Power Mastered Storm And Rivals In Great 5000m Win

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32235, 2 March 1970, Page 22

Power Mastered Storm And Rivals In Great 5000m Win

t From Our Athletics' Reporter/

AUCKLAND. I 1 A splendid aggressive run by J. T. Power, of Canterbury, in the national 5000nietres championship at the rain-swept Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday must have . impressed the three-man panel selecting the team for the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. ■

Power, who had been troubled earlier in the day by an irritating pain in his right knee, led from start to finish to win his first national senior championship in what proved to be a superb solo battle against the elements.

The race —one of the fea ture events in the final session of the seventy-fifth ; championship meeting—coincided with one of several subtropical storms which marred the- day's proceedings. It turned the 5000 metres into a supreme test of stamina and ability which proved too ■ much for many of the eoun try’s leading distance runners However, Power, almost lost from sight at times behind a driving curtain of rain, judged his strength perfectly, and as his rivals straggled out behind he (splashed on to victory. Talked to Coach For half the distance he was. incredibly, in such conditions. on schedule to break i the Commonwealth Games selection standard of 13min 48 sec. averaging about 65sec a lap. But in .he end they i forced him to ease his pace (slightly and he finished in 'the very creditable time of : 14min 12.2 sec. G Thorley (Wellington) was second, in 14min 18sec, and K. Hamilton (Canterbury) hung on grimly to take the third place, in 14min 25.4 sec. for the second year in succession. Thorley’s effort was also commendable: only an hour previously he had finished fourth in the 3006 metres steeplechase. “It was easier than I expected.” Power, who lives in Timaru. said afterwards. He decided to use aggressive tactics only on the morning be fore the race after considering the advice of the successful Christchurch coach. Mr V Breidis. who shared a motel with him. “I thought I would set a real fast pace and see what happened." he added. TOOK SHOES OFF Power went straight to the front, and L. Dey (Otago). J Le Grice (Auckland), the defending champion, and Ham ilton managed to stay with him for four laps. On the fifth, only Le Grice was at his shoulder but shortly afterwards he stopped to take off his rain-soaked running shoes. He was quickly back in the race, running in bare feet, and regained second place, but by this time Power was 50 yards

I- clear On the ninth lap HamilJon moved up to second -as Power increased his lead to 80 I yards. I- Over the last four laps. Thorley put in a tremendous , burst, coming from fifth to '• second, but at the finish he was t still 40 yards behind Power. 0 ; Hamilton was a similar distance, j behind Thorley and B. Rose ’' (Wellington), one of the D|favourites, struggled in fourth, i Le Grice was seventh. TAYLER’S POTENTIAL t Power’s target for the >.!remainder of the season will be , the Commonwealth Games standard time and his first ’• chance to break it will be next $■ Saturday night He has _ • accepted an invitation to race y against Otago's national 1500 metres champion. R. Tayler. over 5000 metres on the Dunedin all-weather track. q A former Canterbury repre- ; sentative, Tayler finally realised 'the tremendous potential he K;showed as a junior with his win ». jin 3min 44 2sec in the 1500 e I metres final, only two-tenths of n ia second outside the standard a for Edinburgh. He came from V; behind on the last bend with n'a powerful drive to reach the Jape ahead of the promising voting Hawke’s Bav-Poverty Ray f,athlete, A Polhill, and the defending champion, D. Quax J (Waikato). ’ The humid conditions and , jstrqnge track proved too much . of a handicap for the two Can--3 i terbury finalists in the 800 ■I metres. M Clarkson and A. GilI'monr Clarkson started his II sprint with 200 metres to go • onlv to find his strength gone 'and he quickly faded towards •’(the rear. I The race was a triumph fori ) the diminutive South Island! Rushy wing. B Hunter (Otago).l who broke the tape in Imin’ ■ 52 sec O K Randle (Southland) i l.was a close second and another: Otago representative. L. Barlow.' third The one consolation for Can ' jerhury was the knowledge that ; Barlow has now moved to ' i Christchurch and will be avail-' able to renresent the province; next season i' The women s «00 metres final i was brilliantly won by the Olympic Games representative.; i’Mrs S Potts (Otago), in the outstanding time of 2min 4sec. i This dinned a tenth of a second! off the New Zealand record set AUCKLAND Ist fN.Z. Press Association) , WHANGAREL ■ T. Smedley (Auckland) 'won the New Zealand Cherokee class yachting champion- ’ i ship yesterday, having a first i placing, two seconds and a fourth. Other Aucklanders, D. Stansfield and B. Little, ! I filled second and third places, II respectively.

by Mrs M A. Stephen (Canterbury) four years ago and assured her of a place in the Commonwealth Games team. Mrs Potts set the pace from the start, realising she would probably have to run the race of her life to beat the former world mile record-holder. Miss A Smith'(Auckland). She completed the first lap in 59sec. Miss Smith started her powerful finish with 300 metres to go but she had left it too late. Mrs Potts was still yards clear at the tape, although Miss Smith, a former British representative. looked good in recording 2min 0 7scc This was o.3sec inside the qualifying standard for the Commonwealth Games. Less than an hour later. Mrs Potts came out to score the finest double of the championship, with a win in the 400 metres final. Her time was 55.45ec. The Wellington policeman, M Cull, won the men’s 400 metres final in the exceptional time of 47 6sec—only o.2sec outside the qualifying standard, fhe young Canterbury champion. S. W. Cowles, finished well to take fourth place, in 48.3 sec. in his first senior national championship. A. W. Tweedie, still running below his capabilities, was unplaced. MASTER OF JUMPS D. S. Norris (Auckland) was again the master in the jumping events, taking the triple jump title for the fourteenth successive time. The Canterbury champion. K. G. Simpson, was fourth, with 45ft 93in. Canterbury scored a moral victory in the women’s high jump when Mrs L. Ntfrris (formerly Miss Curtis) regained the title she last held in 1966. clearinc sft *4in to beat the 1969 New Zealand representative. Miss S Baster (Otago), by an inch Mrs Norris spent most of her athletic career in Christchurch and is another product of Mr Breidis’s coaching New Zealand's leading all round woman athlete. Miss B Poulsen (Canterburv), returned] to peak form to win the shot I title for the third successive ; season. Showing no ill effects of thei ankle injury which had handi I capped her progress in the last; few months, she put the 121 b | weight 49fl Ulin. 11 was a per i snnal best, almost 2ft beyond i the qualifying standard for the J Ganics, and 9?in better than het ! winning performance lasi sea 1 son. CLEAN SWEEP GAINED Second place went to the Canterbury champion. Miss D. Char teris, who heads the perform ance lists in New Zealand fot rhe season and was a favourite for the title. She recorded 48ft Un, a distance less than her capabilities, but still lin bet ter than the qualifying stand ard. Miss S. A. Flynn gave Can j terbury a clean sweep when she | took third place with a best i throw of 44ft sJin. But the heroine of the Canterbury women's team was un doubtedly Miss Flynn. When Miss Charteris failed to come up to expectations in the discus championship earlier in the day. Miss Flynn made a supreme effort on her last throw to re ] cord 143 ft Bin and snatch vic-; tory for Canterbury. Until the j last round the Auckland girl, j Miss R. Johnson, led the con-!

(test with a distance of 139 ft 3in, 11 achieved on her first attempt. I' Miss Flynn's winning throw 1 was less than the qualifying, (standard for the Games, but she, • has already broken it this season with a throw of 162 ft 2in. It was her second title of the j ’championships. On Friday she iwon her’fifth javelin champion-!. ship. The progress points in the' 1 men s Championship Shield. ' ! with the marathon and decathlon to come, are: Auckland 63. Wellington 30. Hawke's BayPoverty Bay and Canterbury 24. For the women s Lumley J Memorial Shield, the points are: ; Auckland 41. Canterbury 23. j ;i Otago 17.