Rovers sweep club relay

Press, 21 September 1977, Page 25

Rovers sweep club relay

The Rover Harrier Club made a clean sweep of the men’s section of the annual 16km inter-club handicap race from Kaiapoi to Christchurch.

The club took first and second as well as eight out of the first 19 placings and won the teams event by the large margin of 47 points from Toe H as well as having the largest club entry in the race of 46 runners.

Jack Keys of the Christchurch club, the winner of the race in 1972, ran well for fourth place at the age of 56. Frank Brookes (Technical) off the back mark, took fastest time of 54 min 45 sec in spite of a cold, troublesome head-wind. Doug Reece (Olympic) ran one of his best races to take second fastest time 40 sec back and 10 sec in front of John Van der Kolk (Technical), who was third.

The Cashmere-Hillmorton club won the junior men’s three lap relay. Patricia Cameron, wife of the Canterbury marathon veteran title-holder, Don Cameron, won the women’s open section from her Alympic club-mate, Cheryl Sheddan, and was also the first veteran (over 35) woman home.

Six out of the first seven women home were married and five of them veteran (over 35).

There were about 200 starters in the main race. This was an increase of about 25 per cent. There was also a similar increase in the numbers of veterans (over 40), who represented nearly 30 per cent of the field.

lan Falvey, of Timaru, was the fastest veteran (over 40). Don Cameron, now running about 150 miles a week in preparation for the Symon and Lowther 100 km race on October 8, was the second-fastest veteran, 16 sec behind Falvey. Merv Austin (St Martins) and Stewart Hill (Technical) ran well to take sixth and seventh fastest open time in spite of running big mileage in preparation for New Zealand’s first 100 km race.

In the Rover team Ralph Woodward showed the benefit of regular training runs of more than 14 miles when commuting to and from his city office from his home in Governors Bay. Results:—

16 KM RACE D Husband (Rover), 71:15, 1P. Baillie (Rover), 64:18, 2; p’ O’Connell (Cashmere), 70:02, 3; J Keys (Christchurch), 73:40, 4; B Southen (Olympic), 63:15, 5; G Ball (United), 68:32,6; J. Churchill (St Martin), 63:44 , 7; A. Curren (Rover), 74:52, 8: V. Seal (Toe H), 66:07, 9; B. Curry (Anglican), 64:07, 10; B. Krous (Rover), 67.17, 11; N. Noonan (Anglican), 67:20, 12; I. McDonald (Rover), 67:21. 13A. Smith (New Brighton), 66:23, 14; W. Hanrahan (Rover), 72:44, 15; W. Taylor (Christchurch), 72:49, 16; R. Woodward (Rover),

71:54, 17; B. Stribling tUnited), 66:56, 18; M Frost .Rovers., 71:01, 19: G. Goulding .Toe Hl, 67:09 , 20. Teams race (four to count): Rovers, 32 points, 1; Toe H, 79, 2; Christchurch and Olympic, 94. equal 4. Fastest times mien): F. Brookes (Technical), 54:47, 1; D. Reece (Olympic), 55:25, 2; J. Van der Kolk (Technical), 55:35 . 3; K. Barnes (Christchurch), 55:43, 4; J. Lopas (Rover), 56:39 , 5; M. Austin (St Martins), 57:40, 6; S. Hill (Technical), 58:04 , 7. Veteran fastest times: I. Falvey (Timaru), 60:40, 1; D. Cameron (St Martins), 60:56, 2; R. Creed (Universityi, 61:44, 3; 11. Marquet (St Martins), 63:59, 4; P. O’Hagan (Toe H), 64:19. 5. Women: P. Cameron (Olympic), 82.04, 1; C. Sheddan (Olympic), 72.09, 2; C. Reed (University). 81:35, 3; K Ball (Christchurch!, 74:49, 4: D. McLauchlan (Olympic!, 77:58, 5; J. Miles (Olympic), 78:56, 6: C. Tennant (New Brighton). 91.02, 7.

Fastest women: C Sheddan (Olympic), 72:09, 1;' K Ball (Christchurch), 74:49, 2; D. McLauchlan (Olympic), 77:58. 3 Junior men (3-lap. 1600 metres relay): Cashmere-Hillmorton (J. Payne 15:52, A. Prescott 21:01, K. Kitchingman 18:35). 56:32. 1; New Brighton, 58:35, 2: Ashburton. 59:00, 3. Fastest laps: Payne. Prescott and Kitchingman.

Pioneer club handicap for women: J. Creelman (New Brighton), 25:25, 1; L. Pettitt (University), 27:10, 2; S. Cutting (United), 26:27. 3; B. Tweedy (Christchurch), 26:07, 4; R. Searle (Pioneer), 26:16, 5; C. McKenzie (Olympic), 24:18, 6; D. Cawkill (Toe II), 21:52, 7; S. Richards (Pioneer), 24:30, 8; L. Donaldson (United), 24:40, 9: M. Fraser (Toe H), 25:13, 10; F. Clarke (New Brighton), 28:14, 11.

Fastest times: M. Hadley and E. Baker (New Brighton), 21:06 equal 1; A. Kennedy (Pioneer) 21:30, 3; L Burrell (New Brighton), 21:31, 4; D. Falvey (Timaru), 21:39, 5; S. Fairless (New Brighton) and B. Wyber (New Brighton), 21:48, equal 7; D. Cawkill (Toe H>, 21:52, 9.