Former national champion dies

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33062, 1 November 1972, Page 14

Former national champion dies

One of New Zealand’s finest half-milers in the 19605, R. Hamilton, of Auckland, has died of cancer at the age of 31. A former New Zealand representative athlete, he won the national 880 yards title at Palmerston North in 1965. He first sprang to prominence as a 20-year-old in 1962 when he finished runner-up to P. G. Snell in the New Zealand half-mile championship. In 1964 he won the Auckland half-mile title and he repeated this the following season. As New Zealand champion, he represented the Dominion in South Africa in 1965 where he ran second in the South African half-mile championship. He never again won the national title but in 1966 he was second and in 1967 finished third. His best time for the halfmile was Imin 50.4 sec which, at the time, ranked him second in New Zealand to Snell. In 1964 Hamilton was the New Zealand Universities half-mile champion and that season was awarded a university Blue for ath-

letics. He represented New Zealand Universities in

Australia the same year. His record of 22min 47sec for the 3.9-mile stage up the Rimutaka Hill in the Wellington-Masterton relay still stands. It was set in 1967. Hamilton also made his mark as a coach. He was the guiding hand behind J. Le Grice (Auckland), who won the New Zealand threemile title in 1969. He is survived by a wife and a daughter.