Interprovincial Cross Country 1979

I was very inconsistent with my performances in 1979. Looking back at a diary I kept, I can now see that my performances were inconsistent because my training was inconsistent. However, back then I was trying to find excuses by checking out my biorhythms. After doing all the calculations from by birth date up until the present, the biorhythms showed that on the 30th June I would be experiencing a "triple critical". This is meant to be the worst of all possible combinations and perhaps it would be better just to stay in bed.

It just happened that on that day I was scheduled to run at the interprovincial cross country meeting between Wellington, West Coast North Island (which, in those days, included Taranaki) and Hawkes Bay.

I had run pretty poorly in the Dorne Cup (finishing 13th) and even worse in the Vosseler Shield so it is a wonder that I got selected for the team at all. I had either got bonus points for a good Shaw Baton or there were a lot of people selected who pulled out of the team.

The race was on a farm a few kilometres out of Fielding. It was predominantly a flat course, with a few undulations, and was hard and fast. It was also all grass so I was able to run in the preferred bare feet. My legs felt so free running barefoot that, although I felt as if I was taking it easy, I found myself up with the leading bunch. This was unheard of for me so when Bruce Galloway (who'd won the Dorne Cup that year) put the pace on I stayed back with the rest of the bunch. By the final lap I thought it was about time I had a go at winning the race but putting in the extra effort gave me the stitch. I held on to third place though and was pleased to beat my mentor Gavin Thorley (but not by much).

After that performance I decided that biorhythms don't mean a thing and gave up worrying over them.

This race seemed to start a trend for later years where I would struggle through the Dorne Cup, usually improve on the Vosseler and come out with a great performance at the interprovincial cross country. Unfortunately, with a couple of notable exceptions, the performance in this race didn't usually translate into a great performance at the Wellington Champs.