Never occurred to Sue to stop

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33446, 30 January 1974, Page 7

Never occurred to Sue to stop

I By

J. K. BROOKS)

But for her indomitable spirit, the bronzed, at-1 tractive Sue Haden might i never have been at) Queen Elizabeth 11 Park stadium yesterday to win the silver medal in the women's 800 metres. Three years and a half ago Miss Haden ran through a plate-glass door at the! Auckland school at which' she was teaching and; was virtually cut to; ribbons. *T spent three very unhappy! weeks in hospital,” she recalled after running j second to Charlene Ren-! dina (Australia) in the! final yesterday. “My left leg was sliced open; above and below the J knee, and I chipped a bone as well,” she said.] “I still have a swollen tendon as a result of the accident. But it never occurred to me to stop running.’’ Miss Haden's determination to succeed brought her back to the track to win several New Zealand titles before her silver medal run in the Games.! After the race yesterday her) first thought was for her; father. “It was Dad’s birthday today, and he; wanted a gold medal from me as a present—' he’ll be disappointed,” she said.

Miss Haden’s parents live in i the Hawke’s Bay town of Havelock North, and after she retires from competitive athletics she plans to return to the area to help promote the laying of a synthetic track for Hawke’s Bay athletes. jin the meantime she hopes that she will be able to run for New Zealand at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. “But to achieve this I would have to travel overseas to get the necessary competition,” she said. “It is no good running against ourselves here season after season. “The big problem is money—it has cost me thousands of dollars to follow my career in athletics. There is nothing in women’s athletics like there is for ; tennis. "So I suppose it's a toss-up whether I get to Montreal.” Hard on the heels of Miss Haden’s effort came two bronze medal runs by New Zealand athletes. John Walker was third in the 800 metres, and Bevan Smith third in the 200 metres. In both cases strong finishing bursts characterised their 1 efforts.