Injured Steel Keeps His Two Sprint Titles

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31002, 7 March 1966, Page 18

Injured Steel Keeps His Two Sprint Titles

The tremendous resilience of A. G. Steel (Canterbury) in retaining both his sprint titles and the wonderful consistency of J. L. Davies (Waikato), who became the first to win the mile five times in succession, captured the imagination of the near-capacity* crowd at Rugby Park for the final session of the New Zealand track and field championships on Saturday.

Steel’s times were not exceptional—the rather dead track accounted for this—but to those aware of the injury to the tendons behind his left knee which placed all his hopes in jeopardy a few weeks ago, he was the athlete of the championships.

Not only did he retain his| 100 and 220 yd titles against all pre-race favourites, Steel also played a major part in Canterbury’s convincing wins in the 4 x 110 and 4 x 440 yds relays. He thus finished the championships with four gold medals. Ln recent weeks, Steel has been unable to match the form of his great rival, D. W. Mackenzie (Canterbury), in either the 100 or 220 yd. But all along he and his coach (Mr P. Davies) said that they ware aiming for a peak at the national championships. A fortnight ago Steel was unable to defend his Canterbury 100 yd title because of a leg injury and it appeared that any chance he might have had of a victory in the N.Z. championships was gone. GAMES CONTENDER Now, with his great recuperative powers, he has once again entered the race for Empire Games selection. The final of the 100 yards wns held first and Steel was given virtually no chance of beating Mackenzie, who had won his heat in 9.9 sec. D. S. Norris (Auckland), and the co-holder of the New Zealand resident record, C. J. Maguire (Otago). Tension was high as it took three attempts to get the runners away. Steel started magnificently, tn sharp contrast to Mackenzie who muffed his start and was last out of the blocks. Steel continued to go away from the field and at the finish he was almost two yards clear. Mackenzie finishing fast, just managed to come through and take second place. A photo was called to decide third place after Norris and Maguire had tangled and crashed to the ground as they went through the tape. Norris was finally given the decision. .4SEC SLOWER Steel’s winning time was 10.2 sec, considerably slower than his 9.Bsec last season. Mackenzie, who won the title two years ago in 9.6 sec, recorded 10.4 sec, one of his worst times this season. Norris was also credited with 10.4 sec. After the race, Steel was rubbing the back of his knee, which was obviously painful, and had it lightly bound for the 220 yd final. He drew the outside lane, the worst position because he would not be able to see what was going on behind him. However, Steel again made an excellent start, leading all the way and just edging out Norris by half-a-yard at the tape. His time was 22sec. Norris was second in 22-lsec. Both have recorded times much faster. Davies won his fifth mile title in succession but it was

no easy task. He made his break from the 220 yd mark only to find that he could not shake off the two Auckland runners, D. Sirl and K. McDell. Coming off the curve for the last time he gained a couple of yards and McDell, his big effort fully expended, dropped back. Then Sirl called on ail his reserves and gradually began to overhaul Davies. However, Davies just managed to hang on but it was a magnificent finish. Davies's’ time was 4min 9.Bsec, the second fastest of his five championship wins, and Sirl was credited with 4min 10.2 sec. Mackenzie made up for hls poor performance in the 100 yards with a convincing victory in the final of the quarter-mite. He was, nevertheless, straining badly at the finish and had difficulty overcoming a late challenge by G. Atcheson (Auckland). However, his time of 48.3 sec was a good one considering the dead nature of the track and "sec faster than his winning time last season. Atcheson was second in 48.8 sec. SECOND BEST VAULT The excitement of the morning events was provided by the struggle between the former Empire Games representative, D. McGonagle (West Coast-North Island), and the Canterbury champion. C. F. Stricke, in the pole vault. There were only three competitors and one of these, J. Chadderton failed at the initial height of 10ft Sin. But before the end of the competition McGonagle had vaulted 14ft, the second best performance ever recorded In a national championship. Stricke broke his own Canterbury record by 5-in with a successful leap of 13ft Sin, but narrowly failed at 14ft. Auckland’s 19st international. L. R. Mills, gained a resounding victory in the discus with a world-class throw of 184 ft lOin He thus avenged his defeat by R. D. Tait fOtago) in last season's national championship. This was the first time that 180 ft had been bettered in a New Zealand championship. FOUR NO-THROWS Mills was. nevertheless, extremely inconsistent: all but two of his six attempts were ruled out as no-throws. It was his first throw which won him the title, although his only other recognised performance of 173 ft Sin also would have given him the championship. Second p!ace went to the defending champion. Tait, with 173 ft. well below’ his winning throw of 176 ft B*in last season. Mrs V. I. Young (Canterbury) retained her women’s discus title with 151 ft on her first attempt. Another Canterbury competitor, M’ss D. Charteris. provided her with some extremely strong competition. One of her early throws was in the region of 165 ft, but she overbalanced and stepped out of the circle, and it could not be recognised. She finally finished second with 146 ft Ilin. Miss N. East gave Canterbury all the major placings by finishing third with 140 ft Ilin. G. Phillpot (Auckland) was head and shoulders above the other competitors in the 880 yards final. He ran an exceptionally well judged race and on the final lap opened up a gap of more than 10 yards with less than 220 to go. Some of the leeway was made up on the run to the finish but he was never fully extended. R. Hamilton (Auckland), the defending champion, demonstrated a surprising lack of

tactical knowledge by running at the rear of the field for most of the race and allowing Phillpot to establish such a commanding break. Nevertheless, he finished very strongly to take second place D. S. Norris (Auckland) was a comfortable winner of the

triple jump with 48ft 9}in. With 100 and 220 yards finals to contend with later in the day he relied on a couple of his early jumps to win the title and withdrew early in the competition. K. Simpson (Canterbury) was second with 45ft.