Big field for Great Westland run

Press, 1 December 1978, Page 20

Big field for Great Westland run

More than 300 runners: will start the D.B. Great, Westland marathon from Greymouth to Hokitika to-: morrow. This is nearly three times the record field which entered last vear’s marathon. In 1961 only seven persons competed. Among this year’s con-: tenders will be Suzanne Taylor, aged 29, a St Martins Club (Christchurch) runner? who took line honours last) vear in a time of 3h 29min 265. Another 22 women will be running with her this : year. The joint backmarkers will be Merv Austin (St; Martins) and Dave Rowell! (University). 1 Austin was a close; second in the recent Symon and Lowther 100 km race and third in;’ last year's Great Westland: event tn 2h 28min 18s. Rowell is a former West Coast marathon title-holder and i

has been in good form on r the road in Canterbury this'l season. They will give the \ front runners a 95min start. ■ 1 Five minutes ahead of it them will be Olympic’s John it Sheddan, who is faster than i t both the backmarkers but if has little form over the marathon distance. However,l--he has represented New Zea-1 land in international cross-• country and has won many I Canterbury road, track, and cross-country titles. He will share the 90min mark with a leading West Coast runner, Dan O'Connor. Two minutes ahead of them on handicap will be a Nelson runner, Stewart! Watts, and Olympic’s veter-: an J. K. Macdonald. Only two former titelholders will be in the field: Rowell and the veteran Clarrie Reece. Adding some international flavour will be Moira Forbes, aged 23. of NewYork, who competed in the:.

recent 100 km Symon and Lowther race. Two other women -who completed the 100 km run will also tackle the shorter .marathon distance: Sue Young (NewBrighton) and Sue Bush (Olympic).

Undoubtedly the fastes boy will be Michael Mar quet, aged 14, who is cap able of running the distanci in less than 3h in good con ditions. .More than 100 veteran: ■ have entered the marathon

it i The oldest entrant will once •-[again be Sam McArthur >-. (Nelson), aged 67, who will e be running in his twelfth i- Coast marathon. Others, will' be, Tom Bain (Christchurch), s aged 66, and John Drew i. (Veterans), aged 65, although . the latter may instead be a - starter in the big Honolulu marathon. The best-performed veter- I an tomorrow would be J. ,K. Macdonald (Olympic), who finished in 2h 31tnin 18s toj win the veterans’ title last I year. Another strong veteran ' apart from Reece is Harry: : Marquet (St Martins), who! seems to thrive on racing over long distances. The ciub with the most: entries is St Martins, with 39 competitors, followed by: Westport, with 15. Among the starters will be a contingent of teachers from Greymouth Inter- . mediate school and footbal-

lers from Marist and Blakejtown. : Entries have come from (Auckland. Wellington. Masj terton, Timaru, Dunedin, and nearly all Christchurch 'clubs. One of the leading contenders from the West Coast 'will be Dan O’Connor, who has returned from Australia |for the event. He finished the distance in 2hr 31 min 41s ' for sixth-fastest time j last year. O’Connor’s sister, 'Mary (University) was 'selected recently for the New : Zealand women’s team to 'compete in the world cross- ' country championships. Fourteen policemen from Wellington will join teams |from the police, army, and I Air Force in Christchurch in .'the marathon. Linwood High School will also send a team. A well known entrant will be Major Albie Kiwi, who has run from Bluff to Cape Reinga.