MacDonald to show golden form

Press, 8 June 1989, Page 56

MacDonald to show golden form

NZPA-AAP Sydney The Olympic gold medal canoeist, Paul MacDonald, will set a tough example to follow in the 25km Du Pont Sydney Harbour K 4 Challenge on Sunday. MacDonald is New Zealand’s most prolific medal winner and will be part of the New Zealand crew in Sydney for the race. About 16 crews are expected to contest the second staging of the event which was won last year by New Zealand.

The course starts from Darling Harbour and takes crews under the Harbour Bridge before finishing at Darling Harbour. MacDonald, a canoe dual gold medallist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, also won gold at the 1985 and 1987 World Championships, before contesting the Seoul Olympics last year where he collected a gold in the K2 500 m as well as a silver and bronze in other events. A Challenge chief

official, Chris CunliffeJones, described the field as the toughest entry of canoeists assembled in Australia since the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. “Apart from the Olympic medallists, it has attracted the cream of Australian paddlers,” he said. “The introduction of canoeing into the Australian Institute of Sport and our success at Seoul and in the 1988 World Marathon Championships place Australia as a

prominent canoeing nation.” The leading Australian will be Grant Davies, who will be a member of the A.I.S. Red crew. Davies won the silver medal in the KI 1000 m at Seoul last year when he was beaten for the major placing by the margin of just five lOOOths of a second. Since Seoul, he has concentrated on surf lifesaving with the Southport club, but has made his major target the 1000 m race at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.