JUNIOR SPRINT CHAMPION STEPS UP Sutherland now Canterbury's main hope for N.Z. 100m title

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33775, 22 February 1975, Page 4

JUNIOR SPRINT CHAMPION STEPS UP Sutherland now Canterbury's main hope for N.Z. 100m title

(By

R. 0. DEW)

The step up from junior ranks to open competition is a difficult one and in track and field athletics is rarely accompanied by immediate success. But there are exceptions, and one of these is the 19-year-old Canterbury law student. Mark Sutherland (Univers-ity-Shirley).

Last Saturday, Sutherland streaked to victory in the Canterbury 100 metres championship final on the pink Chevron all-weather track at Queen Elizabeth II Park. It was his first attempt at the senior title.

Now, with the New Zealand Games sprinters, Trevor Cochrane, Grant Anderson and Fred Davey, concentrating their efforts on longer distances, he suddenly finds himself as Canterbury’s main hope for the New Zealand 100 metres championship at Dunedin next week-end. Does he think that he can win?

“I don’t know. If Bevan Smith is running, I would say definitely no. Otherwise, I hope that I am in with a chance,” he said

shortly after his provincial win. “We will just have to wait and see.”

The tall Wellington sprinter, Smith, who won tne title last season, is obviously New Zealand’s fastest sprinter over all distances from 100 to 400 metres. But he has indicated a distinct preference for the 200 and 400 metres this season and it is likely that he will not defend his 100 metres title. If Smith does not compete in this, the two men Sutherland will watch most carefully will be a former national champion, Steve Erkkila (Auckland), and the holder of the New Zealand long jump title. Kerry Hill (Auckland). Both have been sprinting well this season. Sutherland has a personal best time of 10.6 sec and it seems unlikely that the championship will be won in a faster time.- This season, Sutherland has been manually timed at 10.7 sec. But he considers his run of 10.89 sec, electronically timed, was the equivalent to the best of his manually timed performances. Manual times are invariably slightly faster than those recorded electronically.

His appearances at Queen Elizabeth Park since joining senior ranks have not been frequent. A “pretty taxing job” before Christmas ' required him to keep his competition to a minimum and three weeks holidav this year has also kept him away from the park. "It was just the way things worked out.' although I had planned to keep my racing down,” he said.

This season, Sutherland has been concentrating exclusively on the 100 metres. All his training has been speed work — heavy repetitions from 30 to 60 metres and a lot of starts. “I place a lot of importance on the starts. This is usually my weak point.” Next season, he intends to run 200 metres as well. He has found that with running only 100 metres it has been very difficult not reaching a peak too soon. With the 200 metres training. the risk of reaching a peak prematurely is not so great. He has a best time of 22.25ec for the 200 metres.

Sutherland’s ability as a sprinter showed up at an early age. He was still at primary school when his uncle, Mr T. I. Crossen, a prominent Canterbury athletics official, recognised his potential. He sent his nephew to the Toe H club — and Sutherland has not looked back since. Later, he transferred to the University-Shirley club and, more than ever, came under the influence of Mr Crossen, then the club coach. “I owe a great deal to him,” Sutherland said.

The partnership ended when Mr Crossen went to Australia shortly after the Commonwealth Games last year. Sutherland is now in the very capable hands of Warren Jowett, once one of the country’s leading long jumpers and still a worthy competitor. It was in 1972 that Sutherland had his first success at national level. He won the junior 100 metres championship. The next year he retained the title and last season became the first sprinter to win the championship three times in succession.

Next week-end he will attempt to extend this remarkable record, by winning the senior title. But even if he fails to do so he will be well satisfied if his performance is good enough to earn him selection for the New Zealand under 23 team to visit Australia next month. With this behind him, he will then turn his attention to winning a place in the New Zealand team for, the Montreal Olympic Games next year It is an ambitious target, but there can be no doubt that Mark Sutherland is the rising star of New Zealand