McKENZIE SHOULD WIN, IN WORLD-CLASS TIME

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31316, 11 March 1967, Page 15

McKENZIE SHOULD WIN, IN WORLD-CLASS TIME

There seems little possibility of the brilliant Greymouth runner, D. C. McKenzie, losing his New Zealand marathon title at Auckland today. In fact, the main interest seems to be the time he will record.

McKenzie is evidently in good racing trim judging from the form he showed in a fast training run round Hagley Park on Thursday afternoon.

When McKenzie won the title last season his time of 2hr Ifimin 59sec was the fastest marathon run in the Dominion. Since then, in the recent Canterbury championships, he lowered it to 2br 16min 2sec and some of his supporters are confident that he will finish today inside 2hr 14min, a world-class time for this event

Although a win for McKenzie is widely predicted, the experienced Aucklander,

W. D. Baillie, cannot be completely disregarded. Baillie is taking marathon running more seriously and is obviously competing as well as ever. If McKenzie

does not make the pace fast enough over the opening miles, Baillie could capitalise on his superior sprinting ability at the finish. Baillie’s best marathon time is 2min 18sec.

Another strong contender for the minor placings is P. Sale (Auckland). He has a best time of 2hr 21min and is expected to improve on this in today's championship race.