Athletes’ chance

Press, 15 December 1983, Page 44

Athletes’ chance

Darren Dale, of Canterbury, and Waikato’s Dale McClunie, stars of the recent secondary schools athletic championships, will taste top international competition next month. The talented teenage sprinters have been selected for the international track series. The first meeting in the televised series will be in Hamilton on January 26, and the second is at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium on January 28. McClunie won the 100 m and 200 m finals impressively at the national secondary schools’ championships while Dale outclassed his opposition with a stylish win in the 400 m final.

In Christchurch last month Dale lowered the New Zealand colts’ (under 18) 400 m record to an exceptional 47.295, a time which should put him right up with the overseas stars. Several other national class sprinters have been named for the series. The national champion, Gary Henley-Smith, has been selected with McClunie for the 100 m and 200 m, while Dale will be joined in the 400 m by Hamilton’s Murray Gutry and John Enright and Canterbury’s Paul Cuff. In the women’s sprints, Kim Robertson, Andrea Wade, Jayne Mitchell and Noeline Hodgins (all of Auckland) have been named.