Top-class competitors to ensure good finishing times

Press, 31 May 1985, Page 8

Top-class competitors to ensure good finishing times

Although entries in the marathon are down by 200 on last year, the greater number of “fast end” topclass competitors, many from overseas, seems certain to ensure good finishing times.

Sponsorship by Cadbury Schweppes Hudson this year has allowed race organisers to bring four top international runners over for the race, flown at discount rates by Air New Zealand. They include lan Thompson, aged 36, from Great Britain, who has a personal best of 2hr 9min 12sec, set on the same course in the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

Another is Richard Umberg, a Swiss civil servant with a personal best of 2hr 13min 37sec. Juergen Heugemann, a West German with a personal best of 2hr 15min, has also been sponsored.

Big-name local runners include last year’s winner, Tom Birnie (winning time 2hr 15min 16sec), and Don Grieg, who was third last year and winner of the 1985 Fletcher Marathon. Others include Allan Sinclair from Christchurch; Chris Palone, from Auckland; and Murray Hunt, from Matamata. Although any one of the above runners could take

out the men’s marathon, a clear favourite is competing in the women’s section — — Burley, from Great Britain. She is ranked thirtieth in the world for the event, and has a personal .best of 2hr 32min 53sec. Other favoured women include Gail Reese, from Waikato; Tina Wilde, from Wellington, who was second last year; and Bev Blair, from Wellington, third last year.

Runners were approached from seven countries for the race, including Switzerland, West Germany, Ireland, England, Kenya, Japan, and Australia. Clashes with the World Veteran Games in Italy and the French and Japanese national championships denied organisers access to some top competitors, including the Frenchman, Alain Lazare, who had indicated he was keen to run in the event.