M. Munroe enters 24 hour run

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31841, 20 November 1968, Page 15

M. Munroe enters 24 hour run

pNE of New Zealand’s most notable long distance road runners, M. Munroe (Mornington, Dunedin). will start in the Canterbury Road Runners’ Association’s sponsored 24hour run which will start at 5 p.m. on December 21. He hopes to exceed 100 miles in the attempt and will be treating the event as a serious time trial. Most runners will take a break during the run but Munroe intends to go straight through without sleep. Ruapum- Park, better known for racing cars and motor-cycles, will be the venue for the run, the first of its kind in Canterbury. Lighting the one-mile track for the seven hours of darkness is one of the problems which has yet to be overcome by the organisers. Large scale floodlighting would be far too expensive, the president of the Canterbury Road Runners’ Association (Mr S. Jelley) explained. Plans are being considered for a small generating plant to light up the startfinish and it is hoped that storm latems can be borrowed from one of the councils to line the track. Proceeds from the run will go to the paraplegics association.

Entries for the event will not close for some time but a number of prominent road runners have already expressed interest. J. D. Macdonald, the Canterbury steeplechase champion, has agreed to run, although he plans to rest during the night and hopes to complete about 50 miles. Invitations have been sent to three of the country’s 100 miles specialists, D. Wood (Southland), C. O'Donnell (Wanganui) and D. Stevenson (Auckland).

Stevenson is not new to Canterbury, having already competed with success in one of the early New Brighton 50 races, and if he starts will be the favourite to cover the longest distance.

However, Munroe at present looks like the man to

beat. He has already made

100-mile and 24-hour attempts and this is the sort of event in which he produces his best. Now 42, he is obviously far from finished. Last year he finished runner - up to R. Alcorn in the New Brigh-

ton 50. His time of shr 48min 15sec was outstanding considering he ran the last half of the race with one shoe soaked in blood and the skin stripped off his feet.