Nauru's Champion To
p. 75 · Read in the full issue
Foster Marathon
Nauru's champion long-distance runner Robbie Morgan-Morris, who was a popular figure at the South Pacific Games in Noumea last Decem ber, hopes to take part in races in Suva and Noumea this summer to en courage local runners to compete in a marathon race at the Games in Port Moresby in 1969. No marathon has yet been held at a South Pacific Games, and at least four entries will be needed to stage one in Port Moresby.
Morgan-Morris, with his Games team-mate Tony Bowditch, will begin leave in Australia from about January. Both hope to run in Mel bourne.
Morgan-Morris and Bowditch are two of the keenest athletes in the Pacific, and are currently delighted with the showing of two promising junior distance runners, both Nauruans, aged 14 and 15.
“We don't expect to find a gold medallist for the next Games straight off the hook," Morgan-Morris said in a note to a friend recently, "but I personally believe that one of the young Nauruans will take a place medal in a distance event, maybe 800 metres."