Privilege to see a great middle-distance man

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33446, 30 January 1974, Page 36

Privilege to see a great middle-distance man

1 now feel privileged to have been able to have come over to New Zealand to see these Commonwealth Games, because I feel I have been able to watch an athlete who is destined to be regarded as one of the greatest middle-distance runners.

This is the Kenyan, Ren Jipcho, who yesterday added the 5000 metres gold medal to the one he won in the 3000 m steeplechase on Saturday. This one, he really had to work for. hard. Dave Bedford was obviously not feeling up to the task, but he tried manfully to inject the early pace that would help his good friend. Brendan Foster. He managed this for about four laps, but was slowing down when David Black, of England, passed him, and it was a further two laps before Foster decided that this was about the time he should start to split up the field. To give some indication of the type of pressure that was being put on Jipcho, the sec-

ond mile was covered in an incredible 4min 12sec. This really spread-eagled the field. Foster and Black almost got away from Jipcho twice, but each time he closed a 10 or 15-metre gap with the greatest of ease, never looking to be at full stretch. .1 think Foster then realised that he would have to pull out something really fantastic to win this one. He did the last 800 metres in about Imin 57sec, and the last lap was a fantastic 55-second battle. But everything that Foster did, Jipcho could do better. Jipcho was the winner by about half a metre.

They ran the second and third fastest, time ever in this event, and were only a second outside the world record, which is a minor consolation for Foster. Who is now going to lay odds that Jipcho w’ill not get his hattrick when he races in the 1500 m final against Filbert Bayi of Tanzania on Saturday?

Black again came through, this time for the bronze medal. Surely he is the lad to watch for the future. The men's 800 m race was a great victory for the frontrunning Kenyans, John Kipkurgat and Mike Boit, who paced themselves beautifully to split the field, after the bell, in 51 seconds. This was not quite as fast, as we had expected, and, unfortunately, this cost them the world’ record in the end. Both Andy Carter, of England, and John Walker, of New Zealand, made the mistake of letting the gap widen to 20 metres down the back straight. Although Walker in particular ran a fantastic finish to take the bronze medal, he must be kicking himself now’ that he did not stay closer, because the

silver medal was his for the taking.

What can we say about Kipkurgat, a man who leads from gun to tape and in the process only misses the world record by a fifth of a second on a windy day? Remember this is only his second season in athletics. I spoke to Ben Jipcho about him the night before the final, and he said if Kipkurgat ever took up the 1500 metres, he, Jipcho, would concentrate on the 5000 metres and steeple-

chase—which seems a little surprising for someone near to being the world’s best. The 800 women’s final w’ent exactly as I predicted. Charlene Rendina, of Australia, forced the pace as soon as they passed the bell, with Sue Haden tucked in nicely in third place. The other two New Zealand girls did exactly as I thought they would, and left too big a gap, which they could never close in the finishing straight. Rendina hung on very strongly in the straight to hold off Sabina Chebicha and Sue Haden. The men’s 400 m hurdles was a fine exhibition of technique by Alan Pascoe, of England, running 13 strides between the hurdles up to the fifth, then taking the next two in 14 strides, which meant taking the sixth hurdle on the wrong foot. This is a new technique, demanding an ability to take off from either foot. For the last few hurdles he runs at 15 strides. He came home an easy winner in 48.8 sec, the fastest world time since Munich, and just a second outside John Aki-Bua’s world record run, also at Munich. Don Quarry, of Jamaica, had another easy victory in the men’s 200 m, when he successfully defended his Commonwealth Games title. But I am afraid that the standard of men’s sprinting here in New’ Zealand has not been as high as in previous Games.

A good long jump competition was won by Alan Lerwili, of England, who has been coached only for the last two months' by Ron Pickering, the famous coach to Lyn Davis. Olympic Games’ long jump champion in Tokyo, in 1964.

Lerwill just beat Christopher Commons, of Australia, by 2cm, and now intends to go for the double, in the triple jump.