Trained In Four Countries For New Brighton 50

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31028, 6 April 1966, Page 15

Trained In Four Countries For New Brighton 50

\ CHRISTCHURCH journalist who recently completed about 7000 miles air travel in the Pacific area trained in four different countries in preparation for the New Brighton 50-mile road race held on Saturday. He is J. Drew of the St. Martins Athletic Club who trained in the Cook Islands, Fiji and Samoa, while covering news assignments for the "Daily Express,” London. During more than a fortnight of travelling he also trained In Auckland, Hamilton, Tokoroa, and Wellington to maintain condition for the race—the longest in Australia and New Zealand. Drew, who is 52, gained 10th place among 33 starters in the race on Saturday. On the day he left by jet service to Nandi he trained in New Zealand. That evening while waiting for a DC3 connexion to Samoa he trained at midnight on the perimeter of the Nandi airport taking advantage of the cooler night conditions. While in Rarotonga he completed a number of runs with Cook Island athletes. On the return journey he trained in Apia where he filed stories on the Samoan food shortage. Next day he again trained at Fiji while waiting several hours for delayed jet service connexions to Auckland. In the Cook Islands Drew found Rarotongan runners keenly interested in training in preparation for the forthcoming Pacific games in Noumea. “They did not need much encouragement to come on training runs and after the first time I found quite a sizeable group waiting next evening for me to take them training. “We ran on the Rarotongan airfield which is used by the DC3 services between Rarotonga, Samoa and Fiji. Later we did longer runs on the roads in the cool of the evenings. Most of the roads have avenues of colourful trees flanked by tropical gardens making pretty surroundings for training. Running through the villages on the road round the island I invited well wishing specta-

tors to join in and we used to collect enthusiasts on the way. "Rarotongan radio station mentioned this on their news programme and the word got around and more would turn out next time.

“Several of the Rarotongan athletes I trained with seemed well informed about the prowess of noted New Zealand athletes and were keen to obtain information about their training methods,” Drew said.