Mrs Beable to make bid

Press, 22 February 1978, Page 36

Mrs Beable to make bid

By

ROD DEW

New Zealand's leading woman track and field allrounder, 27-year-old Barbara Beable, of Wellington, will make a special attempt at Queen Elizabeth n Park on Saturday to better the pentathlon selection standard of 4000 points for the forthcoming Edmonton Commonwealth Games.

Her request for permission to take part unofficially in the Canterbury championship has been approved by the Canterbury Athletic Centre.

In many respects, it will be a home-coming for the New Zealand champion. Jntil she moved north three seasons ago, she was a regular Canterbury representative. The Canterbury pentathlon record of 4158 points she set before leaving remains unchallenged. She also holds the provincial record for the 100 m hurdles at 14.25.

Mrs Beadle suffered a severe setback In 1976 when she was rejected by the Olympic selectors after being nominated by the New Zealand athletic selectors. Soon afterwards, she indicated that the 1976-77 season would almost certainly be her last.

However, she kept going and was rewarded with selection for the New Zealand team to compete at the Pacific Conference Games in Canberra earlier this season. But it was her ability as a shot putter which won her selection. She has won the New Zealand championship in this event seven times — an event she has succeeded at in spite of her greater enthusiasm for the pentathlon.

In the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games she finished runner-up in the shot with a distance of 15.87 m. She represented New Zealand in both shot and pentathlon in the Christchurch Games four years later, performing with

distinction but missing out on the medals. Her aim is to win a Games medal in the pentathlon and the Edmonton Games represented her last chance of doing this. It is likely that she will retire after this. But the event represents a special challenge for her this year. She has bettered 4000 points on many occasions and holds the national record at 4343 ooints. However,

the 200 m sprint has now been replaced by the more demanding 800 m, a distance with which she is unfamiliar. Her coach, Mr Valdy Briedis, of Christchurch, is quite satisfied that she has the ability to break the qualifying standard. “She had a small injury earlier in the season but her training has been going well,” he said. Mrs Beable is particularly keen to produce a good performance in the new look pentathlon because the changes make all her records obsolete. It seems certain that whatever she achieves on Saturday will be recognised as the new New Zealand record.