Blisters proving handicap for English international

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 14

Blisters proving handicap for English international

(By

R. O. DEW)

TT is no simple matter to adjust to New Zealand's climatic conditions after the considerably cooler temperatures of England. The former English cross country international, R. D. Robinson, has discovered this in no uncertain fashion since he came to Christchurch to take up a position as a lecturer at the University of Canterbury. But now, two years later, he seems ready to make his mark at national level on the track and in the rough. However, there is one frustrating problem which he has not yet overcome. When the surface is hard and the temperatures high, he becomes almost crippled with blisters on his feet. After sharing the early pace with D. C. McKenzie (Greymouth) in the recent Canterbury 10 miles road championship. blistered feet forced him to withdraw shortly after the halfway mark. And he is only too painfully aware that the same problem could affect his chances of representing his adopted country in the international cross country championships in Spain next year, although it is on the road that the problem is worst. One of a handful of Canterbury athletes chosen to compete in the final trial which is expected to have a direct bearing on tne composition of the New Zealand team to travel to Spain, Robinson can see no u!av to solve the problem in the week? ahead.

“I have tried everything,” he said after his unsuccessful bid to regain the 10-mile title. “I wore my heavier English shoes today in the hope that they would absorb the jarring I even had a layer of sponge rubber fitted inside but it didn’t make any difference.” He thinks he will switch back to his light-weight Japanese road shoes, discarded originally because of the blisters. “I might as well get blisters in light-weight shoes as in heavy ones,” he said with a smile. His next big test on the road will be in the Hokitika eight-mile event on Boxing Day, an invitation event. In this he might again find himself matched against McKenzie. The New Zealand 10,000 metres track champion, E. M. Gray (Greymouth), and other prominent Canterbury athletes are also expected to participate. Robinson, now 31, is covering about 80 miles a week in training. “This is as much as I have ever done.” His preparation is directed at the final cross country trial and the 10,000 metres on the track. Failure to win a place in the New Zealand cross country team will leave him as a very strong contender for the national 10,000 metres championship at the end of February. The cross country team members will, unfortunately, miss the national track and field championships.

On the track, blisters are not expected to be a Eroblem and it is here that e might well make his mark this summer. But it was in the rough that he earned his considerable reputation. He represented England in the international cross country championship in Morocco in March, 1966, and competed again for England against France in a strong field of runners from all over Europe in December, 1966.

In this latter event he finished sixth. His best performance on the track before he came to New Zealand was a second in the South of England six miles championship in 28min 48sec. Robinson has already tasted success in New Zealand. In 1968, just two months after his arrival in New Zealand, he raced away with the Canterbury 10 miles road championship in 51min 3.ssec. He looked an exciting prospect for the track season ahead, but it takes time to adjust to conditions in a new country and his performances were not quite as impressive as was hoped. But since then injury has also severely handicapped him. In the 1969 winter cross country season his first in New Zealand he was shaping particularly well with fastest times in several events when disaster struck. He broke a bone in his foot in the Edmond Cup race at Dunedin. He was unable to compete again during the harrier season and missed the entire track season which followed as well. Last winter, he was back in the thick of competition again, finishing third in the Canterbun’ cross country championship and sixteenth in the national event. Now the future is starting to look bright again and it will be surprising indeed if Roger Robinson does not become an established name at national and provincial levels in at least one facet of athletics in the months ahead.