Family runs for fun

Press, 22 April 1977, Page 4

Family runs for fun

Only eight days are left to “The Press” Park-to-Park fun run on Sunday week and probably the fittest family group among the dozens so far entered are the running Marquets.

There is seldom an hour of the day during which one or more members of the Marquet family are not out training and between the lot of them they notch up a weekly total of about 200 kilometers.

On the left is Michael Marquet (Chisnallwood School) who has the best marathon time in New Zealand for a boy of 12 — a remarkable 3hr 30min in this month’s Mount Hutt Marathon. Next to him is Rosemary (Aranui High School) aged 14, who finds it no trouble at all to complete races of up to 12 miles in the Canterbury Road Runners’ Association summer series of events

and she has a bike ride of 75 miles to her credit. Beside her is Douglas, aged 15, a promising fourth form sprinter at the Shirley Boys’ High School.

Harry Marquet on the right is probably the most versatile veteran (over 40) athlete in New Zealand. The smallest man to play senior rugby league in New Zealand, as a veteran Harry has competed with distinction over all distances from 100 yards to the marathon as well as

the New Brighton 50 and the 80 mile race from Auckland to Hamilton. He has had good performances as a high jumper.

Next to their father are the twins Murray and Danny who are natural runners.

“They both ran three miles non-stop when they were four years old so they won’t have any trouble in running six miles in the park-to-park now they are six years old,” said Mrs Nancy Marquet. The twins go to the Avondale Primary School.

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