Jim Trowell

Sportsman of the Month

With his annexing the New Zealand 50,000 metres walking championship last March at Dunedin 26-year-old Jim Trowell has shown he is a force to be reckoned with in the next few years. As walkers don't usually hit their peak till around the 30 mark, Jim, should he wish to continue, should have a bright future in walking.

Not that his past record hasn't been bright as well. Since he took up walking in the 1965 season he has won many titles and, inclusive of the above, some of them are the same title in 1966 at Christchurch, Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay 20,000 metres champion for the last four years in a row, the H.B. -P.B. 50,000 metres the last three years in a row, winner of the Empire Games Trial over 20 miles at Hastings in 1966, first in the interprovincial 10,000 metres Waikato v H.B.-P.B. at Rotorua this year, and winner of the Taranaki championship over 20,000 metres last year.

Jim's fastest mile time on the track is 6min 90sec which is a Gisborne Club record. He is also the H.B.-P. B. record holder over three miles.

While it is ah event on the athletic programme and not a sport on its own the official definition of walking is "Walking is progression by steps so taken that unbroken contact with the ground is maintained". In short, one of your feet has to be in contact with the ground all the time. A comment of interest, by an American authority on sport, about walking reads "What even knowledgeable observers overlook is the grace of these performers and their gritty endurance. Their event is as punishing as any in all sport". Which is very true.