MRS BEABLE TO DEFEND TITLE

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33739, 11 January 1975, Page 36

MRS BEABLE TO DEFEND TITLE

The national pentathlon record-holder, Mrs Barbara Beable, of Wellington, is to compete in the Canterbury championship at Queen Elizabeth II Park today.

She plans to use the event as a final work-out for the New Zealand Games. Mrs Beable, who moved '.j Wellington last winter, holds the Canterbury pentathlon championship, but regardless of how she performs today she will lose the title. Living in Wellington, she is not eligible to hold it. However, her meeting with the young Technical athlete who defeated her in the last New Zealand championship, Susan Burnside, will be full of interest. LOSS OF FORM

Miss Burnside’s over-all form has not been quite as good as it was at a similar time last season and there seems little chance that she will again defeat her more

experienced rival. Nevertheless, she must be favoured to win her first senior Canterbury pentathlon title. The men’s decathlon, which will be spread over two days, also promises to be an interesting contest. Mene Mene, the New Zealand champion, will be trying to break 7000 points for the first time — his best is just seven points short of this mark — and recent form indicates that he has a good chance. The two events likely to prove a worry to him are the 400 metres and the 1500 metres. He has not raced over these distances this season and his performance in these events will be closely watched by his coach (Mr Valdemars Briedis). The former Hungarian Olympic triple jump representative, Dragon Ivanov, is to compete in his first decathlon in New Zealand and might prove a threat to Mene. Ivanov will represent New Zealand as a triple jumper in the games.