CHAMPION AGAIN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18036, 13 March 1933, Page 6

CHAMPION AGAIN

MISS NORMA WILSON BACK TO HER OLD FORM FUTURE PLANS UNCERTAIN There is no certainty about the plans of Miss Nonna Wilson for the future. The New Zealand lady sprint champion may continue to run for seasons to come, hut for the meantime her principal ambition has been achieved, with her success in this year’s New Zealand championship race over 100yds. ■Since 1929, Miss Wilson has felt occasionally the pull of the track, on which she had already secured outstanding successes. In 19217, as a girl not long out of school, she commenced her real running career with a win in the .Poverty Lav championship race, following that by subsequent wins in tho provincial and national championships, leading to her nomination as a New Zealand representative at the .Olympic (lames of 1928, held in Antwerp'. Miss Wilson ran third in her heat oi the lCOvds. ladies' race, at the Olympiad, but was left at the start of the linal, and was out of a place. On her return to New Zealand, she continued for some tune as an active member of the Gisborne Amateur Athletic and Harrier Club, until in 1929 she announced her intention to retire. Her form had lagged a little behind her best recorded performances, and moreover when competing in focal events she was called on to concede very substantial handicaps. Miss Wilson seemed to have enjoyed all the success that tho, track could olfer, and her retirement was timed to suspend her career at the height of success. RETURN TO THE TRACK It was thought that the last had been heard of Miss Norma Wilson as a runner, but this season found her trying herself out over short sprints, and when tlie opportunity of representing tho Gisborne Amateur Athletic Club again came her way, tho ex-champion accepted readily enough. She led tho Gisborne team which won the Annie Holden trophy in a relay event with the Hastings club team a- month ago, setting up a new record for the distance. On the same occasion Miss Wilson won Hie Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay sub-centre championships for 100yds and 75yds, and a fortnight later she repeated her 100yds success in Wellington, during the provincial championship meeting. Her chances in the national title race, run on Saturday, were regarded as extremely bright, and when Miss Wilson beat her principal rival, -Miss Gudsell, of Canterbury, iita handicap race on Friday evening, tho fate'of this year’s Indies’ sprint championship seemed sealed. So it developed, for Miss Wilson won the title from Miss Gudsell by an official margin of 2vds. though private advice received in Gisborne placed the distance between first and second on Saturday as 4yds. The sendees of the Gisborne lady runner are in keen demand by a number of athletic clubs throughout the North and South Islands, and for the next week or two Miss Wilson will be busy keeping running engagements. Yesterday she left Christchurch, the scene of her latest triumph, to visit Blenheim, where she is to run this evening at a special invitation meeting. The date of her return to Gisborne is not fixed, but doubtless the local amateur athletic organisation will be anxious to star her at a mid-week meeting as early as possible.