Exciting Hope Gibbons Won By Avon

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31399, 19 June 1967, Page 19

Exciting Hope Gibbons Won By Avon

The first Hope Gibbons Shield cycling event to be held in Canterbury for three years had a fittingly exciting result.

In the 25-mile, five-man teams’ time trial held on a course from Yaldhurst to Kirwee, Avon A won by only 17.5 sec from Papanui A, with the Avon B team third. Yesterday, on the same course, Timaru broke the stranglehold Christchurch clubs have held on the Grant Cup (for junior teams) for 25 years and won well by nearly 3min. The Hope Gibbons race, the winner of which qualified for the national final at Levin on July 1, evolved into a battle between the strength and stamina of Avon (T. J. Tabak, J. D. Swanston and D. Jones especially), and the steadiness of Papanui, and, for a time trial, was a quite exciting race.

Papanui made a very fast initial pace and covered the first quarter in llmin 45sec—or an average speed just over 31 m.p.h. Then the pace was dropped to conserve energy for the return trip, and after 14 miles, Avon was 33sec ahead. Avon had met with

early trouble as M. W. Litolff was dropped, brought back up again by Tabak, and dropped again after four miles. Papanui whittled away little of Avon’s half-way advantage steadily on the return journey, finishing with the full team intact—the only one to do so—but still down on time.

A powerful-looking Timaru A team won, as expected, the Grant Cup, a similar race but limited to juniors, although Avon gave a creditable performance and Papanui suffered bad luck.

Papanui lost J. E. Gurr after four miles, and although his captain, B. G. Stockwell, brought him up, Went off again soon afterwards. Then B. R. Chisholm wrecked a wheel when he ran into the rider in front of him and had to wait to take a wheel off Gurr and there was trouble in fitting this. Two or three miles later, Chisholm punctured and at 10 miles, G. J. Day suffered similar misfortune. Stockwell waited to take him up too, but the time lost with all the delays was too much for Papanui which had been holding Timaru until Chisholm’s first mishap. Meanwhile, Timaru rode strongly and steadily in a most promising performance.

Surprisingly, though, what appeared to be a very good ride produced a slower time than the first three in last year’s race.

The cup was presented by the former All Black, M. J. Dixon, who is now taking an interest in cycling because of his son’s participation. David Dixon won the 25mile handicap race on Saturday, for riders not concerned with the Hope Gibbons, after Gurr had been disqualified. Gurr had beaten Dixon narrowly in the sprint but, it was later discovered, had unintentionally started from the wrong mark. D. B. Hewson (Timaru) indicated he would provide Stockwell with strong opposition in junior events this year when he took fastest time by more than a minute from his brother, Mervyn. Results: Hope Gibbons Shield.—Avon A (G. R. Sword, captain, T. J. Tabak, J. D. Swanston. D. Jones, M. W. Litolff ), 56:31, 1; Papanui A (W. W. Thorpe, captain, B. G. Stockwell, J. S. Danielson, R. J. Hogan, W. G. Kendall). 56:48.5, 2; Avon B (T. M. Wildermoth, captain, P. I. Frisken, D. J. Savage, G. McLeod, M.‘ R, Hawkins). 58:42.5, 3; Papanui B (R. J. Weir, captain, B. P. Whitfield, I. D. McLean, P. H. C. Bedford, D. H. J. Kirdy), 61:37, Grant Cup.—Timaru A <D. B. Hewson, captain, K. A. Lamb, R. A. McDonald, M. Cague, J. Ryder), 62:18, 1: Avon (J. w. Beresford, captain, A. A. Paviell. R. G. Hogarth, W. Harwood, P- D. Crichton), 65:7, 2; Timaru B (W. Meggitt, captain. L. A. Fairbrother, W. Ryder, G. MeKissock, C. Robinson), 68:51, 3- Papanui (Stockwell, captain, B - . R. Chisholm, G. J. Day, G. B. Ireland, J. E. Gurr), 70:47, 4. Open 25-mile Handicap.—D. M. Dixon <P.. 14min) 1, T. D. Day (P., 14min) 2, R. Challis (A., 14min) 3, P- M. Fuller P., 19min) 4, C. Leppens (C., 19min) 5, W. J. E. Fuchs: (P-. 14mln) 6. Fastest time: p. B. Hewson (T., scr). 62:33, 1, M. J. Hewson (T„ scr), 63:34.5, 2.