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The Gisborne Photo News

 

66

Allan Parkinson

Sportsman Of The Month

Fourteen years at the top is the record of 29 year-old Gisborne harrier Allan Parkinson who this year won his tenth local, senior title. Before turning senior he had claimed four junior titles.

In addition to this he has won the H.B.-P.B. centre championship 13 times.

This record is even more impressive when it is realised that these wins are all consecutive except for one when he was residing in Auckland for a season.

Allan's career as a runner started when he won the Boys' High junior steeplechase. After leaving school he joined the Harrier Club and gained a second placing as a first-year junior. Since then it has been first home every time.

Nationally, he has always been to the fore, gaining a second place in the N.Z. championships at Dunedin in 1961, and this year, although placed eighth, returned his second best time in relation to the winner. His consistent form was rewarded in 1965 when he was selected as a member of the N.Z. team which competed in U.S.A., England, and the World Championships in Belgium. The team did well on this tour, winning the British Open teams' race, and coming home third in the world Champs. Allan gained 50th place from a field of 900 in the British event, and 75th in the world race.

On the track he has also performed consistently, winning a long string of local and centre titles and gaining places in national events.

Behind this line of success are many thousands of miles of training. Last year he covered 4000 training miles, with a maximum of 100 in one week... a long, long way to travel on two feet. Much of this mileage has been recorded on his Hansen Road farm where he lives with his wife and two children.

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Running in the snow for N.Z. in the British Open

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Wife Annette and son Neville join Allan in reliving memories of past races won

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The end of a training run on the farm

67

Where Are They Now

....Charles and Pat Gardner are on a working holiday in Europe and Britain. Pat is a daughter of Mr and Mrs T. D. Leslie, 45 Russell Street. She and her husband went to Britain after their marriage to visit his parents, and stayed on to tour Europe with the intention of returning to New Zealand for Christmas. They are pictured at the entrance to Gough's Cave, in the Cheddar Gorge, Somerset.

....Rex Barnes, 15, is in Matamata where he was recently selected to represent Waikato in a colts golfing tournament against Bay of Plenty. Son of Mr and Mrs Bob Barnes, formerly of the Post Office, Gisborne, and grandson of Mr and Mrs G. N. Barnes, 363 Clifford Street, Rex is on a seven handicap at golf. A keen modern music pianist, he is a former pupil of the Elgin School.

....Tom and Shirley Craill are in Auckland where Tom is a tutor at the Auckland Technical Institute. Son of Mr and Mrs Dave Craill, Tom was born and bred on the family farm at Otoko, and worked as a motor mechanic in Gisborne before moving to Auckland eight years ago. During the war he served with the Air Force in the Pacific, and it was here that he gained an interest in aircraft which has led him to membership of the aviation division of the Museum of Transport and Technology at Western Springs. He is pictured below at the controls of a Harvard trainer in the museum and his wife (formerly Miss O'Connor, of Gisborne) is seen dressed in period costume in a 1900 Benz vintage motor car. Included in the display of aircraft is a P40 Kittyhawk which Tom serviced in 1943 when it was being used in the Pacific against the Japanese.