Lonely preparation by Doris Trueman

Press, 29 May 1981, Page 13

Lonely preparation by Doris Trueman

Slogging through ankleleep snow 1000 metres up in he Crown Range was part of he build-up by a dimunitive Scotswoman for Sunday’s Mike . City of Christchurch Marathon. Doris Trueman has run in inly one marathon before — ;he' Mountain-to-tlje-Surf went from Mt Egmont to New Plymouth in April.

But she won it in a time of !h 50min 565, which makes aer the fifth fastest woman over the distance in New’ Zealand. In her native Scotland she would rank as number two.

Now she has her sights set on the City of Christchurch event and a prize of a trip to the United States, and she’s going after it with true Scottish grit and determination.

For the past few months.

the 28-year-old Mrs Trueman has been pounding up and down the Cardrona Valley on one of New Zealand's loneliest and most spectacular roads. The dirt road winds its way through an historic gold mining area to the top of the Crown Range where, at 1100 metres, it becomes the highest mountain pass in the country. The tiny track-suited figure — she is just 1.57 m tall and weighs 47kg — has earned some strange looks from passing tourist traffic on the remote road, but she has found it an ideal place to train.

Paradoxically, it is not running but an entirely different sport which brought her to the Cardrona Valley.

Doris Trueman is a member of the British crosscountry ski team and she and her husband, John, will be instructing in the fast-grow-ing sport at the Cardrona ski-field and on the Pisa Range in the coming winter skiing season.

The interest in marathon running initially developed from the heavy programme of roadwork Mrs Trueman set herself to build stamina for the strenuous cross-coun-try skiing events, Both she and her husband.are physical education teachers and John’s background as an athletics coach also contributed

to his wife’s move into the marathon arena.

Fitness, she says, is crucial in cross-country skiing. With arms working almost as hard as legs, the sport demands a higher oxygen use than any other, marathon running included.

In the skiing events, Mrs Trueman competes over the “shorter” 5 km and 10 km distances, so after the Christchurch race, she will be cutting down her road training and concentrating on building up speed. Her next big ski event will be the world championship in Oslo next year when she again hopes to be a member of the British team. But first will come the inaugural New Zealand cross-country championships planned for the Pisa mountains in September. John Trueman is a founding member and captain of the recently formed Nev.Zealand Nordic Ski Club and is one of the people behind the proposed national championships. He believes the Pisa range offers some of the best terrain in the country for the sport. This winter could also see a New Zealand racing squad training there, including such people as Mary Madore and Steve Hamford, of Christchurch, and Patricia McNeill, of Dunedin.