“MURDEROUS COURSE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 759, 4 September 1929, Page 15

“MURDEROUS COURSE”

CROSS-COUNTRY MEN RETURN TRIALS OF DUNEDIN RACE “A murderous course, with a two-mile uphill run right at the beginning.” THAT is how the 10.000 metre course A for the race for the crosscountry championship of New Zealand, held at Dunedin on Saturday last, is described by one member of the Auckland team who returned to Auckland from the South by the Limited this morning. F. L. Witten, S. Andrews, J. A. Crum and L. C. Barker stepped off the train this morning, looking fit and well after their arduous race. J. W. Savidan. who won the championship for the third time, and is now hailed as one of the greatest distance runners the Dominion has produced, will not arrive till tomorrow. The other member of the team, A. H. Eyre, is remaining in Dunedin for some time. All the members who returned speak highly of the way they were looked after in Dunedin, and apart from the race itself had a most enjoyable time The course was evidently something new to the Aucklanders. None of them found it fin easy race. Even Savidan, the imperturbable, who finishes races in Auckland as fresh as when he starts, was noticed to be distressed at the end of Saturday’s six and a-quarter miles. Members of the Auckland team had never seen him like that before. The Aucklanders were particularly impressed by the showing of Francis, of Gisborne, the former English marathon runner. A diminutive man, he finished sixth, after having had practically no training at all this season. The fine performance of the Wellington men as a team was also outstanding. and no less striking was the way the Canterbury men “cracked up.” The Aucklanders were met on the station this morning by Mr. W. Morton, president of the Auckland Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association.