Athletes off to Europe

Press, 13 March 1985, Page 64

Athletes off to Europe

By

ROD DEW

The silver medallist in the 5000 m at the New Zealand track championships in Dunedin last week-end, Michael Gilchrist (Canterbury), will spend the next six months in Europe training and racing in preparation for the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games next year.

Gilchrist leaves today with the New Zealand team for the world cross-country championships in Portugal. After the championships, he will base himself in England. “I want to learn how to run the 5000 m properly, and I also want to run some fast 1500 m races,” he said. His

best time for the shorter race is 3min 38.45, and he feels that be still has the ability to reduce this.

He was a finalist in the 1500 m at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games three years ago, but his target for the Edinburgh Games will be the 5000 m — the same as John Walker.

In May, Gilchrist will be joined in England by the Canterbury 1500 m champion for the last two seasons, Colin McDonald, who has not previously raced outside New Zealand. McDonald was the runner-up to Tony Rogers (Waikato), in the New Zealand 1500 m final on Sunday, and his plan is to

“try and get into some big races” in Europe. Both Gilchrist and McDonald, who are Technical club-mates in Christchurch and trained by the former Olympic coach, Mr Valdemars Briedis, hope to spend a few weeks contesting major road races in the United States at the end of the their visit to Europe. They will be back in New Zealand in November or early December, in plenty of time for the New Zealand track season.

Considering his recent training background, Gilchrist was “reasonably happy” with his second placing in the national

5000 m championship. “I wish I had been a bit stronger,” he said. “Then I might have been able to hang on to Rex Wilson (the eventual winner) a bit longer.”

He is satisfied that the race will have helped him for the forthcoming world cross-country championships. “I really want to run well in Portugal,” he said. “I have always liked racing in cross-country but until this time it has always been as part of my preparation for the track.” He believes that it is not realistic to specialise in cross-country because there is not enough racing in New Zealand.