Cashmere harrier to run in 420-mile road rate

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33068, 8 November 1972, Page 14

Cashmere harrier to run in 420-mile road rate

Canterbury’s best performed 100-mile runner, D. Cameron (Cashmere), will face the greatest challenge of his career when he lines up on Sunday for the start of New Zealand’s first road race from Auckland to Wellington.

Cameron, who has been training up to 140 miles a week for the 420-mile event, will be matched against seven other long-distance specialists.

The standard of the field may be judged by the relegation of the former Olympic representative, W. D. Baillie, to the unsponsored category.

This race will be the most daunting test of athletic endurance ever attempted in New Zealand. The runners will have to cover about 80 miles a day to stand a chance of making the major placings. Competing against Cameron will be three runners who have already covered the 420-mile distance. They are A. Cotterell (Hamilton), who holds the record of 5 days 7hr 22min, D. Stephenson (Turangi) and M. Telford (Auckland), who have both run the distance twice before.

Also in the group of six sponsored runners will be the former New Zealand Olympic marathon representative, T. Keats (Auckland) and D. Wood (Invercargill), who holds the South Island 24-hour record of 117 miles. The other competitors are Baillie and R. Wakelin (Auckland).

A notable absentee from the race is the national 50-mile record-holder, R. Alcorn (Canterbury), who withdrew because of a knee injury.

After leaving the Auckland Post Office at 6 a.m. on Sunday, the route of the race is through Hamilton, Te Kuiti, Taumarunui, National Park, Raetihi,

Wanganui, Bulls, Sanson and Levin. The entrants will be allowed to run a maximum of 15 hours each day. The race will officially finish at the end of the seventh day, Saturday, November 18.

While Cameron’s strongest opponents are Cotterell, Stephenson and Telford (all of whom have proved their ability to last the five-day ordeal), there is considerable support for Wood, who has also been carrying out a massive preparation.

Baillie, who won every national title from the halfmile to the marathon, has never been regarded as a long-distance specialist and on past performances should offer no serious threat.

Cameron has not been doing as large a training mileage as some of his opponents. While Telford and Cotterell have been running 200 miles a week, Cameron has been tapering off from 140 to 120 miles.

But the general quality of Cameron’s training has been high. He has covered 27 miles every Sunday with his adviser and training companion, C. F. Reece. Cameron is also fortunate to have the services of the president of the Canterbury Road Runners’ Association, Mr J. R. Taylor, to act as

his handler. Mr Taylor is one of Canterbury’s most experienced road runners who, like Cameron, has completed the “New; Brighton 50” twice, as well; as finishing in several I marathons.

“When the going gets really tough a man does not need to be encouraged to give up. He requires a manager who can say, ‘get out there on the road: get! yourself into gear,, get your-I self stuck in’,” said Mr Taylor. However, Mr Taylor knows well that besides courage and preparation a race of this kind is largely a matter of good management, pace judgment and the correct choice of suitable food and rest periods. “We have got our programme well mapped out. We won’t be up with the leaders at the end of the first two or three days, but in my opinion Don Cameron is capable of winning,” he said.