675-mile cycle ride to the Games

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33446, 30 January 1974, Page 16

675-mile cycle ride to the Games

A visiting Canadian forestry officer could almost act as a replacement if any of his countrymen were injured at the Games. Mr R. Sherk, who is 24, has arrived in Christchurch after cycling from Auckland, which he left on January 17.

The journey has left him very fit.

He said yesterday he was a little disappointed to find that tickets for track and field and swimming were scarce.

“A school friend of mine Bill Mahoney, is swimming in a final tomorrow night. I was hoping to see him in action,” he said.

Mr Sherk is head of a fire suppression crew in a British Columbia forest. He earns $930 a month for that during the summer, then takes off for warmer climates when winter arrives.

Last year he cycled from Canada to Mexico, and so far on this New Zealand tour has done 675 miles. When the Games are over, he will travel at a more leisurely pace through the rest of the country, particularly the West Coast. On his cycle, he carries all his cooking gear, a sleeping bag and a tent.

He described fire-fighting techniques in Canada, which concentrate on isolating rather than attacking the flames.

A popular and highly effective method is to drop a mud-like substance around the fire from the air. This stops the flames from spreading.

Mr Sherk plans to cycle about 2000 miles in New Zealand, “then head west’’ before returning home for another summer of fire fighting.