Athletes have successful tour

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33819, 16 April 1975, Page 38

Athletes have successful tour

The visit to Australia! by the New Zealand[ under-23 track and field [ team was a “tremendous I success” and of great j benefit to the athletes, ! according to the man-; iger. Mr D. \V. Mac-i tenzie. Back in Christchurch after he 10-day tour, Mr Mackenie said yesterday that he was :onvinced it was in the best interests of the sport to continue such trips. “Some administrators in Xustralia would prefer an ipen team but there can be no doubt that considerable benefit is derived from send-

.ling the under-235. It gives a | chance of overseas experience I to athletes at an early stage I of their careers — a chance I they would not otherwise! [get,” he said. ; Australian administrators! J had also suggested that itj ; might be better to send the' I team earlier in the season,; [possibly in January l . Some of the Australian ' competitors had allowed their interest to dwindle since their national championships in the : third week of March and in some cases the opposition [ was not as strong as it might! have been. Nevertheless, the performance of the team had been: outstanding. It won all three; meetings it contested — one!

. against New' South Wales and . < : Victoria, and an open one ini : Canberra. At Melbourne, New Zea-i; ;! land retained the Victoria!; [Milk Board Trophy it had 1 ! [won on the last tour of Aus-| Jtralia two years ago. I The New Zealand'senior, [women’s R. H. North Cup; .team, which had travelled‘with the under-235, won! ■‘every event except the discus; ■[against New South Wales. [ :i One indication of the suc-j | cess of the tour had been in - .'the number of outstanding; :! performances, said Mr Mac-i ikenzie. Thirteen athletes had: :established personal best per-! iformances. ■; Peter Crampton f Canter-; II bury) set a “national” record- 1

.of 2.05 metres in the high I jump and at every meeting had been attempting heights [greater than this. “It won’t [surprise me when he jumps ‘higher,” Mr Mackenzie added. Another Canterbury athlete. Joanna Beckett, had .equalled her New Zealand ■resident record for the 400 ! metres of 53.45ec. Kay HawIkins (Wellington), who had ‘finished second to Miss Bec[ket over 400 metres in Melbourne, recorded 53.8 sec, her ‘best bv eight-tenths of a sec- : ond. [ Martin Couldwell, yet an- [ other outstanding performer [among the 13 Canterbury athiletes who made the trip, had ‘bettered his provincial record Jin the 3000 metres steeple-

chase by 6sec with his run of Bmin 44.45ec in Melbourne. Gail Wooten (Waikato) had equalled the national record of I3.4sec in the 100 metres hurdles and Wally McCallum (Nelson) had run two 400 metres races in 47.75ec and 47.8 sec, respectively. Both times were well inside his junior record of 48.1 sec and exceptional for a runner who was still only 18. Marked improvement had also taken place in the distance events. Philip Wilson (Auckland - ) had run 5000 metres in a personal best of 14min B.6sec, and a Canter[bury runner, Tonv Good, re[corded his best of 14min 9.4 [sec Good’s previous best had been 14min 15.2 sec.