Athletics' best to vie for right to represent Chch

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 22

Athletics' best to vie for right to represent Chch

By

ROD DEW

Canterbury’s three strongest track and field clubs — Technical, Old Boys-Tekura and Papanui-Toc H — will meet in the Christchurch qualifying round of the Newmans Intercity League at Queen Elizabeth II Park tomorrow. The winning club will win a place in the eight-club final, which will be held at the East Coast Bays Stadium in Auckland on March 28 and 29. Technical was the Christchurch representative last season and, with a scratch team, finished fifth. This time, the winning club is expected to field up to 35

athletes and to have an excellent chance of finishing in the top three. Tomorrow, many top athletes will extend themselves. Some will contest as many as eight events in the quest for points for their clubs, and many will compete in other events in addition to their specialist events. There will be special interest in the women’s triple jump, the first held in Canterbury for women. Included in the field is the New Zealand women’s long jump champion, Jayne Mitchell (Old Boys), and Elizabeth Ryan (Technical), better known as the New Zealand discus champion.

Terry Lomax (Old Boys), the first person to clear 7ft in the high jump in New Zealand, has set himself a particularly demanding programme which- includes the long jump, triple jump, 110 m hurdles, sprints and pole vault as well as the high jump. The Commonwealth Games representative, Wayne Paul (Papanui-Toc H), seems certain of maximum points in the 400 m hurdles. There are a number of other New Zealand champions competing, among them Evan Peterson (Technical), triple jump; Bev Peterson (Technical), sprints; and Kaye Nordstrom (Technical), javelin.