O’Connor begins cross-country quest

Press, 24 February 1987, Page 40

O’Connor begins cross-country quest

Confident of a good performance after a solid tune-up race on the Queen Elizabeth II Park track on Saturday, the diminutive Mary O’Connor left Christchurch last evening on the first stage of her trip to the world cross-country championships in Poland. The championships are not until mid-March, but O’Connor has made her move early because she takes longer than,, normal

to recover from jet lag. As a prelude to the big eross-countiy event, O’Connor will compete in two events in Italy; one of them the national championship, in Previso. This will help her build on her 16min run over 5000 m behind Anne Audain in "Christchurch at the weekend. The West Coast-born Christchurch runner, who will captain the New Zea-

land women’s team in the world event, scotched fears that the bitter northern hemisphere weather might affect the Kiwis’ performances. “That is not really a problem,” she said. “We have had the summer to reach a peak, and have enjoyed good conditions for running. It is much harder for European competitors, building up in the cd|d for the champion-

ships.” New Zealand was pipped by a point for last year’s world teams’ title.

“But this time we should be looking at winning,” she said. “Last year, remember, all our six runners were home before the fourth runner of any other team.

“It’s the same this time -r we have no big stars but we certainly have the depth.”