Audain’s hopes of gold shattered by young Scot

Press, 30 July 1986, Page 45

Audain’s hopes of gold shattered by young Scot

From

ROD DEW,

, in Edinburgh

New Zealand’s expectations of a gold medal on the track in the inaugural women’s 10,000 m were thoroughly destroyed by an unheralded, 22-year-old Scots lass, Elizabeth Lynch, at the XIII Commonwealth Games in the Meadowbank Stadium yesterday.

Lynch shadowed the former world 5000 m re-cord-holder, Anne Audain, for more than 21 laps in an extended game of cat-and-mouse before accelerating away two laps from the finish. On those final laps, Lynch was lifted by the wildly enthusiastic urging of the Scottish crowd of more than 20,000 people.

Audain, who had metaphorically carried the race on her shoulders, could not respond and Lynch raced across the finish well clear in the new Commonwealth record time of 31min 41.425. This was a remarkable Imin 15s faster than she had ever run the distance before, and nearly 3min 30s faster than the Scottish all-comers record.

Audain’s time for second of 31min 53.31 s was also a personal best, substantially improving on her New Zealand record of 32min 17.1 s — a time which was good enough to give her top ranking in the Commonwealth before the Games. “From about six laps from the end I wanted to go,” said Lynch, who freely admitted some intoxication from the tremendous support of the crowd. “I forced myself to wait, and wait; and then, with two laps to go, I went.”

Audain probably deserved more from the boldness of her run, but afterwards she accepted her defeat in sporting manner. “I pushed as hard as I could, and it wasn’t enough. My race plan was to make a hard race. That is what I chose to do, and now I must suffer the consequences,” she said.

Her aim was to keep a very even pace, running 76s laps throughout the race, and in this she succeeded fairly well. But Lynch, who has been attending the University of Alabama for the last two years, took advantage of this by tucking in behind and then sprinting for home when the New Zealander became tired. There are, however, no hard feelings from

Audain. “I got beaten. That is just the way it was. A gold at Brisbane, a silver here — maybe I will get the treble at Auckland.” Audain, the winner of the 3000 m at the Brisbane Games four years ago, comes from Auckland, the venue for the next Games in 1990. Lynch, now the toast of Scotland in much the same way Richard Tayler was after his win in the men’s 10,000 m for New Zealand in the Christchurch Games, showed her determination from

the start. She raced to the front and took the 14strong field through the first lap. Audain moved up behind her, and on the second lap took over the lead she was to hold for much of the race. Lynch tucked in with the rest of the field bunched up behind. It took some five laps

for the bunch to reduce to 10, and at that point New Zealand’s first upset came. Debbie Elsmore slowed and walked off the track, head bowed. A calf muscle injury she had suffered a few days earlier was taking too great a toll. After seven laps, New Zealand suffered another body blow as Christine McMiken, ranked second to Audain before the race,

started to drop off the pace. From that point it was all up to Audain, and she looked capable of winning on her own terms as she reeled off the laps with mechanical precision. For a time, the Welsh Tooby twins, Susan and Angela, joined Audain and Lynch at the front as the remainder of the field faded from contention. Less than half the distance had been covered, however, and the race was down to a two-woman contest. Audain led through the 5000 m in 15min 52.715, pretty much

on target. Lynch was right with her. The 7000 m came up in 22min 12.345, and still the loping stride of Lynch was keeping her in contact.

With 21 laps gone, Lynch was boviously straining at the leash. She started running alongside Audain, ignoring the extra distance this forced her to cover on the bends. Then, with just two laps remaining, Lynch could restrain herself no longer. She moved into the front and slowly a gap opened up. Audain maintained her form, but the Scottish runner was by then being bome along by the crowd and running with a spring in her step, almost as if she had only just started the race.

After crossing the finish some 80m clear of Audain, she stood and waved to the packed grandstand. The noise nearly lifted the roof off.

“The crowd was certainly pretty awesome,” Audain said, “but in some respects, it probably helped me, too.” She will leave soon for the United States where she will spend the next six months racing on the rich road circuit.

Lynch is not sure whether she will return to university in the United States. “I think I might wait and see what happens here,” she said.