Conditions Mar Ice Marathon

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31115, 19 July 1966, Page 20

Conditions Mar Ice Marathon

Ice conditions were so poor for the New Zealand ice marathon at Lake Ida on Sunday that seven of the 11 starters, including the defending champion and record-holder, R. Falkingham, failed to finish.

Sheets of water as deep as two inches in many places covered much of the main lake where the race—the toughest on the New Zealand speed skating calendar—was held. Under the water onethird of the course was on black ice, the remainder was soft and snowy. It was conditions such as these that indirectly brought about the downfall of one of

the three women competitors. Miss T. Attwoods crashed heavily after seven laps and was carried from the ice unconscious. She later made a full recovery. The outstanding 19-year-old Christchurch skater, R. J. Montgomery, judged his race well and won by a large margin. He finished quite strongly in Ihr 58min 57.1 sec, about 18

minutes outside Falkingham’s record set last year. Montgomery started well and was with the leading bunch until it broke up. By the half-way mark it was obvious that only a bad fall could rob him of a comfortable victory. Falkingham’s effort was a gallant one. He matched Montgomery’s, pace in the early stages but with about nine laps of the 29-lap course to go began to suffer from exhaustion. He struggled on gamely but with only one lap to go he could skate no further, and reluctantly withdrew. At the time he was in second place and more than two laps ahead of his nearest challengers. Second place went to an intermediate, P. McLachlan, in 2hr 20min. He kept up with the leaders for quite a while early in the race, but later wisely reserved his energy for the finish. W. Dangerfield, another intermediate, was third in 2hr 44min—also a well judged effort. The only other finisher was K. Nicolle, the runner-up in the New Zealand 160 metres championship a week before. His time was 2hr 51min. The New Zealand sprint champion, T. Skerten, completed 18 of the 29 laps and a 14-year-old, N. Gibson, pulled out seven laps from home. Both completed the full distance last year. None of the three women competitors finished. Miss C. Walker pulled out with a third of the distance covered and Miss D. Stevens found conditions too tough after 17 laps.