Running Renner sets goals

Press, 9 August 1985, Page 19

Running Renner sets goals

By

ROD DEW

Encouraged by her outstanding marathon debut

around the shores of Lake Superior a few weeks ago, the Canterbury and New, Brighton distance runner, Wendy Renner, has returned to Christchurch for the background training she needs for a Commonwealth Games qualifying run over the marathon distance. “I have come home for six or eight weeks of hard training,” she said. “I have been training, but I haven’t been able to do long runs. Although I am fit, I need some mileage.”

Mrs Renner recorded 2hr 39min in finishing second in the L’Eggs international marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, last month. Only two other New Zealand women have run the distance faster this year, Mary O’Connor and Ngaire Drake. This was the highlight of Mrs Renner’s trip to the United States and Europe. “I really enjoyed the race.” Now she is ready to extend herself even further in the marathon, the event which may well hold the key to international success

for her. She plans to return to the United States for her second marathon in October, and her target is to run the distance in 2hr 35min or faster. This was the pace she set for much of the distance at Duluth before fading a little at the finish. With this experience behind her, Mrs Renner is certain that she can improve markedly. The New Zealand selectors have set a qualifying standard of 2hr 34min for the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games marathon next year, and Mrs Renner admits that this is “in the back of her mind.”

She might well better the standard in her next marathon, but even this is no guarantee of final selection. There will be plenty of time left for another fast run before the deadline for Games qualifying performances on March 30 next year.

Mrs Renner has three marathons, all about the same time, to choose from in the United States in Octo-

ber, which leaves her some flexibility. The race she finally chooses will depend on how her preparation proceeds. She hopes to be able to run a 10km road race in the United States a fortnight before her big run for time in the marathon.

During the next few weeks, Mrs Renner will only contest a couple of events,

probably the Port Hills road relay and the TakaheAkaroa road relay race, a national event this season. She will miss the New Zealand cross-country championships at Invercargill, but this does not mean a lack of interest in the crosscountry side of the sport.

One of her more immediate targets is to try for selection in the New Zealand team going to the world cross-country championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, towards the end of March. She intends to contest a series of 3000 m events on the track next summer in an effort to impress the cross-country selectors.

“I will need to get my basic speed back, anyway. Speed is very important, even for running marathons,” she said. Mrs Renner flew to the United States in the middle of May with her husband, the Olympic steeplechase finalist, Peter Renner. She contested three 10km road races in the United States before her marathon, and was very pleased with her

performances. She won the first, just south of Los Angeles, finished a worthy seventh in the Boulder Classic, and was twenty-fourth in the L’Eggs mini-marathon in New York. The latter placing was better than it might seem to a casual observer. There were more than 40 women in the field capable of running the 10km faster than 34min, and Mrs Renner did well to finish as high as she did.

“I feel that I am getting better at running 10km races. A lot depends on experience. There is a knack to running them successfully,” she said.

After the Pacific Conference Games in Berkeley, California, where Peter Renner won the gold medal in the 3000 m steeplechase, the Renners moved on to Europe. Peter Renner is currently in London. He has his last race on the European circuit in Brussels on August 30. He is expected home early in September to polish up for the World Cup meeting in Canberra in October.