Angry John Walker vows ‘never again’

Press, 25 August 1980, Page 32

Angry John Walker vows ‘never again’

NZPA London A back-in-form John Walker stormed off the track in Brussels on Friday night after running one of his fastest-ever miles and vowed never again to start in such an absurdly big field. Nineteen runners cluttered up the start-line for the mile, the glamour event of the annual Ivo Van Damme memorial meeting. The race was touted as a record bid by the Briton, Steve Ovett, on both the world mile (which he holds) and 1500 metres (which he shares) records, but for the first lap it looked more like the mad, frantic scramble of the start of a cross-country race. “I got bashed in the knee I got spiked, I ended up in lane three and by the time I thought about running a proper race, Ovett was nearly 40 metres ahead,” said Walker. “I was furious and I told the promoter that I would refuse to start in a field that big again. Ovett had the favourable inside draw at the start while some of the starters had to form a second row, such was the congestion. With the aid of a pacemaker, he went through the first lap in 54.7 seconds —Walker was still jostling and taking preventive action when he went through in 59 seconds.

The race was run in two distinct bunches: Ovett and his “rabbits” out in front and Walker and the American, Steve Scott, leading the rest.

The 1500 m record was hardly a chance, but Ovett still could have reduced his mile time when he took the lead 600 metres out, but he faded and could run the last lap in only 61 seconds for a time of 3 min 51.6 a smart time by anyone’s standards but still nearly three seconds outside the record. Walker, freed at last of the disruptive second-grad-ers, stormed around the last

lap in 54 seconds — seven seconds faster than Ovett — for second in 3min 52.75. One of his sole sources of satisfaction was that he outsprinted Scott in the straight. “But by that time Ovett was too far but in front and there was no show of catching him,” said Walker. “If it had been a more reasonable sized field, I could have stayed with Ovett and could have beaten him. “I think he was straining. He didn’t let up. He just couldn’t go any faster?’ Dick Quax, running in Europe for the second time this year, finished an encouraging fourth in the 10,000 metres in 28 min 0.25. He dropped off the leading bunch at one stage, but got back on in what Walker called a gutsy run by the American-based New Zealander.

Quax’s European debut was at Nijimegen in Holland early last week when he ran a 13 min 44s 5000 metres. He plans a third track race, over 10,000 m in Coblenz next month, bt> fore returning to the United States to prepare for the New York marathon. New Zealand’s two other representatives, the sprinter Kim Robertson, and javelin thrower, Mike O’Rourke, were disappointing. Miss Robertson ran a 12s 100 m and a 24.4 s 200 m to finish her European year on a low note, and O’Rourke was well short of his best with a 70-metre throw for eighth place.