Young sprinter ready for overseas test

Press, 13 June 1986, Page 22

Young sprinter ready for overseas test

By

ROD DEW

One young sprinter stood apart from all others at the Countrywide New Zealand track and field championships in Christchurch earlier this year — Scott Bowden, a 17-year-old pupil of Shirley Boys’ High School. His 47.62 s win for Canterbury in the junior 400 m championship was faster than the time achieved in the senior final and among the most memorable performances at a championship meeting which was not without its high points. Next week Bowden leaves with 10 other members of the New Zealand team for the world junior track and field championships in Athens. This will be his first trip overseas as a New Zealand representative, .and be is determined to write a new chapter in his personal book of progress while he is away. Running against the world’s best juniors, he is confident that he can break 47s for 400 m for the first time and has high hopes of reaching the final. A 21.9 s 200 m and a 49s 400 m during a clinic for the team at Auckland last week-end suggest that he is right on target for personal best performances at Athens. “There is a great team spirit,” Bowden said after the second of the two team clinics. “This is going to be an excellent trip.” The heats of the 400 m will be on the first day of the world championships,

July 16. The semi-final will be on July 17 and the final on the third day. But Bowden’s interest in the championships will not end then. He is the key figure in New Zealand’s 4x400m relay hopes. The relay line-up has a distinct South Island flavour with another outstanding young Canterbury sprinter, Grant Gilbert, and Alan Bunce, from Southland, each running a leg. The odd one out is Craig Purdy, of West Coast North Island, who was runner-up to Bowden in the junior nationals over 400 m. Their chances of doing well appear bright. The full New Zealand team will compete in an international match against Sweden, Britain and Australia at Swansea in Wales before flying to Athens and this is expected to help blow away the winter blues. Bowden, a very capable short sprinter, will run in the 100 m and 200 m. His first international 400 m run will be in a 21-nation pre-Games meeting in Athens a few days before the world championships. In spite of his youth — he has two more seasons as a junior ahead of him — Bowden has already had a considerable taste of success on the track. His first major triumph came in 1983 when he won the junior 400 m in 52.1 s at the Mount Cook New Zealand secondary

schools’ championships in Wellington. A year later he finished second to the brilliant Waikato sprinter, Dale McClunie, in the senior 200 m final at the Mount Cook Games. His time was 22.35. Bowden recalls: “I was really rapt with that.” There was, however, much more to come. At the end of the 1984-85 season he won the under 18 100 m and 400 m at the Canterbury championships and went on to win the New Zealand colts 100 m championships take second place in the 200 m final. Last season, Bowden, who is the head prefect at Shirley Boys’ High School, swept all before him, often beating rivals several years older. He won the Mount Cook Games

400 m final in the record time of 47.895, claimed the Canterbury under-18 100 m, 200 m and 400 m championships, won the New Zealand colts 400 m championship, and climaxed the season with his great win in the New Zealand junior 400 m championship on his home track. "Running the fastest time at the championships was a great thrill,” he said. This run also sealed his selection for the world junior championships. But this moment of elation could so easily have been instead a day of despair. Bowden injured a calf muscle with only 100 m gone in the junior final. “I felt it go ‘ping’ in my leg, and I hesitated and almost decided to stop. Instead, I carried on.” It was only after he crossed the finishing line that he felt the pain. The injury forced him to take a break of three weeks from training, but this setback is now well behind him. He gives credit to his grandfather, Mr Bill Bowden, for his introduction to the sport. Mr Bowden, a former New Zealand hockey player with a good eye for natural ability, apparently watched his young grandson running along the family drive one day four years ago and was so impressed that he contacted a track coach with the New Brighton club, Mr Trevor Wood. Young Bowden put himself in the care of Mr

Wood, and the results of the partnership have been remarkable. “It is a very good relationship,” Bowden said. “I couldn’t have achieved what I have without his help.” Although the 400 m is now his main event, Bowden has best performances of 11.03 s (10.6 s hand-timed) for 100 m, and ,21.82 s for 200 m. Eventually, he may step up to the 800 m. He is I.BBm (6ft 2in) tall with the ideal physique for the 800 m. But it will be some years before this becomes a realistic possibility. Next season, Bowden might run in some senior 400 m races for the competition, although he will probably restrict his championship racing to junior events. There is certainly no lack of incentive for junior athletes. Bowden has his eye on the New Zealand secondary schools’ team, which will compete against Australian secondary schools in Australia early next year, and the New Zealand under-20 team which will contest the Pacific Conference Games in Hawaii.

His long-term target, however, must be the Commonwealth Games in Auckland in 1990. There is a long way to go and a lot of work to be done before this can become a reality. But Bowden, who clearly ranks with another Canterbury runner, Darren Dale, as one of the finest 400 m prospects produced in New Zealand in recent times, is off to the best possible start.