Walker in dazzling form

Press, 22 December 1987, Page 44

Walker in dazzling form

PA Wellington The former Olympic 1500 m champion, John Walker, was in dazzling form at the grass track meeting in Lower Hutt on Sunday. Walker, who began from the back mark in a handicap 3000 m, offered starts of up to a minute and knocked out laps of between 62 and 66 seconds on his way to a 7:59.6 win. He went through the first mile in 4:15 and sped through the last 400 m even faster in 60 seconds. The Wellington road

champion, Liam Healey, started five seconds in front of Walker, and clocked 8:15.5 for the best time by a Wellingtonian this summer. Rod Dixon, who first broke the four minute mile on the same track 15 years ago, again contested the 1609 m distance. He looked in trouble on the final lap with the Wellington 1500 m champion, Alistair Leslie, and the New Zealand junior representative, Martin Holmes, leading. But Leslie ran wide into the straight, and Dixon

was through on the inside in a flash to win the race in 4:12.5 on a final lap of 59 seconds. "It was very decent of him,” Dixon smiled. “I thought ‘sit, sit’. The gap came and I thought ‘take it’. It wasn’t over by any means.” x Holmes went by on Leslie’s right shoulder to challenge but Dixon got home with a few metres in hand, one tenth of a second cleqr. The Montreal Olympic 5000 m silver medallist, Dick Quax, at 39 now eyeing the veteran grades,

could not manage the win but clocked the fastest time in the handicap 2000 m of 5:20. The Commonwealth Games cycling medallists, Gary Anderson and Graeme Miller, shared honours in the cycling programme which complemented the track races. Most races came down to the sprint, with Anderson and Miller taking two apiece. Miller held off Anderson and the professional cyclist, Colin Ryan, in the 1600 m for a 2:19.4 win.