Gray Main Hope In National Harriers

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31135, 11 August 1966, Page 19

Gray Main Hope In National Harriers

Canterbury’s main hope in the New Zealand harrier championships on Saturday is the 21-year-old E. M. Gray of Greymouth, who won the provincial title in convincing style.

Gray made his first impression on the national harrier scene with an eighth in his first year of open competition in 1964. Now a more confident and experienced runner, he should make his presence more strongly felt. The national course at New Plymouth is very similar to [the Canterbury one and [should suit Gray, even if heavy, I Although the Canterbury senior team is without two of its strongest men, other provinces have also lost repre- [ sentatives to the Kingston team, so that the contest [should be more open than ■usual. [ The Canterbury team inI eludes a mixture of both experienced and improving ‘.younger runners, including B. R. E. Jones, the former proI vincial champion. Canterbury’s prospects for the inter■nrovincia! teams' match wil’ be affected by the absence of J. T. Power, who was third in the provincial race, and J. D. Macdonald. The junior team is one of .the youngest to represent the province. with several including the champion. J. Sheddan [(Olympic), in their first year ;of junior competition. Women Official j The women’s race has i special significance as an [official championship for [women is included for the [first time. For several years ! unofficial championship events [ have been held at the time [of the men's championships. Auckland will be difficult to oust from supremacy in this 'icontest Although Canterbury

will be without one of its strongest runners again in Miss Jennifer Horton, the team should enter the competition confident of second place. Canterbury should have increasingly stronger teams for several years as several of its best women harriers are still only 13 and 14. In this category are two of this year's team. Miss R. Williams and Miss C. Horton, whose twin sister. Jennifer, would have been an automatic selection had she been available. Last year Jennifer was fourth in the unofficial championship and in 1964 second.