University Team To Tour Australia

by Richard Jeffery

A New Zealand Universities athletics team will make a visit to three centres in Australia from 6 to 26 May.

The tour arose from an invitation received early last year, for an NZU Representative Team to compete at a meeting in Brisbane; which was extended to include competition in Melbourne and Sydney.

The highlight of the trip will be the test match at Brisbane on 25 May.

The representative squad will comprise 19 athletes, male and female, a manager and a chaperone, and competition for these places is very high.

Apart from such well-known personalities as Peter Welsh (Otago) and Penny Haworth (Victoria), there are many others bordering on international class, making it harder for those talented yet unproven athletes to gain the experience of the trip.

The pick of Victoria's current talent are sprinters Penny Haworth, Richard Tweedie. Alan Robinson and Philip Kear; and these, with hurdler Malcolm Grover and miler Rod Petley, hold resonable chances of selection.

Selectors will be watching with interest all performances at the Nationa Championships over the weekends of 1 and 2 March and 8 and 9 March; as a guide for the naming of the team later this month.