third a further 24.75ec behind. Mrs Stephen easily retained her 440 yards title with a run of 56.95ec, the same time as she recorded in winning the event last season, 2.4 sec outside her six-year-old provincial record. There was a stimulating struggle for second place between Miss B. Turbott (Toe H) and Miss C. Kussell (Shirley). Both crossed the line together, recording the same time of 61.4 sec, but the decision went to Miss Turbott, a Canterbury hockey and softball representative. The New Zealand Olympic representative, Mrs V. I.

immediately demonstrated that she would throw some sensational distances. Her first throw was 149 ft but she overbalanced, crossed the board and this was ruled a no-throw. At her next attempt she reached her record distance of 155 ft 9in and the event was delayed while athletes and officials gathered to congratulate her. Her next four throws were not in the same class. She recorded 133 ft lin, 131 ft sin and then had another nothrow at her fifth attempt. She then ran a leg of the women’s relay for Technical,

Young (Technical), retained her shot tide, but only after a very close earnest wish her main rival for Empire Games selection later this year, Miss D. C’harteris (Technical). Her winning throw of 50ft was jin less than she achieved at her first outing since emerging from retirement a week ago and only slightly more than 2ft better than Miss Charteris’s best throw. Miss Flynn also showed outstanding potential in the shot. She took third place with a best throw of 42ft 111 in, 2in better than her standing Canterbury record for the under-17 shot. M. Walls again showed the benefits of his recent experience in Australia when he equalled the 26-year-old record of 15.4 sec for the senior 120 yards hurdles. This record, held by C. R. Bradwell (Technical) is the oldest on Canterbury books. The strong University combination of T. Crossen, I. Tweedie, D. Stevenson and D. W. Mackenzie, convincingly won the senior 4 x 440 yards relay in the record time of 3min 23sec. This was .Isec inside the old record set by a Technical team in 1960. Miss L. Johns (Technical) lowered the girls’ under 15 100 yards record to 12.1 sec in a post entry inter-club race. This was .Isec better than the old record set by Miss J. Smith three years ago.