Sponsor wanted

Press, 11 October 1979, Page 40

Sponsor wanted

By

GLENN HASZARD

The New Zealand mara-l thon champion, Tony Good, has his sights set on the! i famous Fukuoka marathon’ 'in Japan in December to crack the qualifying time of ’ 2hrs 13min 30s for OlympicP Games selection. Already lined up will bei two of his main rivals for! Moscow, Kevin Ryan (Auck- > Hand) and Paul Ballinger, i(New Plymouth). ) But Good badly needs! 'sponsorship for the air fares; ito start in the race, which ' I has a reputation for fast; !times because it is flat and! 1 •run in cool conditions. I The Japanese organisers ■ :are prepared to pay all); internal costs, but Good says: 'that unless someone comes! up with his air fares he will ■ Inot be going. Without this race, his: chance of breaking the qual-l! ifying time before April will'; depend on weather condi-1 itions in Canterbury for the. iprovincial championships < this month, and the national

I championships here in March. Marathon runners must! i space' but their races because of the time needed to recover, especially if they are run at sub 2hr 20min .pace. ■ Good says, that he is..filter I now than when he won the: ) Eclipse marathon in’ ■October) ■ last year in. his personal | best time of 2:16:20. ■ “I'm a little bit concerned |that if I start in the Canter-; ibury marathon I might lace la nor’ wester, then what doj I do? Step out and try to; (break the qualifying time?” j I It is believed that Ryan.) with a best time of 2:11:43.) iis being sponsored to the; Fukuoka by the shoe manufacturing company he will I ■work for from next year, while Ballinger is under the ;wing of coach Arthur ;Lydiard and may also have; picked up some sort of; sponsorship. Good says if he has the chance to” compete against! Ryan and Ballinger in the

Japanese marathon it will be a fair trial for the three men. Meanwhile New' Zealand’s other marathon hopeful, Dick Quax, is reported to be ready to race in the national ’ road championships in WhaIngar'ei on Saturday. Quax recorded a time -of 2:11:13 in Ithe. recent Boston-marathon, |in which Ballinger recorded 2:14:38 and Christchurch’s Don Greig 2:15:14. Quax will start favourite for the national road championships. but also in the tfield will be Ryan, Good and jGood’s Canterbury teamImate Martin Couldwell, as ' well as titleholder Max Culllum (Auckland). Canterbury women's road champion Mary O’Connor 'will have to beat Lorraine Moller (Waikato) and Auckland’s Alison Deed to have :any chance of winning the national title. Moller I recently ran a marthon in the United States in 2:37:37, while Deed is the top Auckland. chance.