Pearless wins 400m

Press, 27 February 1984, Page 23

Pearless wins 400m

PA Auckland The national 800 m champion, Peter Pearless, made a welcome return to form when he won the men’s 400 m in a smart 48.31 seconds at the Auckland Athletic Centre meeting on the East Coast Bays stadium track on Saturday. Pearless missed both finals of the 400 m and 800 m at the Auckland championships, which ended the previous Saturday because of illness.

Kim Robertson, however, wasn’t quite so impressive in the women’s 400 m. The national women’s champion was obviously intent on chasing the Olympic qualifying time of 51.945, and went out very fast but faded badly over the final 100 m to cross the line

in 53.845. Poland's world-ranked 800 m runner, Jolanta Januchta, drew the lane outside Robertson, but she provided little opposition as Robertson sped on ny in the first 50m. Januchta, here for her Olympic build-up, finished strongly in 55.73.

Simon Poelman, gearing himself up for the national decathlon championship in Christchurch next month, turned in two of the best performances of his career. He won the 110 m hurdles in 15.155, then was also first home in the second division of the 400 m in 51.325. Richie Okesene scored a narrow win over the national champion, David Hookway, in the javelin with 67.84 m to Hookway's 67.34 m.