Riccarton Boy Outstanding

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31020, 28 March 1966, Page 18

Riccarton Boy Outstanding

With two outstanding runs, the Riccarton High School sprinter C. Baker provided the only legitimate sprint records of the boys’ Christchurch secondary schools’ athletics.

Baker was fortunate to strike a lull in the strong southerly wind when he shaved a tenth of a second from both the senior 100 yards and 220 yards times. He reduced the 100 yards to lO.lsec. beating the 18-year-old record of R. F. Warren (St. Bede’s College). In a more closely contested furlong he took 22.65ec, beating the record set in 1958 by the New Zealand senior sprint champion. A. G. Steel.

Not as fortunate with the wind was Burnside's R. Jones. He gave an equally impressive display to be a double winner of the intermediate sprints. Jones streaked away from his opposition in times equal to those of Baker.

Wind-assisted record times were also returned in the junior and under 14 divisions. J. Bailey (Hagley) ran the junior IM yards in 10.8 sec and the 220 yards In 24.45ec, and M. Nolan (St. Bede's) waa a fraction faster than the under-14 time for the 100 yards with 11.3 sec.

The pushing wind could detract fully from the merit of some hurdling times, and more accomplished performances should be seen from a trio of promising boys. R. Moore (St. Andrew’s College) took o.4sec off the 120 yards senior hurdle record with 14.7 sec. D. Watson (Christ's College) did even better in the Intermediate 110 yards hurdles with 14.4 sec, Msec inside the record. In the under 14 division. G. Anderson (Shirley) was o.ssec Inside the record with a run of ll.Ssec for the 80 yar’ds hurdles.

A rare distinction of claiming one of the around the track records was gained by R. Wernham (Hillmorten) in the intermediate half-mile. After making much of the running, Wernham reduced the record by more than two seconds to 2min l.lsec.

Sharing in an Impetuous sprint from the start of the intermediate mile probably cost J Tomlinson (Aranui) the chance of breaking the record of 4min 25.55ec he had set in the heats. Tomlinson’s 4min 28 4sec was still a remarkable effort. He pushed powerfully away from the field around the last two laps and beat the senior time of R. Harding (Cashmere) by more than a second. A Burnside quartet snatched the intermediate four by 110 yards relay record by O.lsec with 45.55ec.

Encouraging achievements in the senior javelin throw and the pole vault justified the addition of these events to the programme. After being placed in the national junior pole vault championship, R. Hart (Christ’s) probably received a shock to find his supremacy closely challenged by two newcomers. The bar was pushed to 10ft 3in, with Hart winning on a countback from R. McLeod (Riccarton). G. Donaldson (St. Bede’s) cleared 10ft. Another newcomer who excelled with the javelin is K. Cowan (St. Bede’s), who reached 173 ft Ilin. Another place-getter in the New Zealand junior meeting, K. Byall (St. Thomas'* College), was second.