Canterbury leads way in fun-running facilities

Press, 4 January 1978, Page 21

Canterbury leads way in fun-running facilities

WINEKS NrtKY

It can be fairly claimed that Auckland first put New Zealand on the road to running as a people’s sport, largely through the influence [of the Olympic coach, Arthur Lydiard, who introduced the country to jdgIging. j But it took Canterbury to : develop this trend to the stage where newcomers can enjoy the self-discovery, social motivation, and improvement from club and inter-club running once supposed to be the preserve of the super-fit few. Times have changed. Men and women are now taking up jogging at 40, 50, and sometimes 60.

After only a few months training, some of them are making a significant contribution with registered clubs and enjoying all the team fun and adventure of club running, especially the big annual relays like the Akaroa and the Port Hills events.

Largely thanks to the big New Brighton club’s initiative in raising funds to put in Canterbury’s first allweather track at Keyes Road, Canterbury now caters

regularly for track events for all ages, including news comers aged 40 and more.

Not long ago, Canterbury scored a New Zealand first with its national track meeting for veteran runners at the New Brighton club headquarters. There was all the atmosphere of big-time running, for competing were some of the still-great international names in athletics, performing only marginally below their Olympic standard.

The Australian Olympic star, Alby Thomas, formerly holder of the world two-mile and three-mile records, flew round the 5000 m nearly as fast as he ever did.

New Zealand’s great Olympic marathon representative, Jack Foster, in spite of doing his final training for the Commonwealth Games held here soon afterwards, competed in the 10,000 m. He broke the world veteran (over 40) record for the distance on what was a fairly chopped-up track — an inspiration to his admiirers.

The race must have proved good sharpening for the Commonwealth Games for he was the first New Zealand athlete home to take second place in the marathon in the world veteran record time of 2hr 11 min — about smin a mile for 26 miles. In the 400 m, Peter Snell, thundered around a fairly heavy track to win in 53sec. Soon after he comfortably won the 100 m.

Snell is now completing his doctorate in exercise physiology in California. When last in New Zealand for the “All Stars” events at Queen Elizabeth II Park he said that he intended to return to exert his influence a t jualified-professionai level here.

On the Christchurch running scene, a splinter group of runners has left the expanding St Martins Club to branch out as another registered club.

St Martins has made a big contribution to running in Canterbury since its foundation about 12 years ago. Yet even then, the pundits of the Canterbury centre sniffed at the idea of yet another club in Canturbury. Some of Canterbury’s finest runners, including the former Canterbury marathon champion, Roger Sharpe, and Tony Ellis, were first nurtured by the St Martins club. Their departure to other clubs has done nothing to lessen the progress of the St Martins club.

When runners splinter away from a club it is usually because of some clash of personalities. This was partly the cause of the recent split in St Martins. A personality clash between Clarrie Reece and the former Canterbury marathon champion, George Wilson, both then of Olympic, in the long term helped to form St Martins. Olympic was already one

of Canterbury’s strongest clubs when Reece left to join the Christchurch Harrier club. At that time, longdistance running and training was rare at ordinary club level.

Reece was opposed to the old idea of short club runs on Saturdays followed by prolonged sessions of eating cream cakes and listening to boring club officials during a time which would be ideal for the long training needed to improve performances. It was this disatisfaction which led Reece and friends to form the St Martins club.

It was also personality clashes which about four years ago caused Sharpe, Ellis, and Reece to leave St Martins to join New Brighton. But without this strong trio, St Martins still continued to rank well in interclub events.

Recently, another group this time of nine, signed a circular announcing their departure from St Martins, because of dissatisfaction with the club’s management and its new committee. It is their idea to form another club. And, under the experienced leadership of Kevin Jago, a foundation member of St Martins and chairman of the cross-coun-try committee of the Canterbury centre of the N.Z.A.A.A., they seem well able to do so. While some fun-run organisers and clubs are charging excessive entry fees, times are also changing for some runners who have been doing their own personal rip-off at the expense of fellow runners and the sport.

The president of the Canterbury Road Runners’ Association (Jack Taylor), who has three New Brighton “50” races to his credit, says that some runners still expect to take part in interclub events without joining a club and paying registration fees. But these are a prerequisite to taking part in events controlled by or on behalf <rf the Canterbury centre.

Mr Taylor says that runners dodging their obligations expect to take part in

an organised sport without contributing to the organising costs. This, he says, is the indefensible especially since the cost of being a runner is lower than in most other sports. He says that runners who try to run unofficially do themselves a disservice because they cannot get the best out of themselves or the event when they are not properly involved. They are being unfair and a bother to bona fide runners, who often cannot distinguish who are properly in the race. They are also a nuisance to hard pressed race officials trying to cope with the increasingly difficult job of recording results. The December issue of the Canterbury Road Runners’ Association’s newsletter says: “Newcomers to the sport have had sufficient time to try out road-racing. Future events conducted by the association will be restricted to registered members of athletic clubs, and competitors will be expected to wear their club uniforms, complete with registration number. Anyone not complying to this centre ruling will not be permitted to compete.” Next Saturday, at the popular annual Ashburton club’s New Year sports meeting, one of the most popular road events on the summer calendar will be held in conjunction with the track-and-field events. Men, women, and youngsters of widely differing ages and abilities traditionally run in this event. The setting for the meeting is one of the most beautiful in New Zealand. The flower of young athletic talent from far and near will be in action on the oval while the road race is on a two-and-a-half-lap circuit of the domain. The Canterbury Road Runners Association programme for the remainder of this summer includes: Jan. 7: Ashburton 6-mile, Ashburton Domain. Jan. 14: Canterbury marathon championships, Porritt Park, 5 p.m. Jan. 21: Soleares Ave hill climb, 6 p.m. Feb. 15: Trans Tours 20km graded championships, Mathers Road, 6.15 p.m. Feb. 25: Lincoln lope, Lincoln township, 530 p.m. March 4: Pebble relay, Centaurus Road, 2 p.m. March 11: Teddington-Dia-mond Harbour handicap race, start at Wheatsheaf Hotel, 2 pan. March 27: Mount Hutt marathon.