New Brighton 50 On Saturday

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31330, 29 March 1967, Page 10

New Brighton 50 On Saturday

Zealand’s longest single stage foot race—the New Brighton 50—will be run through the suburbs of Christchurch on Saturday and there is every prospect of it being the best yet. More than 30 competitors will face the rtarter in the main street of New Brighton and most of these are grimly determined to last out the distance.

There will no doubt be many personal achievements along the way but the main interest will be in the performance of the Methodist runner, R. Alcorn, who won the event last season in the record time of shr 30min.

If he can produce another world class time on Saturday

there is a possibility that he may win sponsorship to the English London-to-Brighton 50-mile classic in September. This would be a great opportunity for him to make a mark on the world scene.

The present unofficial world record for 50 miles is held by the South African, G. Walshe, who recorded shr 16min 7sec in England nine years ago. And although Alcorn is unlikely to break this time, the possibility cannot be dismissed if conditions are suitable. Alcorn’s main problem in going for a fast time will be his lack of opposition.

His race promises to be a lonely affair with only the clock to spur him on to greater effort. There are a number of prominent road runners in the field capable of good times but none are in Alcorn’s class over 50

miles. Most of them have trained mainly for the marathon distance of 26 miles 385 yards and the last 10 miles or so will probably drain the stamina from them. D. Greig and A. Evans (both Technical) are two who fall into this category. However, if they can keep their pace down during the early stages they could be within challenging, distance of Alcorn at the finish. The Wellington long distance runner, S. Goston, could prove a strong candidate for the runner-up position. He was second in 1965 and promised to repeat this performance in last year’s race. Unfortunately, he misjudged his early pace, leading the field through the 10mile mark. He finished eighth to take the prize for the first visiting athlete.

Another candidate for a high placing is Christ-

church’s M. Poulton, who was fourth last year in 6hr 23min 29sec. Two of the three runners who finished in front of him, B. Turner and A. Hughes, have not entered again. The winner of the prize for the oldest finisher last year, L. E. Fox (Olympic), is again a starter and seems likely to finish first in his age group. He finished seventh over-all last season, beating many men half his age. A New Zealand representative in the 1950 Com-

monwealth Games, he is now 55.

Fox won the New Zealand marathon title in 1945 and 1946 and held the fastest championship winning time of 2hr 40min until this was beaten by fellow Commonwealth Games representative, J. R. Clarke, in 1952. It is worth noting that Fox passed the marathon distance in 3hr 31min during last year’s New Brighton 50.

An interesting entry is that of the 59-year-old St. Martins runner, J. L. Richards. He is the oldest man to enter for a 50-mile event in New Zealand. Richards is a former New Zealand 100-mile cycling champion He took up road running three years ago. He ran unofficially in the 50 last year to 26 miles.

Since taking up competitive running he has run the 26-mite marathon in under four hours. “I did a fair bit of tramping and used to think I was fairly fit until 1 took on the running,” says Richards.

His experience disposes of theories that weight cannot be reduced by exercise unrelated to lowered food intake. “I have reduced my weight by more than two stone with running and I eat like a horse. I am now about the same weight as when I was a racing cyclist,” says Richards. Another veteran runner in the field is 53-year-old J. Drew (St. Martins). He finished tenth last year in 7hr 36min 20sec but he has oeen away from Christchurch off and on for the last few weeks and he may not be so well prepared as he was last time.

A teams’ race will be held officially for the first time. Three clubs, St. Martins, Technical and Marist have entered for this, won unofficially by St. Martins last year. A trophy has been donated by Rothmans.