Dawes battles with headwinds

STEVE DAWES won the Liberation Day seven-mile road race for a fifth time yesterday, but rarely have the conditions been so against the men and women searching for fast times.

'Ridiculous' was Dawes' short and sharp summary of the strong winds which affected the 113 starters on the course from Rousse to the White Rock.

Given the winds Dawes should be satisfied with the winning time of 37.51min., the second quickest of his winning efforts spread over nine years.

While the time is way short of the course record, set by the remarkable Dave Kreckeler, who posted a 34-51 in 1961, Dawes showed himself to be in good shape at the start of the summer season and will know his effort was worth something much faster on the clock.