Great 1500m duel expected between Moorcroft, Walker

Press, 17 January 1979, Page 16

Great 1500m duel expected between Moorcroft, Walker

By

ROD DEW

Five months ago a slim English schoolteacher, David Moorcroft, stunned followers of track athletics with his brilliant win in the Commonwealth Games 1500 m final at Edmonton. Among the vanquished was Filbert Bayi (Tanzania), who had won the title four years earlier at Christchurch in world record time. However, Moorcroft’s great triumph was not quite complete. New Zealand’s Olympic champion, John Walker, was recovering from a leg operation and was unable to compete. Afterwards, some critics suggested that if Walker had been able to run the only race would have been for second. But such opinions did less than justice to Moorcroft, a modest and worthy champion. He ran 3.4 s faster than he had ever done before to win the title from Bayi in the excellent time of 3min 35.55. It is perhaps a measure of the man that he had no hesitation in reminding British journalists packed into the interview room after his win - at Edmonton that Walker was still the finest 1500 m runner in the world. Moorcroft, at 25, is one of the most unassuming and likeable athletes to hold a Commonwealth title. But his enormous respect for Walker’s ability will not prevent him trying to topple the powerful New Zealander from the

1500 m pedestal. His first chance to do this since the Commonwealth Games will be in the feature 1500 m in the Pan Am South Pacific Television international meeting at Queen Elizabeth II Park on Saturday. They were to have had their first meeting over 1500 m in an international contest at Olympic Park, Melbourne, last week. Unfortunately, Walker, weakened by a virus, elected to switch to the 800 m. This left Moorcroft to win the 1500 m in 3min 44.6 s from the Commonwealth bronze medallist, John Robson, of Scotland. Another meeting promoted as the big clash between these two in Sydney on Monday fizzled when Moorcroft reported sick and withdrew. Both men should have thrown off their respective infections before Saturday.. But if Walker is in anything like the form he displayed in setting a world indoor 1500 m record of 3 min 37.4 s in the United States just a fortnight ago, Moorcroft will have to run considerably faster than he did while in Australia. Because of his leg problems. Walker is running on a limited background of training and is keeping his appearances over 1500 m and the mile restricted. Tonight, when the

New Zealand series opens in Hastings, he will run over 800 m and Moorcroft will race in either the mile or the 3000 m. These will be no more than warmups for their first big clash on Saturday. They will only meet once more in the New Zealand series — over 1500 m at Auckland on January 27.

Moorcroft was probably the most improved 1500 m runner in the world last year. Some of this, he owes to his close recent association with New Zealand. Last year he spent the summer teaching at a high school in Hamilton while he prepared for the Commonwealth Games. He returned to Hamilton not long after winning the Commonwealth crown and i. now building up for the Moscow Olympic Games next year. Last summer he was consistently beaten by both Walker and the outstanding Irishman, Eamonn Coghlan. This time, Walker is still the man to beat. But Walker would be the first to admit that Moorcroft is now a runner worthy of the highest respect. Also in the field on Saturday will be Robson and the Christchurch-based Canadian, Brian Rhodes.

There will be special interest in the 5000 m. The two New Zealand internationals, Rod Dixon and Dick Quax, both have good reasons for wanting to do well in front of a home crowd. Dixon was robbed of his chance for a medal in the Commonwealth Games 5000 m when his running gear was stolen minutes before the final and Quax was strangely out of form for the 10,000 m in the Games. Both are world-class performers and the best way for them to put the events of 1978 behind them is to win on Saturday. Dixon was the winner of this event last year: Quax the winner the year before. Another New Zealand win would certainly go down well.

The opposi on, however, will be very strong. Chief among those likely t>> worry the two New Zealanders are Hie Floroiu (Rumania), Martti Vainio (Finland), Markos Ryffel (Switzerland), and Gerard Barrett (Australia). Floroiu, who is 26, was second ranked in the world over 5000 m last year with his best time of 13min 15s. He was not quite at his best for the European championships in Prague last September, finishing fifth.

It could be that Ryffel will prove the real danger man. He claimed the silver medal in the European championship. His best time last year was 13min 20s. Perhaps his greatest claim to fame is that he was the first runner to beat the incomparable Henry Rono last year over 3000 m. He achieved this in Frankfurt on September 15, a date he will not forget easily.

The New Zealand Commonwealth Games runner, Alan Thurlow, who recently made Christchurch his home, is yet another capable of doing well.

Vainio is probably more suited to the longer 10,000 m. He was the European champion over that distance last year. But he is still a solid competitor over 5000 m with a best time of 13min 30.55. The 3000 m promises to be a keenly fought race with the wiry Kenyan, Kip Rono, starting as the favourite. Rono, who is no

relation to Henry Rono, edged but Euan Robertson (New Zealand) to gain the bronze medal at Edmonton.

Their meeting will be full of interest, especially * because Robertson no longer has the high Edmonton altitude to contend with. Two other Commonwealth Games representatives from New Zealand, Martin Couldwell and Howard Healey, can also be expected to give good accounts of themselves.

Ismo Toukonen (Finland) and Paul Copu (Rumania) are two visitors likely to do well. Toukonen was third in the European championship in Bmin 18.35, and Copu was fifth in the same race in a time 2s slower.

One athlete who should remain unchallenged throughout the international series is the 32-year-old Hungarian javelin thrower, Miklos Nemeth. He won the Olympic title at Montreal in 1976 with his first throw of 94.58 m (310 ft 4in). This was a new world record and nobody else came close to matching it. The record stands today, although last year his best distance of 87.40 m ranked him only eleventh. He is now beginning his build up for the defence of his Olympic crown at Moscow next year.

Nemeth’s presence might well inspire the New Zealand champion, Mike O’Rourke, to extend his national record even further. O’Rourke was runner-up in the Commonwealth Games and is now on the brink of world class. Pentti Sinersaari (Finlend), ranked fifth in the world last year with his best throw of 88.90 m, is another thrower worth watching. James Maina (Kenya) is one visitor who will be out to make a point while in New Zealand. He was disqualified in the semifinals of the 800 m at Edmonton for breaking lanes too soon. The Kenyans protested that several others had done the same but the disqualification was upheld by the jury of appeal and Maina, among the favourites, was out. This was a great pity because his earlier performances had marked him as an 800 m runner of considerable ability. He won the African 800 m championship in July last year in Imin 47.1 s and was a heat winner at Edmonton.

Maina will clash with a fellow Kenyan, Sammy Obwocha, the New Zealand champion, Dennis Norris, and Dane Joseph (England), who was Britian’s top-ranked junior 800 m runner last year with a time of Imin 47.75. Obwocha’s best time is Imin 475, so a close race is indicated.