Top cyclists switch to road-running

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33959, 27 September 1975, Page 4

Top cyclists switch to road-running

Corrie Tabak, a member of a noted Canterbury cycling family, recently made a promising debut in his new sport of long-distance road-running. It was Tabak who clinched, the win for his club, Toe H, with a determined run in the crucial last lap of the annual 22-mile inter-club Port Hills relay, which had a record entry. Tabak is the latest among a group of Canterbury representative cyclists to change over to roadrunning. Others include the Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, Rene Heyde. the New Zealand representative and ultra; long-distance specialist, ; Ross Bush, and lan McLean, i lan Falvev (Timaru) and =

Noel Good (Presbyterian) * are also former cyclists who | are now road-runners. s Like most cyclists whojj take on distance running, s they have discovered they) have at least four attitudes! in common towards their* new sport. They say road-running is

just as much of a challenge as cycling and for the longer distances the racing and the training is even tougher. They have discovered it takes a long time to accustom their legs, especiallv below the knee, to the stress of running on road and across country. Thev also appreciate the economv of time in training —say 50 miles a week for road running instead of more than 500 miles a week to nrenare for a major road-cvcling race. And in common with New Zealand’s greatest marathon "inner. Jack Foster, aged 42. thev anpreciate the saving in costs of running shoes, compared with the costs of buying and maintaining top quality racing cycles. Foster gave up cycling

at 31—because, he said, racing bikes at $l5O were too expensive for a man rearing a young family—and went on to become New Zealand’s greatest marathon runner at 40.

A cycling accident in June, when he was knocked over by a car while training, decided Tabak to try road-running. He injured a hand in the fall and is still unable to grasp the handlebars of a bicycle. Although he says he may eventually go back to track cycling. Tabak finds the time required to train for cycling too demanding for a young married man trying to establish a new home. "Also, some of the enchantment has gone out of cycling here cince the Com*

monwealth Games,” he says. “Some New Zealand riders felt they were at a disadvantage at the Games because they lacked top overseas competition in their preparations and there was also dissatisfaction at the way some of the events were controlled.

“Cycling here has become less attractive to some, because of a lack of the competition necessary to achieve top performance,” says Tabak. He cites his famous brother, Tino, among the group of top New Zealand riders who have gone overseas to achieve their potential. Meantime, Bush, the most successful of the cyclists who have turned road runners (he holds four national records for long-distance cycling), is beginning to make his mark in the new sport. Bush considers his best performance was a non-stop cycle ride of. 25hr 26min from Auckland to Wellington. The time for his Cape Reinga-to-J3luff record ride was an unchallenged six days, 11 hours, 17 minutes.

Bush has already twice competed in New Zealand's longest single-stage road race, the New Brighton “50,” and he is now vicecaptain of the Olympic Harrier Club.

Bush ran the second lap in the annual Takahe-to-Akaroa relay, for which the entry of 472 runners was 88 more than last year. This was part of Bush’s training for the Christchurch Harrier Club’s marathon from Queen Elizabeth 11 Park on October 26. He is also planning to contest the annual Great Westland Marathon—from Hokitika to Greymouth —on December 7.

At least for this latter event, he will know the course. As he says: “I have raced that stretch of road on * bika many * ttma.’ 1