Costley flying to U.S.

Press, 11 February 1988, Page 31

Costley flying to U.S.

PA Napier The Napier athlete, Jill Costley, wings her way to the United States at the end of the month in search of a qualifying time for the Seoul Olympic Games marathon.

Costley, who won the national women's marathon title at Manukau in November, will run in the Los Angeles marathon on March 6, one of the last chances she will get to run a qualifying time. Ten New Zealanders will compete in the race, looking for the qualifying mark. Men

will have to break two hours 11 minutes while women have'to better two hours 32 minutes. The race is run in the North American spring, so there will not .be too much acclimatising to do. But apart from that, there are too many variables to be able to predict how she will go, she said.

“I’ve never flown that far before so I don’t know how that will affect me,” Costley said.

“A lot will depend on the day. If it’s a good day then a time will be on, but if it’s a

bad day you can just forget it,” she said.

There was a bit of time before the race to get used to the conditions, and that would be a help, she said. Lately, Costley has been concentrating her training on speed work. Last week-end, she won two local track races, over 1500 m and 3000 m. She has continued her distance work, and all she was doing now was "fine tuning.” She flies out on February 29, returning soon after the March 6 marathon.