"I AM NOW FEELING PRETTY GOOD” Mene aiming for a fourth N.Z. decathlon title win

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33790, 12 March 1975, Page 12

"I AM NOW FEELING PRETTY GOOD” Mene aiming for a fourth N.Z. decathlon title win

(By

ROD DEW)

A fourth successive victory and a score exceeding 7000 points will be the twin targets of Mene Mene — the 29-year-old “Mr Versatile” of Canterbury athletics — in the New Zealand decathlon championship, to be held at Queen Elizabeth II Park next Saturday and Sunday,

“I have had some trouble with my hamstring this season but it seems to be all right at the moment,” Mene said yesterday. "I am now feeling’ pretty good.”

Mene gave himself a light workout in the decathlon events last weekend and afterwards reported that he was feeling confident of finishing on top again in the championship.

He considers that Roger Main (Otago), who represented New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games decathlon, will present the greatest threat. Surprisingly, Main did not compete in the New Zealand Games decathlon and this season has appeared to concentrate more on the 110 metres hurdles. But Mene is not taking him lightly. "Roger has been hurdling well and his shot is also good. He won’t be easy to beat.”

R6y Williams (Auckland*. who partnered Mene in the New Zealand Games

decathon earlier this season. is not among the entries for the 1975 championship. However, another former winner, Paul Lothian (Auckland), is a starter and he will be capable of applying pressure to the Samoan-born Canterbury title-holder. Lothian won the title in 1971 with a score of 5935 points. A rather unexpected entry is that of Craig Daly (Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay), a former New Zealand sprint and hurdles champion. Daly has been particularly unlucky not to have represented New Zealand as a sprinter and appears to have accepted that his best times might now be behind him. He is exploring the possibilities of the decathlon and with his proven ability in sprints and hurdles might well prove the dark horse of the contest.

Daly won the New Zealand 100 yd championship in 1968. The same season, he also won the 220 yd hurdles title. This year at Dunedin, he showed that he was still not a spent force as a sprinter by finishing third in the national 100 metres final. In more favourable conditions, he might well have won. The 7000 points which Mene is aiming to better has proved an elusive figure. On a number of occasions. the popular Technical all-rounder has looked capable of rising above this but each time a minor injury has spoiled his chances. He was just seven points short of the total in the Commonwealth Games last year. Had it not been for a spike injury' in the pole vault, he would certainly have scored more than 7000 points and possibly even threatened Williams’s national record of 7435 points. “I will never forget that,” Mene said.

In the more recent New Zealand Games he was suf-

fering from an elbow injury and his score dropped to 6849 points. Both Mene and his coach, the remarkable Valdy Briedis, are certain the barrier can be broken if everything goes as planned. But if he fails to break the 7000 point barrier again this week-end, he will have another chance this season. He has accepted an invitation to compete in the Australian decathlon championship at Adelaide on March 21 and 22 and in this there will certainly be no shortage of strong competition. Robert Lethbridge, who was the bronze medallist in the Commonwealth Games decathlon, and another Australian Commonwealth Games representative,

Terry Beaton, will both be in the field. Another prominent competitor will be the popular Tongan, Sanitese Latu, who won the Australian title last season after finishing fifth in the Commonwealth Games.

Last season, Mene was third in the Australian championship in spite of a bad groin muscle injury which retarded his performances. This time, provided he is not injured this week-end, he will be fully fit and is hopeful of “doing a lot better.” He leaves on Monday. The women’s pentathlon, which will be confined to

Saturday, also promises to be an enthralling contest. Susan Burnside (Canterbury), who provided a major surprise by winning the title last season while still at high school, will be keen to show that this was no isolated performance. She has been looking remarkably shaq) in recent weeks, particularly in sprint and hurdles events. Her problem event, as it was last season, will be the shot. Barbara Beable, a former Canterbury champion now living in Wellington, looks to be the only one capable of beating Miss Burnside. Mrs Beable broke her own New Zealand resident record in finishing third in the New Zealand Games

pentathlon with a score of 4247 points. She has been close to this score on at least one other occasion this season and in championship conditions is likely to better the record again. Mrs Beable has won the title a record six times and is anxious to win it for the seventh time after a break of nearly three years. There will be one other former champion in the field, Christine Sole (West Coast North Island). She won in 1973 when Mrs Beable was temporarily in retirement. But the list of contenders does not end with her. Karen Page (Auckland), who was third last season, and Jan Lothian (Auckland), who was third in 1973, are both competitors worthy of consjderable respect.