Bauer rejects sponsorship

Press, 23 April 1984, Page 15

Bauer rejects sponsorship

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney

New Zealand’s ultra-dis-tance runner, Sigfried Bauer, has turned down an offer by the Westfield group to sponsor him on the annual Melbourne to Sydney run.

Bauer, who broke his own 1000-mile world record when he won the Colac 1000 last November, pulled out of this year’s inter-city race in a row over sponsorship. Under the race conditions, the 30 runners will wear singlets bearing the name and logo of the race’s major sponsor, the Westfield group, which is also sponsoring last year’s race winner, the veteran farmer, Cliff Young. Bauer complained from New Zealand last month that the singlet rule would discourage the private sponsors each runner needed to fund a long distance running campaign because they would not be able to advertise on the runner’s clothing.

Last week Bauer was

offered sponsorship by the Westfield group, but turned it down. “It’s too late now and anyway I turned it down on principle,” he said.

“The rules are not fair to private sponsors and I am not turning round and accepting Westfield’s sponsorship when it is not available to everyone. “Everyone should be sponsored by Westfield or all should be able to have their own sponsors on their tee shirts,” said Bauer.

A Westfield spokesman said this week that the advertising rule only prohibited other sponsors’ names being printed more prominently than his company’s. Bauer is managing a young Australian runner, Caroline Vaughan, for part of the Melbourne-Sydney run, which starts on April 27, before returning home to Raetihi to prepare for a United States versus the World six-day race in New York in July. All entrants in that race have their expenses paid by the organisers.