Sports Festival To Aid Games Funds

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32214, 5 February 1970, Page 14

Sports Festival To Aid Games Funds

National representatives in three sports will compete in a festival sports meeting at English Park on Sunday afternoon to raise money for Commonwealth Games Promotion (New Zealand). Six sports will be reprented in the programme, which

has been organised by the Canterbury track cycling committee. G. J. Glover, the New Zealand roller skating champion, who recently returned from a successful trip to the world titles, will compete in a 1000metre time trial and a one mile handicap, and a member of the last New Zealand team to the world championships, Miss R. Alexander, will also skate. Glover won two silver medals and a bronze in the last titles held in Argentina in December, and Miss Alexander won a silver medal in 1968 in Italy. The New Zealand cyclists, B. G. Stockwell and M. Litolff, and the national titleholders, P. Frisken, P. Skilling, R. Knight and P. Brydon, will compete in several events.

Stockwell and Litolff are favoured candidates for the

New Zealand team to compete in the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh and both are in full preparation for the New Zealand championships which will be held at the park in four weeks.

One of New Zealand’s top prospects as a weight-lifter, E. Ebert, will also be competing. Ebert is the New Zealand middle-weight champion and record-holder and recently broke the Common-

wealth press record with a lift of 2901 b.

The New Zealand powerlifting record-holder, A. M. Butcher, and the New Zealand junior champion at Olympic lifting and powerlifting, G. May, will be another competitor. Canterbury representatives in wood-chopping, W. Malone and A. Ferguson, will give demonstrations, and the wrestlers will be reprsented by K. McLaughlan, a runnerup in the national championships last year, and W. Ragg. The sports will be drawn together for a special event, a challenge relay between the organiser of the meeting, Mr H. L. Litolff, and Mr M. J. Dixon, a former All Black wing three-quarters and a Canterbury Ranfurly Shield selector. Two skaters will skate a half-mile, the wood-choppers will chop underhand and overhand, and to finish the relay, Messrs Litolff and

Dixon will race on cycles for a circuit of the track. To add to the festive flavour of the meeting, the Rdccarton Highland Pipe band will play and there will be demonstrations by highland dancers and marching girls. If the programme is as successful as Mr Litolff’s previous fund-raising efforts, it will benefit substantially the purse of the Commonwealth Games organisation.