World records fall to veteran aged 75

Press, 29 December 1980, Page 17

World records fall to veteran aged 75

By

ROD DEW

Advancing years have never halted the constant quest for athletic improvement by the 75-year-old Canadian veteran, Arnolds Ticmanis. His unquenchable thirst for competition was fittingly rewarded in the Canterbury inter-club track and field meeting at Queen Elizabeth 11. Park on Saturday when he broke four world veteran age-group records. Ticmanis, his silver hair gleaming in the sunlight, hurled the 161 b shot 7.47 m to break the old record for a 75-year-old by a very impressive 2.12 m. The previous record was set by an American, Arthur Wright, three years ago. Wright also lost his world record of 6.95 m for the 121 b shot to Ticmanis, who recorded a distance of 8.87 m on Saturday in a display which puts him among the gold medal favourites in his age group for the World

Veteran Games which begin at the same venue on January 7. The. other two world records came in the discus. Ticmanis threw the 2kg discus 19.10 m, breaking the previous record of 17.19 m, set by John Whittemore (United States), in 1977, with ease. He then took the . I.skg discus and', threw that 21.04 m, claiming another of the world records held by Wright. The old record, set in 1977. was 14.85 m.

“I will get better results yet,” said ticmanis. who was born in Latvia. He was frustrated because there was no pole vault on the programme. "I want the polevault record. I .know I can do it,” he said. The record stands at 1.67 m, and • Ticmanis has 'cleared 1.70 m in training since he arrived in New Zealand last month. Tiernans yy also recorded 19.76 m in the hammer. . There were a number of other outstanding perform-

ances by veterans preparing ! for the forthcoming Games. i The former AH Black wing, < Bruce McPhail, showed much of his old pace with : an outstanding third place in the senior 60m in 7.35. He < followed this up with a second place in the senior long jump with 5.72 m. Arthur ■'Mahan (Toe H), 1 another veteran, was third 1 in tne. latter event. ’The de- j cathlon is his Speciality and : after contesting a number of 1 events he expressed his. 1 delight. “I have never had such a good season,” he ■ said. ■■ 1 Holiday commitments kept ■ many leading athletes away l from the park, but there ■ were 'still a number of par- • ticularly worthy performances. Joe Leota (Old Boys). 1 a former New Zealand junior sprint champion, 1 marked a return to form 1 after a long period recov- ■ ering from injury with two 1 fine wins, in the 100 and < 200 m. In the shorter dis- < tance he recorded 10.95, a time not often achieved these days. He won easily. 1 The competition wash stronger in the 200 m. The|]

burly Paul Cuff (Technical); offered a strong challenge off the curve but at the fininsh it was the powerful figure of Leota which was in front. His time was 225, Cuff finished in 22.35. Richard Goldstone (Old Boys), who was very unlucky to miss selection for the Pacific Conference Games team, ran a comfortable 800 m in Imin 50.45, leading home the former national champion, Bruce Hunter (Shirley). Martin Couldwell (University), who was not at his best for the Pacific Games steeplechase trials a fortnight ago, looked much sharper in his win over 5000 m. His time of 14min 11.8 s was the third-fastest recorded in New Zealand this summer, and only fourtenths of a second. slower than the time he needed for second ranking. It was a fine run, particularly because Couldwell had to run the latter part of the race on his own. Warren Sheddan (Olympic), who was runnerup in 14min 32.75, could not match the strength of the

former New Zealand steeplejchase champion. The women’s distance race 'over 3000 m proved another triumph for Anne Marie Keown (University). She ran away from her rivals, finishing well ahead in 9min 44.85, outside her best. The promising young South Canterbury runner, Maria Moran, was second in lOmin 11.25.

Later in the day, Miss Moran lined up for the women’s 800 m but again she was beaten. This time it was the young English visitor, Liz Laban (Shirley), who claimed the major honours. She recorded 2min 9.9 s in a particularly solid run which must auger well for her hopes of running in the New!

Zealand Games meeting at Auckland next month. Rosie Burn (Old Boys) continues to show promise in the 400 m hurdles, and on Satuday she won well in 64.55.

The result sheet for the women’s shot recorded the second defeat of the season for the rejoining New Zealand champion, Vai Young (Technical). Her young rival, Jan Bishop (Technical), was credited with first place with a distance of 13.90 m. But the form of the competition was somewhat irregular, and Miss Bishop would not have been given a distance at all in a more formal competition. The shot was virtually over when Miss Bishop ar-

rived for her turn. Mrs Young had ’ already thrown 13.80 m, which seemed good enough for another win. Miss Bishop was then allowed to make her six puts in succession, which is quite contrary to the rules of competition. One of her throws was the best of the day. Mrs Young won the discus with a throw of 42.60 m. Miss Bishop was second with 40.84 m.

In the javelin, Miss Bishop was out on her own, winning with a good throw of 43.08 m from Barbara Ovenden (Technical).