Lecturer’s Antidote To Sitting

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31568, 4 January 1968, Page 10

Lecturer’s Antidote To Sitting

“As an antidote to hundreds of hours

of sitting, I resumed running and got fitter than I ever did here”, said Mr P. R. May yesterday on his return to Christchurch from the University of California at Berkeley.

Mr May is senior lecturer in | history and proctor at the University of Canterbury and! did a year’s research on goldrushes. In the 1950 s he was twice Canterbury mile champion, once Canterbury half-mile champion, held the West Coast mile record, represented Canterbury in crosscountry running, and won a university blue. Things conspired to get him running again, he said. He arrived at the Univer-! sity of California *hree weeks before a joggers’ group was formed and decided to join.! Members ranged from, junior students to a 46-year-old associate dean of business administration. All these had come through the . lerican system where none but the: best got much experience in sport at school or afterwards ! The fun, friendship, and fitness appealed to them immensely. Mr May then accidentally: became involved in the East Bay Road Runners' Club “in: which mums, dads, children of all ages, plus bachelors and spinsters of the neighbourhood got out regularly.”

Finally he was invited to join the Athens Athletic Club, an exclusive body which won the American cross-country championship. The East Bay club asked Mr May to talk about running in New Zealand. “They knew about Snell and the rest so all I could think of was the Haast circuit made in 1965 by the Canterbury University Cross-Country Club,” he said. “They were so inspired that they decided to run one of their own—lso miles through the Mother Lode Country, starting at 4 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m. My wife and two of my three children joined in.” Then Mr May got involved with eight others in high-alti-tude running. They did 25 ! miles through Yosemite National Park at an average of 9000 feet and sometimes above 10.000 feet. “Most of us were very fit, we managed slow and intermediate paces well, but whenever we climbed hard or put on speed we were all distressed.” Mr May said. “One lad had altitude sickness all the way.” A doctor in the party made checks for research purposes.