National Track Champs 1985

Friday

Apart from the first time I ran at the nationals as a junior, I had only ever run a single event at the National Athletics Champs and that was the 1500m. However I'd come to realise that I perhaps didn't have the speed for the 1500 and being Wellington champion over 5000m for the last three years I decided to give that distace a crack at the nationals. The 5000m was held on the Friday so I still had a backup over the 1500 if things didn't go so well.

The trouble with running a 5000m for a 1500 runner is that the pace at the beginning seems quite easy, after all you have become used to running laps in around 60 seconds, so 67 seems a doddle. However running at that pace for twelve and a half laps saps your energy and will power. So a 1500m runner begins to doubt his abilities at around four laps to go and it becomes worse at three.

And so it was for me in this race. I had contemplated running it in bare feet as the track in Dunedin was quite soft but decided to go conventional. I found it easy keeping up with the pace over the initial stages but gradually got more and more weary until I had to let the leading trio go. Although I rallied at the end and came home with a good finish, I failed to get up to third by a couple of seconds. The fourth placing remains my best performance at a Nationals (outside mountain running).

Saturday

I really had no idea as to how my legs would stand up to running a hard 5000m then trying to run a decent 1500 the next day but as it was they coped fine.

1500m heat. Mike Gilchrist leads from Phil Clode and Me.

I had drawn a heat with Mike Gilchrist, Russell Haswell, Mark Furlan and a then unknown Phil Clode from Waikato. Mike made the pace quite honest and I sat very close to him the whole way. Then coming round the last bend I pulled alongside him and we both glanced back to see a wall of people all contending for the qualifying spots. I think we both uttered a mild profanity at that and added an extra touch to the accelerator to pull away form the rest of the field and qualify for the final.
There were a few people in the heats who had run their best times for the season and still failed to make the final. Alastair Leslie had run 3:48.60 in the other heat and not qualified and in our heat Neil Gaudin missed out with 3:48.39.

Sunday

Since I had made the final I was contemplating a better performance than in the 5000m which meant I was angling for a medal. In fact without John Walker in the race the title was up for grabs, despite the fact that the field contained Tony Rogers who had made the final at the Olympics the previous year. I thought that there would be a good battle for the title and that, although Tony was the obvious favourite, many in the field would probably consider him beatable. I hoped to challenge him myself having set my sights a bit higher up than usual. I thought that even if I didn't succeed I may have been in with a chance to pick up some of the scraps.

I've drawn lane 1 with Andrew Stark, Russell Haswell and Mark Furlan outside me. Tony Rogers has drawn 6 with Mike Gilchrist outside him.

Unfortunately I drew lane one for the final. From lane you have two options: either go out hard and take the lead or get swamped by the field and take your chances. Not being a front runner myself I chose the latter option. I thought that Tony would probably lead and the main challengers would hang on to him, dragging me through with them.

After 300 metres I'm in a bad position close to the rear of the field.

Things didn't go to plan for me. I got too far back in the pack and when Tony began his run for home after only 300 metres nobody went with him. This really annoyed me and I cursed the rest of the field for being such a bunch of wimps then decided I wasn't going to let Tony have it all his own way so took off after him. This meant dropping to the back of the field and then running round everybody on the bend.

Having just completed one lap I'm after Tony while the rest of the field figures out what to do.

Unfortunately I couldn't quite bridge the gap. I got close, but not close enough to make contact and use him to drag me through. For the next couple of laps the gap between us remained the same as the pack gathered itself for the final onslaught.

With a lap to go I'm all on my own.

By the beginning of the final lap I could feel the oxygen debt building in my legs but pushed on as best I could. Tony was away and one by one people began to pass me. Mike Gilchrist, Mark Furlan and Colin McDonald went past then finally down the home straight Andrew Stark passed me.

Andrew Stark beats me to the finish.

So I ended up a couple of places worse than I had in the 5000m and in my best time for the season (3:47.18). The other guys in the race congratulated me on such a gutsy effort but really what I did was run on my emotions at the time. Perhaps if I had been prepared to let Tony go and race just for second I may have got that place. But you have only got the opportunity once a year and you have to make the most of it on the day, otherwise it's another twelve months wait.