GIRL’S CYCLING FEAT

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 155, 28 March 1932, Page 5

GIRL’S CYCLING FEAT

Auckland to Wellington TIME 79 HOURS 40 MIN. At 10.40 o’clock last evening, Miss V. Baird, an Auckland girl, arrived on her bicycle at the Chief I’ost Office, Wellington, at the end of a trip from Auckland which began at 3 p.m. on Thursday last. In spite of rather unfavourable conditions, particularly toward the end of the long journey, Miss Baird was well ahead of her schedule. She had apparently under-rated her powers when planning the’ trip. Under her original fair weather plan she hoped to reach Levin at 6 o’clock last evening and to continue the journey to Wellington so as to arrive here this morning at 9 o’clock. She reached Waikanae early last evening and decided to finish the journey forthwith. The only difference it made was that she could not be welcomed quite as thoroughly as if she had arrived this morning. Speaking to “The Dominion” at a late hour last evening, Miss Baird confessed that when she decided to make the trip she had not anticipated that it would be quite such a large order as it turned out to be. She appeared quite fresh; in fact, much freshet than her brother, Mr. 8. J. Baird, who accompanied her. They had only two or three brief intervals for sleep on the road, but were lucky in having had no punctures at all during the 480-miles journey. From the time they left Auckland Post Office to the time they arrived at the Wellington Post Office last evening, the journey lasted 79 hours 40 minutes. It was the first time, Miss Baird thought, that a girl had made the journey. Trip in Detail. The manager of the venture was Mr. J. C. Stewart, well known in Auckland cycling circles, who accompanied Miss Baird and her brother by motor-car. Mr. Stewart, describing the trip on his arrival, said that after leaving' Auckland on Thursday afternoon they reached Hamilton at 1.40 a.m. on Friday and stayed there for rather more than an hour. They passed through Te Kuiti at 11.30 a.m. and reached Pio Pio at 1.40 p.m., six hours ahead of schedule. They had a 21-hour spell before climbing Mount hlessenger and struck some rough road later between Uruti and Urenui, on which they decided to remain until daybreak. At Urenui they were two hours ahead of schedule and went on through Taranaki to arrive at Hawera at 3.45 p.m., now only an hour ahead. Heavy head winds had slowed the cyclists up appreciably.; A cyclist from Eltham came out to meet them before Stratford and took 'them along through Eltham and some miles past it. Mr. Leo Matter, president of the Hawera club, had organised a party to meet them and accompany them to Hawera. They had a brief spell at Hawera. but were on the road again at 5 p.m., a quarter of an hour Inter than the time they were due to start.

Travelling with short stops every now and then, they gradually approached Wanganui, which they reached at 1 a.m. yesterday. They were not due to set out until 5.48 a.m. and used the available hours for sleep, resuming again at

4.45 a.m. The rest of the journey to Wellington was fione in good time. “We’re finished with that schedule now,” Miss Baird said. “We never want to see it again.” Short Intervals for Sleep. The only intervals that were spent in sleeping were from 8 to 10 p.m. on Friday, from 2.30 a.m. to daybreak on Saturday, and for a few hours yesterday morning at Wanganui. Miss Baird is 21 years of age and is a keen cydist, although before her trip not one of much experience. She undertook the journey for no particular reason except as “an Easter holiday.’ She has been doing some training for the Auckland-Wellington ride, but soon found out that her training work had not been comparable with the effort required on the long journey. She had patent gears fitted to her machine, including a particularly low first gear, which, she thinks, enabled her to do the journey without much trouble. Her time on the road, 79hr. 40min., was particularly good in view of the fact that the best men’s time for the distance was that established by S. Wright in 1929, when he spent 56 hours on the road, \of which 37 were actually Ziling time.