Easy marathon win to Nelson runner

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32776, 29 November 1971, Page 24

Easy marathon win to Nelson runner

(From Our Own Reporter)

GREYMOUTH.

L. Vincent (Nelson) won the Great Westland marathon, from Greymouth to Hokitika, on Saturday by nearly a mile.

Vincent’s time of 2hrs 46min for the 26 miles 385 yards was an improvement of I nearly 15 minutes on his previous best and it gained him sixth fastest time. His surprise win was the more notable because he lost more than three minutes by taking a wrong turning. He ran a strong, steady race throughout and finished relatively undistressed. The veteran, J. Stuart (Hokitika) put up one of the best performances of his career to take second place

career to take second place t,; in 2hrs 55min 43sec. M. Poulieton (Christchurch) had a perlylsonal best time of 2hrs 49min irllOsec for third. c.l A strong head wind made id! the race more than an or■e dinarily difficult. Of 37 starters only 26 completed the I- distance and the wind reis duced the expected perform- -- ance of most of the runners :- by up to 10 minutes. Most Is of the field misjudged the i. effect of the wind and sevei- ral runners were exhausted 0 at the finish. N. Reid (Olympic) ran a i- courageous race to take fasn test time in 2hrs 32min lOsec. n Reid ran off the back mark n with the cross-country intere national, E. Gray (Greyd mouth), who was one of the n favourites to win. The two helped each other to battle

the head wind for nearly 20 miles. Then Gray fell back and soon after withdrew. C. F. Reece (St Martins) ran a strong, well judged race to take second fastest time in 2hrs 38mins 35sec. An expected battle between Reece and his co-marker the crosscountry international, J. Sheddan (Olympic) did not eventuate. While Reece began steadily, Sheddan took off at a faster pace than he could sustain and he withdrew. Results:—

L. Vincent (Nelson), 2:46:43, 1; J. Stuart (Hokitika), 2:55:43. 2; M. Poulton (Christchurch), 2:49:10, 3; D. Cameron (Cashmere), 2:41:34, 4; S. McArthur (Nelson), 3:36:59, 5; J. Tobin (Olympic), 2:52:40, 6; I. McKay (Methodist), 3:12:45, 7; P. Howat (Greymouth), 2:48:14, 8; C. F. Reece (St Martins), 2:38:35, 9; J. Taylor (St Martins), 3:20:5, 10; G. Stewart (Presbyterian), 2:51:37, 11; P. Caughey (unattached), 3:3:04, 12; N. Reid (Olympic), 2:32:10, 13; G. Howat (Greymouth), 2:52:30, 14; D. Dixey (Methodist), 2:38:47, 15; B. Jacobsen (Nelson), 2:40:52, 16; J. Hinton (Christchurch), 3:21:01, 17; P. Coughlan (Olympic), 2:46:45, 18; J. Southerland (University), 3:17:08, 19; J. Drew (Veterans), 3:51:08, 20; P. Lawn (Anglican), 3:26:52, 21; A. Evans (Olympic), 3:16:40, 22; B. Lewis (Greymouth), 3:0:56, 23; J. Smithers (Technical), 4:2:59, 24; A. McPherson (Presbyterian i, 4:4:11, 25; N. Matson (Christchurch), 3:15:44, 26. Fastest times.—N. Reid 1, C. F. Reece 2, D. Dixey 3. B. Jacobsen 4, D. Cameron 5, L. Vincent 6. St Martins won the teams’ race and Olympic took fastest time in the teams 11 section.