Dravitski and Good top contenders in marathon

Press, 1 June 1982, Page 38

Dravitski and Good top contenders in marathon

By

GLENN HASZARD

Next Sunday’s 1982 Nike City of Christchurch marathon should eventuate into a battle for top honours between Christchurch’s Tony Good and Gerald Dravitski, of New Plymouth.

When they last raced a marathon, at Hamilton in October last year, Good bettered his previous best time by one minute to win in 2 hours 15 minutes 20 seconds, while Dravitski held on for second in 2:15:55, improving on his best by half a minute. The times gave the two sixth and seventh rankings among the Commonwealth Games hopefuls last year. Both missed out on selection, but may try to prove the selectors wrong by improving on their best times again. Good has been running well in road races since returning to competitive running after a long lay-off over the summer, while Dravitski’s form is unknown. Both are consistent performers. Dravitski won the 1980 Manning marathon in 1979 in 2:18:05 and was eighth in a top-class field in the Wiri marathon last year in 2:18:19. Good, won the New Zealand marathon in 1979 and was runner-up to Don Greig (Canterbury) in Christchurch in 1980. He won the Eclipse marathon in Hamilton in 1978 in 2:16.20. Dravitski has also won two marathons from Mt Egmont to Waitara and had a seven minute lead in this year’s event in March when he was forced out with a pulled calf muscle with 10km to go. Just as Dravitski was forced out of that race; so too was Good forced to retire from the Nike marathon last year after 20km. The man of the day then was a Wellington runner, Steve Denholm, who came home first in 2:19:06. He .will be out to regain the title and

improve his time. His recent performances in shorter Wellington races show that he is very fit and fast. Bruce Blair (Auckland), sixth in last year’s Nike in 2:24:21, should be well placed again. He finished ninth in the Wiri marathon last year in 2:19:43, ninth in the Manning marathon last year in 2:19:51 and this year has already run two marathons for two major placings. He finished third in the New Zealand championship in Whangarei in a time of 2:23:34 and second in the big Fletcher marathon later in the same month (April) in 2:23:04. That time would be worth another few minutes on a flat course. A big danger to these four will be Barry Thompson, of Hastings, who finished sixth in the Winstone marathon, at Wiri in November last year, won by Kevin Ryan. Thompson, in recording 2:17:15, beat both Dravitski (2:18:19) and Blair (2:19:43) on that occa : sion. John Dixon (Nelson), who was one place behind Thompson in the Wiri, in a tiipe of 2:18:11, will also be a threat in the Nike. At the age of 34 he still has plenty of running left in him and has proven ability on the track and cross country. Mel Radcliffe and John Hellemans (New Brighton) and Colin Hicks (Toe H) should be the best of the Christchurch runners after Good, while the best of the overseas entrants appears to be Ken Duxbury, of Australia, with a personal best of 2:23:30. Guy Turner and Dave Askin, of Southland, will be close in. behind the leading bunch if they can run

up to their previous best times. Turner has done a 2:23:15 and Askin a 2:22:35. Roger Robinson, formerly of Christchurch and now of Wellington, has the best time among the veteran men and should win the M4O section. He has run a sub-2hr 20min marathon in Canada. Bill Kennedy (Christchurch) and lan Harding (Marlborough) should be among the leading contenders for the M4O section minor places. In the M4s' men’s section an Auckland ultra-distance runner, Gary Regtien, with a personal best marathon time of 2:26, should be too fast for Australia’s Bill Raimond and Christchurch’s Eric Hunter. Stan Gawter (52), of Rotorua, with a best time of 2:29:15, will be one of the favourites in the over-50 section, while Cy McLaughlin, of Auckland, has the fastest time among the over-60s with a time of 2:57 to his credit and recent form to back it up. The oldest starter will be Rangiora’s Les Smith, aged 75, who will be aiming to break four hours. The leading woman will be Japan’s 26-year-old, Nanae Sasaki, who has run a 2:40 •marathon. Her nearest rival could be Christine Burden, who is among the top 10 women marathon runners in New Zealand and the fastest in the South Island, producing her best time to win the Nike last year in- 2:45:05. She has since completed the New York, Honolulu and City of London marathons. Also in the field are the Canterbury women’s marathon champion, Vai Lindsay (Technical) and Sue Taylor (St Martins).

When Darryn George, aged 11, sets out with his father (pictured together) to run the Nike City of Christchurch marathon, on June 6 he will do so in the knowledge that he has at least run the distance before in training. They ran over the course together on May 21 in a time of about four hours and Rangi. says that they will be staying together to run the marathon in about the same time, though he admits he will not be surprised if they dip under four hours. Darryn, a pupil of Kirkwood Intermediate School, has been running seriously

for the last three years. He was attracted to the sport after completing a City to Surf run. Rangi, a Waimairi County Council building inspector, said that he and his son had averaged about 120 km a week and in the week that they ran the full 42km they peaked- at 160 km. To fit in two training runs a day they get up at 5.30 a.m. and go for their first run, then squeeze in another run after work. Darryn is thought to be the youngest competitor in this year’s Nike marathon, although last year an 8-year-old, Dean Forster, also of the

St Martins Harrier Club, completed the distance in 4:24.19. There is some controversy over children ‘ running marathons. They are permitted and encouraged to run them in the United States, but in the United Kingdom children are banned from running marathons organised under the rules of the British Amateur Athletic Association. Some child health specialists have cautioned against children running marathons because of possible damage to the bones, which in children are said to be more

prone to injury because they are immature. Children are not banned in New Zealand marathons, and the Long Distance Runners Club of New Zealand even offers a prize to the youngest finisher. They are supported by the world-famous athletics coach, Arthur Lydiard, who says that long, slow distance running does not hurt children provided they are not pushed by over-zealous coaches or parents. Mr Lydiard has said that harm can be done to young children if they are pushed into racing over shorter distances on the track.