Race for Walker

Press, 4 May 1978, Page 29

Race for Walker

P A Auckland While considerable uncertainty surrounds the athletic future of •John Walker, the Olympic 1500 m <Jiampion will be competing on Saturday. He will run a leg of " »km lor the Manurewa club in the Southland Centennial Shield relay at the Avondale race course. However, it will not be anv test for Walker. Such a run should not lead to any serious cramping high on the inside of his right calf mucles—a complaint which has completely unset his Commonwealth Games preparations and led to his seek tng further advice. By the time he lines up at Axondale he could know if he will have to have a second opera-

tion this year in order to cure the complaint. Walker had an operation for a similar problem on the same leg. and all seemed to be well as first he tackled 110 km and ilien IJOkni a week. But when he pushed up the distance another 16km and ran harder the cramping returned. Tests are due to be made on Walker by the end of the week. and from these results a decision will be made on whether there should be further surgery. “I want to be at Edmonton, and I want to win,” said Walker. He added that he wanted to have time to train for both the 800 and 1500 metres at Edmonton rather than base his preparations largely on actual racing.