Dixon seeks first national track title

Press, 24 February 1978, Page 20

Dixon seeks first national track title

Bv

ROD DEW

International track athletes never fail to express astonishment when they learn that the New Zealand Olympic Games medallist, Rod Dixon, has yet to win his first senior national championship. Bui the 27-year-old Christchurch runner, who will be wearing Canterbury colours for the first time at the national championships at Wellington on March 3 and 4, is determined to put the record straight. He seems likely to achieve this in spectacular fashion by claiming the 1500 m crown as well as the 5000 m. His task has been made easier by the withdrawal of the Olympic 1500 m champion, John Walker, and the world 5000 m record-holder, Dick Quax, both of Auckland. Walker will still be recovering from the effects of his recent leg operation and Quax, who has just returned from running indoors in the United States, is unhappy with his form. He has decided to take a rest and let his 5000 m title go undefended.

In spite of this, Dixon’s physical resources will be fully extended, with as many as five races in two days. He is unhappy about the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association’s decision to allocate the championships to Wellington. The bitumenous, all-weather track at the Newtown Stadium is, he claims, too hard. Running at maximum effort on this surface can result in muscle injuries, something to be avoided at all costs in a Commonwealth Games year. Dixon, who is well aware of the problems which even a minor injury can cause, makes no secret of the fact that he is worried.

‘To ask us to run on this track (n a Commonwealth Games year is just not on,” he said. “Everybody is complaining about it. Any of the athletes who competed in the Wellington international meeting will tell you what they think about it.” Dixon considers that in an Olympic or Commonwealth Games year, the national

meeting should be held in either Auckland or Christchurch. where there are first-class, rubber. allweather surfaces.

Athletes were expected to produce world-class qualifying performances at the championships and yet the surface they had to run on was not comparable with those used overseas.

Last season, Dixon hoped to win his first national title but was forced to withdraw at the last minute with a hamstring injury sustained in his right leg while running in Australia the week before the championship.

“It was most embarrassing.” he said. “People were asking why I didn’t run in the championships if it was good enough for me to run in Australia. It didn’t look good but there was nothing I could do. I wanted to run.” Dixon dearly wants to win a New Zealand championship. This is why he intends to compete on the Wellington track in spite of the risk of injury. “Quax and Walker are always having me on about it,” he said. Surprisingly, Dixon intends to apply himself more to winning the 1500 m than the 5000 m. He has already qualified for the Commonwealth Games 5000 m and is now chasing the qualifying time of 3min AOs for the 1500 m. It was in this event that he won his Olympic bronze medal at Munich and he is satisfied that he still has the basic speed to do well at the Edmonton Games later this year. Dixon failed narrowly to break 4min for a mile on the grass track in the Melrose Shield invitation event at the Hutt Valley Recreational Ground on Wednesday. He did not hear the call of the lap time-keeper properly and did not run the final lap fast enough to break 4min for the distance.

Nevertheless, his time of 4min 0.07 s was an excellent one on a grass surface which was far from in ideal condition. It was on this track in January, 1972, that Dixon first bettered 4min for the mile.