HUNTLY RELAY

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31597, 7 February 1968, Page 15

HUNTLY RELAY

Chch Leg By Steel

The former New Zealand sprint champion, A. G. Steel, will carry the torch into Cathedral Square shortly after noon today at the end of the morning leg of the Huntly Centennial torch relay. The southern section of the relay, the longest held in New Zealand, began yesterday when the youngest member of the Half Moon Bay School on Stewart Island lit the torch and D. R. IJ. Turnbull. of the Invercargill club, carried it on the first leg of its journey across Stewart Island and then by amphibian aircraft to Bluff. At Bluff, a brief ceremony was held by the Mayor (Mr W. R. Johns) in the evening and the torch then began its long journey up the South. Island to Christchurch.

The relay, organised by the New Zealand Road Runners* Club under the sponsorship of Rothmans, will cover 1638 miles on land and 132 air and sea miles before athletes stage a mass finish at Huntly on Saturday afternoon as part of the centennial celebrations. It will be run in two sections, one from Stewart .Island and the other from Cape Reinga. Steel, an All Black wing on the recent Rugby tour of Britain, will hand over to the president of the New Zealand Road Runners’ Club, M. Poulton, who will carry the torch on the next leg of the journey.

Christchurch runners are responsible for carrying the torch and messages from Riccarton to Seddon.