No Fine For Speeding Traffic Officer In Marathon Field

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30976, 4 February 1966, Page 15

No Fine For Speeding Traffic Officer In Marathon Field

~.. 7' ra^ c . Officer John Williams covers one of the wee kly r °ad mileages of any officer in the Christchurch City Council Traffic Department.

on ' d° es he travel about 500 miles a week by motore -Y^ 1C on roat i P a trol but he has also been running about IIXJ miles a week on the roads in preparation for the Canterbury marathon championship tomorrow.

It is believed he will be the first traffic officer to have competed in the Canterbury championshipover 26 miles 385 yards.

Williams has run nearly 1000 miles in preparation for the race since he began training last October. He has run about 000 miles in the last six weeks.

Williams won the national junior cross-country title in 1958, but was then forced to drop out of running because of injuries to a knee and an ankle. These have now fully recovered.

Williams, aged 25, is a younger brother of the noted New Zealand cross-country and distance runner, Kerry K. Williams, who recently returned to Christchurch from Nelson.

The two have been training together over some big mileages since before Christmas in preparation for the forthcoming cross-country season. According to his elder brother. John Williams has responded to training very favourably and is in excellent form after a fairly heavy programme of build-up. Like his

brother, he intends to run a full cross-country season this year and should be a valuable acquisition to his former club, Christchurch Harrier. Time Trial Completed His recent training has included frequent runs from the city to Godley Head via Taylor’s Mistake hill and return, a distance of about 20 miles.

With his brother, he also recently completed a fairly satisfactory 26-mile time trial over the marathon course, which indicates that his performance in tomorrow’s marathon may prove a useful one for his club.

Although the brothers are likely to be fairly fit for the race, they are not expecting to gain any spectacular times.

“We are just going to have a go and see how we get on,” they said. McKenzie Favourite

A record field of 38 runners has entered the championship and with Empire Games selection in view, the race could produce some of the fastest times recorded in Canterbury. Last year’s provincial champion, D, McKenzie, of Greymouth, is in brilliant form after world-class perform-

ances in the national and Canterbury 10-mile events this season.

McKenzie could well break his last year’s provincial record of 2hr 22min 32sec and possibly may better B. A. Magee’s best time run in Canterbury of 2hr 18min 54.25ec, in March, 1961. However, the marathon is noted for uncertainties and McKenzie has yet to record a time for the distance this season.

C. F. Reece (St. Martins), who is one of McKenzie's most experienced rivals, recorded 2hr 23min 58sec in the Great Western Marathon at Greymouth on December 4. There should also be keen competition from a hard core group of leading Canterbury distance men, including K. Williams, D. J. Reece (St. Martins), B. Turner (Shirley). T. Preece (Toe H), R. Alcorn (Methodist), and A. Evans (Technical).

The St. Martins Club (C. Reece, D. Reece, and P. Brown) seems the most likely winner of the team’s race, but there could be competition from the Christchurch and University clubs, both of whom have strength in depth. Veteran Runners Five runners over 40, three of whom are over 50, have entered the race. They in- j elude L. Fox (52), national s marathon champion in 1945 < and 1946, J. Drew (52), who j -an 104 miles in New Zea-i< 'and's first 24-hour time trial ■n 1963. The oldest runner ( s the well known Canterbury j veteran and athletics admin- ( istrator, C. Gordon. ; The likelihood of good J times is increased this yeari by the decision of the Canter-| bury Road Runners’ Associa < tion to alter the course to an jj out and back one. t This will eliminate running j through Heathcote where ex- \ posure to prevailing easterly « winds has proved a severe 4 handicap during critical J stages nearing 20 miles. ' The race will start from Rugby Park at 4 p.m. t