Birnie likely to complete triple crown on track

Press, 13 February 1982, Page 16

Birnie likely to complete triple crown on track

Already the holder of the Canterbury 1500 m and 10,000 m titles, Tom Birnie (New Brighton) will start as a firm favourite for a win in the 5000 m and a third provincial crown on the final day of the Canterbury track and field championships at Queen Elizabeth II Park tomorrow.

Birnie, now 29, has never been in better form and nobody in Canterbury seems capable of matching him over this distance. The chief ihterest will be in whether he betters the Brisbane Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 13min 355.

His personal best, achieved in running a fine' second to David Moorcroft (England) in the Auckland international meeting last month, is just four seconds slower.

Birnie. who always plays his cards close to his chest, is making no predictions. “It is hard to run fast when you are on your own. I will just have to see how the day is and how 1 feel? he said.

Chris Tobin (South Canterbury), runner-up to Birnie over 10,0l)0m, should provide

the strongest opposition. Peter Renner (New Brighton), a former New Zealand junior 5000 m champion, would have been able to apply considerable pressure, but he wants to save himself for another Commonwealth Games qualifying run in the Canterbury steeplechase a week later. He will run in the 800 m this week-end to help his speed. Another Canterbury athlete hoping to qualify for Brisbane this week-end is Wayne Paul (Papanui-Red-wood) in the 400 m hurdles. His splendid win in the 400 m championship last Saturday in 48.06 s suggests that he is ready for the 51.4 s run over the hurdles he needs for a trip to Brisbane. Bev Peterson (Technical) came very close to qualifying for the Games in the 100 m last week-end. Her win-, ning run of 11.67 s was a mere three-hundredths of a second outside the qualifying time — her best electric time. That was, said her coach. Mr Valdemars Briedis, “a class run." This week-end Miss Peter-

son will be hoping for a second title and a fast time over 200 m.

Evan Peterson (Technical) could win the 200 m title, but there is some doubt over whether he will compete. His chief aim this week-end will be to better the Games qualifying distance of 7.65 m in the long jump. His win over Joe Leota (Old Boys) in the 100 m final last Saturday suggests that he at least has the basic speed to achieve this.

The 800 m championship promises to be an enthralling event, with Andrew Stark (University) making a strong late bid for glory after more than a season recovering from injury. Michael Gilchrist (Technical) is keen to run but might be • wiser to stay, away and let his calf muscle injury heal itself completely. There are a number of promising young runners ready to step into any gap he might leave. Terry Lomax (Old Boys) faces a long list of challengers in the senior high jump. Not the least of these are Grant Landery

(Cashmere), Bill Boyd (Papa-nui-Redwood), and Andrew Wells (Toe H). A high standard seems likely and Lomax might not be the only one nudging the Games qualifying standard. Kieran McKee (Toe H) also seems ready for another big vault. He is keen to reach 5m again and if conditions are good might achieve this tomorrow.

However, a lot of the interest in the field events will be centred on the meeting between Vai Young (Technical) and Jan Bishop (Technical) in the shot. Miss Bishop has been a regular winner this summer in both shot and discus, but the ability of Mrs Young to rise to the occasion is well known.

Mrs Young lifted her performance last Saturday for a winning throw of more than 46m in the discus championship, and any bet against her completing the double this week-end would be a risky one.

By

ROD DEW