Chance for revenge for Roger Te Puni

Press, 3 December 1982, Page 25

Chance for revenge for Roger Te Puni

By

ROD DEW

The talented young Commonwealth Games high jumper, Roger Te Puni, of Wellington, gets his chance for revenge over his Christchurch rival, Bill Boyd, in the invitation event which will be held at the Technical club's twilight meeting at Queen Elizabeth II Park tomorrow. Te Puni, the current leader of the rankings with his 2.13 m leap at Brisbane, was beaten by Boyd in a Christchurch inter-club meeting a fortnight ago. On that occasion. Te Puni managed only 2.00 m in the gusty, northwest winds, and Boyd emerged the winner with a fine leap of 2.05 m. Boyd has an even better height to his credit this season, 2.10 m, and that puts him first on the rankings among athletes who have achieved their performances in New Zealand. Another encounter between these two fine jumpers; hopefully in calm evening conditions, promises to be an enthralling encounter. Terry Lomax, the holder of the New Zealand record at 2.15 m is still nursing injuries and will not compete. But his record could come under threat, Chris Trabing, of Otago, third ranked, is another very talented visitor in the field. Grant Landery, who has cleared 2.12 m, and Andrew Wells, both of Canterbury, are in the field, which is the strongest which could be

assembled in New Zealand at the present time. Kieran McKee, better known for his pole vaulting, is another topliner competing. There should also be a keen struggle in the shot, which will feature the first visit to Christchurch this season of the powerful Otago shot putter, Allan Hallberg. a surprise winner of the New Zealand title last season. The deposed champion. Henry Smith, of Wellington, has also indicated interest in competing so a very high standard seems likely. Chris Barrett, of Timaru, and Mene Mene, of Canterbury, are other strong competitors in the field. The second and thirdranked hammer throwers in the country, Bernie Harland, of Canterbury, and Warwick Nicholl, of Wellington, will resume their long rivalry in the hammer. Distances of more than 55m are possible from both men, although they are not yet at their peaks. The feature track event promises to be the 3000 m steeplechase, which will include New Zealand’s two Commonwealth Games representatives, Peter Renner and Neil Lowsley. Renner, whose attempts for fast times this season have been thwarted by windy weather, is hoping for the Bmin 28s

run which will qualify him for the world championships in Helsinki next August. Strenuous efforts have been made to obtain some worthy competition for Wayne Paul in the 400 m hurdles but these have met with only partial success. Murray Cumberpatch, of Auckland, winner of the New Zealand championship this year, is not available because of injury. However, David Long, a former Canterbury runner now based in Auckland, is interested in a brief return to his old home stadium. He was ranked third last season. Murray King, from Tasman,, and Michael Williams, from Ashburton, are other starters. Paul’s aim is to crack the New Zealand record of 51.3 s • this season and, running on his own, he has already been close. A mile, a distance not often run these days, has been included in the programme. The entry will not be known until shortly before the start of the race but it will present an ideal opportunity for the promising New Zealand junior 1500 m champion, Colin McDonald, of Canterbury, to try for a personal best performance. The meeting is the first full-scale inter-club and invitation meeting held in the evening and the later part of the programme will be held under lights.