Two-year break worked wonders

Press, 12 March 1982, Page 15

Two-year break worked wonders

By

ROD DEW

There was no more surprised winner at the recent New Zealand track and field championships in Christchurch, recently, than the big thrower from Otago, Alan Hallberg. His personal best distance of 15.85 m in the shot championship deprived the favourite, Henry Smith (Wellington), of a successive fifth title.

Smith, below his best with 15.83 m, had to be content with the siver medal, and the Canterbury champion, Mene Mene, was third with 15.36 m. “It was a bit of a surprise,” a delighted Hallberg said later. “I certainly had never expected to win, and I never expected Henry to go so poorly.” Hallberg, a big, friendly

fellow weighing 120 kg and standing almost 1.90 m (6ft 3in) tall, had never before

exceeeded 15.75 m. Before the championship, he was largely unknown, although he had claimed a third place in the shot championship in 1978. For the two years before this season, Hallberg, a 26-year-old insurance representative. in Dunedin, has concentrated on power lifting. a sport he was introduced to while training for the shot. “I started lifting as part of my training for the shot, and got sidetracked into power lifting.” He became so proficient in power lifting that “I flagged the shot away” completely to concentrate on this. He currently holds the New Zealand llOkg-plus power lifting championship, and has not been beaten in this for the last two years. This year he is aiming for a third successive llOkg-plus power lifting title, and he has no intention of allowing his unexpected success in the shot to distract him from this. “I am definitely going to keep up the power lifting,” he emphasised.

However, the win in the shot championship has awakened an old desire to do well in this event. And he has already set himself a target of 17 metres for next season. “I will be working on it, that’s for sure,”' he said.

Although not previously well known nationally, Hallberg has been involved with •athletics since 1968. He was encouraged to join the Leith club in Dunedin by his brother, a club runner, and he started out running. In the winter, he competed in harriers. Specialisation in the shot came later, as he developed his strength, and in 1978 his third in the national shot event prompted him to increase his weight training programme. That was the year Henry Smith won his first title, and he must have often wondered what happened to the promising youngster from Otago who showed so much potential that year. Hallberg’s return to the throwing circle this summer

was not planned. He was persuaded to turn out for Leith in the southern league contest at the start of the season. “I went so well that I decided to carry on.”

His success this season has been without any special training programme or winter build-up, so it is obvious that there still remains a lot of untapped potential in his barrel-chested frame. Had he made his return to athletics

a year earlier. Hallberg might now be a strong candidate for the Brisbane Commonwealth Games team. But he is unconcerned with thoughts of what might have been, and remains very happy with what he has done. Hallberg competed in the New Zealand discus championship as well, but he holds no aspirations in this. “I was up here for the shot, so I thought I might as well compete in the discus.”

His best is 42.68 m, so he is

no threat to the burly veteran, Robin Tait (Auckland), in this event. However, Smith, who looked almost unbeatable before the recent shot championship, now faces an uphill fight to regain his position at the top of the New Zealand shot pedestal.

If Hallberg continues to improve, and Mene Mene can build further on the progress he has made this summer, the prospects for some stimulating contests among the big men of New Zealand field athletics are good.