Something for everyone

Press, 29 May 1981, Page 11

Something for everyone

On behalf of Nike Shoes, I would like to welcome all runners competing in the first City of Christchurch International Marathon on Sunday. Like a good novel, this marathon will have something for everyone.

It is one of the fastest courses in the world; and for the runner seeking a personal best time, or merely to finish what has become the greatest challenge in athletics, there will be plenty of encouragement from the many spectators who will line the route. For runners who feel they are not quite ready yet for a full marathon, there is the half-marathon. Those of you running the shorter distance on Sunday can use it as a base for the full course next year! These features, I believe, will help develop the Nike City of Christchurch International Marathon into a major New Zealand sporting event within a few short years. I am equally sure that the race will become New Zealand’s “elite” marathon — the one that will attract the world’s leading marathon runners to this country. This would be an appropriate honour, particularly after Christchurch's tremendous

successes with the World Veteran Games earlier this year, and the Conmmonwealth Games in 1974. Christchurch people have shown the world that no one else can organise an athletics event quite like they can. Good luck to all competitors in the inaugural Nike City of Christchurch International Marathon and the half-marathon on Sunday, particularly for those of you running these distances for the first time. My thanks to the organisers, the Long Distance Running Club of New Zealand, and the hundreds of volunteers who are making Sunday’s race possible. ’ RON NINNESS, =. Ninness Manufacturing, Ltd.