LONG CYCLE JOURNEY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 175, 20 April 1929, Page 14

LONG CYCLE JOURNEY

AUCKLAND TO WELLINGTON GOOD PROGRESS BY WRIGHT i Dominion Special Service. Hawera, April 19. Ninety-six miles covered and another 86 in view before bed-time, was the day’s programme of Stan Wright, the Wellington cyclist, who reached Hawera this afternoon during the course of an effort to establish an official push-cycle record from Auckland to Wellington. Followed by a car carrying Mr. A. J. Couchman, of the Port Nicholson Cycling Club, Mrs. Wright, Messrs. D. H. McFedries (trainer), and H. D. London (official recorder appointed by the Wellington Centre N.Z.A.A.), the rider left Auckland at 8 a.m. on Thursday. Hamilton was reached at 1.30 o clock and at 5.45 p.m. he stopped at Te Kuiti, 130 miles from Auckland, for one and aquarter hours’ spell. Awakino was reached at 12.40 on Friday morning. Wright then having done 181 miles on the first relay. Seven hours were allowed for sleep, the journey being resumed at 8 o’clock. Short spells were made at Urenui, Inglewood and Stratford, and at 3.40 in the afternoon, Wright pulled up at the Hawera Post Office —277 miles from Auckland, and 96,from Awakino. Approaching Hawera he was doing a good 25 miles an hour, and did not appear the least distressed, despite the stiff southerly head-wind into which he had battled for over seven hours. “Mount Messenger, which we thought would be a problem, proved easy, and not nearly as tough as Paekakariki Hill, said Wright to a “Dominion” representative. “The hardest part so far has been the atrocious stretches with road boulders to hurdle, between Te Kuiti and Awakino, making it impossible to do more than 10 miles an hour.” After a massage and light refreshments he left Hawera at 4.10 o’clock, stating he would endeavour to make Bulls, another 86 miles south, before taking his second sleep on the journey. Wellington, it was anticipated, would be reached between noon and 1 p.m. on Saturday. The gross time for the total 476 miles would thus be something under 53 hours, as compared with 65 hours at present claimed by H. J. Brewin, of Auckland, as a record.