Harriers INTER-CLUB RELAY

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 12

Harriers INTER-CLUB RELAY

Steeplechase At Hagley Park

Christchurch harriers will start their inter-club racing season with the Hagley steeplechase relay today. An excellent entry of 20 sixman teams, including one from Otago University, has been received for the race, which will be run over a two and a quarter mile circuit within South Hagley Park. Olympic, which gained its first win m the event last season, with a record time of 72min 24sec, again has an extremely strong team, and it would be a surprise to see it beaten. A surprising omission from their team, however, is that of D. Reece, the New Zealand two-mile junior track champion, but it may have been a club policy to group its junior runners in its B team. Last year J. K. Macdonald, on the second lap for Olympic, gained fastest time, and as he has improved a great deal since then, his prospects of breaking the lap record of llmin 15sec, made by J. C. Daly before he went to the Empire Games in 1954, are remarkably good. The Olympic team is C. Reece, B. Curie, D. Reeves, R. Stevens, J. D. Macdonald and J. K. Macdonald. With an unbeaten record until two years ago, University does not appear to be as strong as previously and will be missing several of its stalwarts of the last few years, but one gain is J. B. Parcell, a former national mile champion, who has returned after an absence of several years. The first team to beat University. Technical, is again strong, but a notable change is the relegation of the Olympic marathon runner. W. Richards, to its B team. Although some harrier clubs opened their season only last Saturday, most of the competitors in the A teams will be in good form, as many have been running well on the track.

„,The < race . start opposite the Christchurch West High School at 2.15 p.m.