Technical's jubilee meeting at Queen Elizabeth II Park today

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33965, 4 October 1975, Page 4

Technical's jubilee meeting at Queen Elizabeth II Park today

(By

ROD DEW)

Many of the great figures of New Zealand track and field competition are in Christchurch this week-end to help the strong Christchurch athletic club, Technical, celebrate the successful completion of its first 50 years.

A dinner was held la.t evening and tonight the jubilee ball will take place. But for the public, the focal point of the week-end will be the open track and field meeting at Queen Elizabeth II Park this after-oon.

A large number of former members are expected to turn out in competition and to cater for this events for veterans have been included in the programme; Katie Callinan (now Mrs Nolan), who became the club’s first woman national champion when she won the 100 yards final in 1934, is just one who has indicated she would like to compete. Three former New Zealand hammer champions, Dave Leech, Max Carr and Arthur Fuller, are others. They will be matching their skills against the New Zealand Games thrower, Bernie Harland, and another prominent performer at national level, Paul Dryden. Because athletes will not be permitted to use the infield until December, the field events will be held outside the stadium, proper. But, because of the interest in these, they will begin earlier than the track events at 2.10 p.m. The first of the sprints will take place at 2.40 p.m. The meeting will open with a parade at 1.30 p.m.

The record of the Technical club during the last 50 years is a remarkable one. Its members have won seven Commonwealth titles, 100 New Zealand and 478 Canterbury championships. Forty-six of its members have represented New Zealand. Countless Canterbury and New Zealand records, as well as several world marks, have been set by its athletes. No other club in New Zealand can claim such success. This could never have happened without outstanding administrators and officials and in this re-

spect Technical has been most fortunate. Mr Crispin Sanderson was a prefect at the old Technical College when he attended the inaugural meeting of the club in 1925. The following year he became secretary. Apart from a break between 1939 and 1947, he has held this position ever since.

Another who has played a vital role in the fortunes of the club is the former Olympic coach, Mr Valdemars Briedis. He was a prominent coach in Europe before he came to New Zealand in 1952 and now, after more than 20 years as the Technical coach, he is still widely regarded as the finest all-round coach in the country. During this time, he has guided more than 100 athletes to New Zealand title wins — a record which no other coach appears capable of challenging in the forseeable future. Mr Briedis was the man behind those two very talented Olympic representatives, Marise Stephen and Valerie Young. Mrs Stephen, formerly Miss Chamberlain, broke the world 440 yards record several times and won 16 New Zealand titles at distances from 220 to 880 yards. She also won world renown as a miler before this became a recognised distance for women in New Zealand.

Mrs Young is still competing at the highest levels in the discus and the shot. Her victory in the New Zealand discus championship at Dunedin earlier this year was her twenty-sev-enth national title. It is difficult to appreciate that

she was fifth in the Olympic shot put in the Melbourne Games nearly 20 years ago. Five gold medals, a silver and a bronze at Commonwealth level are ample testimony to her great ability. Today Mr Briedis is giving the same expert guidance to such prominent Technical athletes as Joanna Beckett (national 400 metres champion), Bev Peterson (New Zealand Games sprinter), Susan Burnside (1974 New Zea-

land pentathlon champion)! and Mene Mene (the national decathlon champion). Barbara Poulsen (now Mrs Beable) now lives in Wellington but the greater part of her career was with Technical in Christchurch. She is still coached by Mr Briedis and is the holder of both the national shot and pentathlon titles. The list of nationally ranked athletes produced by the club is almost endless. Dick Neville won the club’s first national title in the high jump in 1929. His winning leap was sft Bin. Edna Munroe became the first Technical athlete to break a New Zealand record when she cleared 17ft lOin in the long jump in the early 19305. There is a special place in the club’s history for Cecil Matthews, the first of its international runners. He was chosen for the 1936 Olympic Games and went on to win both the three and six miles titles at the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney. Now living in Auckland, Matthews is in Christchurch for the jubilee celebrations. More recently, Sally Flynn (discus and javelin), Leone Hurrell (sprints), Lyn Fisher (middle distance), Noeleen Sutton (discus), Warwick Nichol (hammer),' Murray Speden (javelin), Lorraine Curtis (high jump), Robin Tait (shot and discus), Vivien Gilmour (long jump), Geoff Pyne (distance), GerryHack (880 yards), Leslie Anderson (decathlon), Robin Hames (distance) and Alan Gilmour (middle distance) have , all made their marks nationally. There have been many others, too numerous to mention.