Brilliant win to Green in 800m. event

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33096, 11 December 1972, Page 20

Brilliant win to Green in 800m. event

rhe brilliant 18-year-old schoolboy runner. I). J. Green (Canterbury) took a major step towards winning his first New Zealand singlet when he completely dominated the senior MM) metres event during the Winstone interprovincial track and field meeting at Rugby Park on Saturday.

With a tremendous show of speed and stamina. Green swept through the finishing tape more than 20 yards dear of the man who was expected to be his chief rival on the national scene this year, the former double New Zealand champion, B. A. Hunter (Otago).

f His winning time of Imin I 50.9 sec was the fastest re- < corded in New Zealand this summer and quite excep-' tional for a grass track such as that at Rugby Park. Hunter, who was con- | sidered unlucky to miss se- | lection for the New Zealand team for the Munich Games | after sacrificing an inter-i | national Rugby career for| | athletics, never looked like I matching the tall Canterbury. | runner. Al the finish he was | a very distant second in Imin | 54sec and was very nearly; | caught right on the line by I * K. Silcock, who ran his personal best time of Imin 54.4 sec. Realising that he had tor catch the attention of the; New Zealand selectors if he was to stand a chance of re-i presenting New Zealand in the under 23 team to travel] ),lto Australia this season and -'in the senior team to contest J the Pacific Conference Games: | in Canada next year, Green had been building up for his] ■ clash with Hunter. In the! race, he ran with tremendous | , purpose. !,’ When the field broke lanes, j he was at the head of the !> field with K. Rankin (South-! ' land), Hunter and Silcock! ; tucked in behind. He led the] ;] field through the first lap inj 55sec with the order un-i ’ changed. Then, with morel than 300yds to go, Green j , sprinted strongly and a big I > gap immediately opened up. Hunter moved into second J place but could make no impression on Green down the ]back straight. With about 100yds to go Green surged II again and in the run-in ex- - tended his tremendous lead with every stride. Showing ’ little benefit from his recent trip to Europe, Hunter was straining badly at the finish. Later in the meeting he had further bad luck when he was disqualified from the 400 metres for breaking twice. I I This was won in convincing] fashion by the Canterbury! champion, A. W. Tweedie, in I the smart time of 49.95ec. ! Melville wins A furious sprint finish carried. B iS. Melville (Otago) to a fine winjp | in the senior 1500 metres. His t otago t?am-mate, A. Stewart, set | ii I the early pace, leading the field m through the 800 metres in 2min 1 j6sec. F. Brookes (Canterbury)l V

I then took over the pace-making, (with A. Gilmour (Canterbury) and Melville running close behind. It was not until the final curve. . was reached that anybody made I a move. Gilmour was the first ’to go. He burst through into the lead with 100 yards to run and looked well placed for victory. However. Melville cut him down with his sprint over the] last 50 yards to break the tape l in 3min 51.3 sec Gilmour was second in 3m in 51.6 sec and Brookes third. Melville was runner-up in the New Zealand 800 metres chain i pionship last season. The major upset of the day was the defeat of the New Zea'land hammer-throw champion. XV. J. Nicholl (Canterbury). His team-mate. B. L. Harland, threw the hammer 183 ft sin on his first attempt and although none of | his later throws approached this ■it was enough to win. Nicholl strained mightily tor the big one which would pre'Serve his unbeaten record in ■inter-provincial competition but 'the best he could manage was 183 ft 4in and he had to be content with second. There were S number of fine doubles. T. Cochrane (Canterbury) won the 100 metres in conivincing style and then narrowly edged out the provincial champion. G. Anderson, over 200 metres. The national triple jump champion. K. G. Simpson iCanter-. bury), comfortably won the long .jump with a good leap of 23ft 13in as well as the triple jump lln the latter event he cleared 149 ft 6Ain. which was a considerable improvement on his Canterbury record of 48ft 7:,‘in, and must break the 50ft barrier with an official jump before long. P. Crampton (Canterbury) won the senior and junior high jump events. In the senior (event, he was satisfied with sft lOin but in the junior event he had to clear 6ft 2in to win. G. (Armishaw (Canterbury) also ! cleared 6ft 2in but lost on a count-back. Miss B. Peterson (Canterbury) won the women's 100 and 200 metres sprint double, but had I

|to call on all her reserve.* (C hold out her Canterbury rival. Miss J Beckett, over the longvi distance Miss D Falvey provided • .minor upset by defeating the ■ Canterbury 800 metres champiot\ Miss J. Beale, over this distance. Later in the day she added vio ( lory in the 1500 metres to het list of succesMH The former Commonwealth Games champion. Mrs V. L Young (Canterbury), won both I the shot and discus events. Het iwihning distance in the shot of 45ft lU.in indicated that consider able progress was being mad* in her bid to return to inter* national competition. Perhaps the most successful of jail Canterbun women was Misf ■J. Gdanitz. a former Otago repr<* scntative. She won the lO< metros hurdles. 200 metre! hurdles and the long jump One of the disappointments of the day was the withdrawal of the Olympic runner. R. lavlei • Otago), from the 5000 metres How ever, his team still gained winning points when A Moir led ♦he field home in 14min 55 9sec S. McLean (Canterbury) made uc a tremendous amount of ground Over the final two laps but M had left his final effort too late and finished second in Minis 58sec. B. Cowan iOtago), who won recognition with a mile run f fraction of second slower than 4mln two seasons ago. indicated a previously hidden talent fol steeplechase running with a fine win over the 3000 metres even! in the excellent time of 9mir 9.Bsec. He took over the lead with three laps to go to win cnmfortablv from D. O’SullivaD (Southland). The New Zealand iaxclir champion. D. C. Leary (Canton . huryi won this event with ? fine throw of 207 ft 6’.in—his besl so far this season. Another excellent performance hv a Canterhurv athlete v ♦hat of Miss 1.. Trimbh- in the JOO metres. Her winning tir*»e of 56 1 sec indicated a briehl Hiture over this distance M’s« Trimble has previously conceit tinted on tlie shorter sprints The official winner of Ihe 2? kilnmetres road race was R Vardlev (Canterbury) in 2.">nnr 55ser but two unofficial runner* (R. J. Stevens and J. K. M’v -loii.Tlr], were fi’st MMNM finishing line. Stevens, who 41 and appears to be running hotter than ever, recorded 24mir (26sec for the d’stance. Mac ' donald followed 22sec later.