National Cross Country Trial 1983

Just after the start. Dan O'Connell leads Barry Ellis and Tom Birnie

In 1982 and 1983 the selection of the New Zealand team to contest the World Cross Country Champs was based on a trial held in the Wellington area, supposedly central for everyone in the country. In 1982 it was over my least favourite course at Trentham Memorial Park and although I contested it I didn't run well. One person who did unexpectedly well in that race (probably to everyone but himself) was Barry Ellis. We hadn't heard of him before but there he was up with the leaders and gaining selection for New Zealand.

Later in the year at the Wairoa to Gisborne Relay I lined up with Dallas McCallum against Barry for the first lap. Both of us were determined to beat him and, from memory, we did. I think Dallas may have come out on top again that day.

After our trip to Rarotonga and party at Tauranga on the way home I got to know Barry quite well and he came and stayed with me for the 1983 trial which was held at Queen Elizabeth Park.

I've always had goals in my running which shift as one is achieved. By 1983 I had two goals. One was to break four minutes for the mile and the other was to represent New Zealand. With the quality of track runners around at the time I really couldn't see myself gaining representative honours there but thought the cross country should be manageable. Also the course was over my favourite stomping ground so, although it was in the midst of the track season, I thought my fitness should be good enough to get me into a position to challenge the selectors.

However, being the height of summer, the course was baked hard and mindful of the way my legs responded to the hard track the previous year, I elected to run in spikes.

The pace from the start was furious and, although I was up with the leading bunch which included Rex Wilson, Gary Palmer, Tom Birnie, Paul Ballinger and Euan Robertson, I was really struggling and not feeling at all free in the legs. Not long after that I decided to pull the plug, deciding there was no way I could keep up that pace for another eight kilometres. I was admonished after the race for this by Rex Wilson who said they deliberately ran fast at the start to sort the men from the boys, then slowed down. Obviously I was one of the boys. Looking at the times run I can see that Rex spoke the truth. His winning time of 38:47 was more than a minute slower than what I had run in the Wellington Champs, over the same course, the previous year (mind you with the pace it started at you'd expect that).

Barry didn't manage to make it this time but he ran his guts out. One enduring memory I have is of going out on a run the next day and Barry saying he felt like a shell. I'd relate to that feeling later in the year.

At least Alan finished the race.

Round Rarotonga Road Race 1982

The Kapiti team ready for the start. Clarence Marter, Derek Rivers, Bill Raymond (serious as usual), Bryn Kempthorne, me and Des Woods.

The starting lineup.

It had been a pretty good year and with the airfares to Rarotonga paid for as proceeds of winning the teams event the previous year, it was a no-brainer that we should make the trip again. Out of the winning team only Steve Bullock didn't go back again and we were joined, for the running at least, by Des Woods, Clarence Marter and Derek Rivers.

Unusually the flight over went via Fiji. We had the company of a team from Tauranga Ramblers on the flight and although they were staying at the Edgewater and we at the Rarotongan, we ended up socialising a lot during the trip. We even called in at Tauranga on the way back home for a party.

Also entered in the race were a team from New Balance Track Club which consisted of talented runners from around the country including Rex Wilson, Chris Pilone and Max Cullum. A lot of muttering went on about this with those of us in club teams considering them a load of ring-ins. There was also a team from Scottish which included Dave Hatfield.

The race was a different kettle of fish from 1981. There was no hot favourite and there were a few of us, including me, who thought they could win it. I ended up going much faster than the previous year, probably with the confidence of knowing I had done it before and that I had some good preparation behind me.

From the start there was quite a bunch with all the guys mentioned above plus Nick Helms from Tauranga (Nick was a bit of a mess having fallen off his motor bike during the week). It gradually whittled down until there were only Rex Wilson, Chris Pilone and me left. I had got into a mode where I was sort of entranced, seeing only Rex's bottom in front of me. Rex was insidiously increasing the pace. I was tenaciously hanging on. Then with about 10k still to run I had my doubts as to whether I could get to the end at the pace Rex was setting so I eased off. Rex ran away from me and beat me by three minutes in 1:43 and Chris was another minute back.

All the talk of a jack up team amounted to nought when Tauranga took out the teams prize. Their team consisted (I think) of Nick Helms, Duncan Reid, Malcolm Taylor and Roy McGregor who didn't fill any of the top placings but were consistent enough to take the prize. New Balance were second and our Kapiti team finished third with Des finishing 9th, Clarence 10th and Bill 15th.

Even though we didn't win the cup I still got to drink out of it.

Wellington Road Champs 1982



Running with Steve Denholm early in the race.

I don't remember much about this race apart from it being a typically hot Masterton day. After having won Wellington titles over 1500 metres in summer and cross country I was keen to add another title to my haul. It wasn't to be. A gutsy young Wellington Harrier by the name of Dallas McCallum (probably in his first year as s senior) threw down the gauntlet and put the pressure on early. In the end he won comfortably in 48:47 with Steve Hunt second in 49:02 and Steve Denholm third in 49:55. I held on for fourth in 50:08 which remains my fastest time over 10 miles.

The photo above was obviously taken early on in the race as I'm looking pretty comfortable. Both Steve and I seem to be looking ahead probably to Dallas and Steve Hunt who had taken off up the road from the start.

A week after this I ran in the 20 Mile Gold Cup again and did my best time ever there as well to finish fifth in 1:54:11. Steve Hunt won that day in 1:50:47. This would pave the way for my second attempt at the Round Rarotonga Road Race.

Wellington Cross Country Champion 1982

Despite the good run at the interprovincial cross country I wasn't particularly confident heading into the Wellington Champs. The course was at the beach end of Queen Elizabeth Park from McKays Crossing and it was a course I was familiar with and suited my speed. But from my experience at the Vosseler I knew that I could easily overdo things early on and pay for it later in the race. So for the first half of the first lap I sat with the leading bunch which contained Steve Hunt, Graham Macky, Tony Woodhouse, Dallas McCallum and Peter Arkwright.

My favourite part of the course was at the far end where there were a series of small undulations like a mini roller coaster. I found that I could use my leg speed on the downhills to boost me up the following uphill and in this way roll almost effortlessly over the country. It seemed that none of the others could quite manage the same technique and as the course flattened off a bit afterwards I glanced around to find I had a good 20 metres on the rest of the bunch. Thinking it was way too soon to be making my move I eased back to let them catch up again but the gap remained the same for the rest of the lap.

Still feeling good at the end of the lap and having had a bit of a rest I thought I might as well run my own race from there so just let the legs do what they felt like doing. The gap got bigger and bigger until at the end of the race I was 50 seconds ahead of Graham Macky with a time of 37:40. Tony Woodhouse a further 12 seconds back in third.

It was one of those rare days when feeling good corresponds with the day of a race. This is what coaches strive for but don't always deliver.

The people from the press seemed fascinated that I had won the event in bare feet, even though I'd been doing it that way my whole career (and still am). The photographer wanted me to pose with my foot up and I was finding it a bit difficult to keep balance, hence the grimace.

Aftermath

With a time that was fastest over all centre championships that year, and with my performance against Paul Ballinger in the interprovincial there were many (myself included) who gave me a good chance for, if not a title, at least a placing in the National Cross Country Champs. But my inconsistency came to bite me.

Maybe I should've given it a miss, but on the Sunday before the champs we had a social football match arranged for the crew at work. Being the fittest on the field I ended up sprinting up and down the field for the whole which left my legs rather stiff and sore in the days to follow. The Cust course was quite flat with a few gentle undulations and underfoot was really hard. Running barefoot in these conditions just didn't work. My legs tied up and I finished well down the field in the mid 20s.

Interprovincial Cross Country 1982

By the winter of 1982 I had moved from Paraparaumu to a flat in Island Bay. I was flatting with a couple of young women from work and since they worked shifts they were usually able to take my clothes into work so I could run there for my morning training.

It was here that I settled into my regular training pattern which wouldn't change too much for the rest of my career. The training was simple, based around Lydiard concepts, with an easy jog every morning and a varying Tuesday and Thursday run depending on the phase of training. In the base phase these would be a long run of around 20km (although we always talked in miles back in those days), hill springs in the hill phase and repetitions in the anaerobic phase. Because I didn't have to travel so far every day, the training felt much easier, and as a result I got much fitter than in previous years.

This didn't help much when it came to the Dorne Cup though and I put in my usual mediocre performance but by the time the Vosseler Shield came round I was in a better space. Unfortunately the Vosseler is a very unforgiving course and will exact payment in the second lap on those who are over exuberant on the first. I was one of those. I led through the first lap but then paid the price and faded to fourth, with Steve Hunt taking the honours from Peter Arkwright and Joe Radich.

The following week the interprovincial cross country was back at the location of my breakthrough run of 1979. Unlike that year I was more confident of my ability to keep up with the pace and once Paul Ballinger, Russell Edmonds and I had established a break on the rest of the field I felt good enough to push the pace along myself. This was the first time I'd ever raced against Paul and he didn't know me from a bar of soap so must've been quite confident in taking the victory. As it was he didn't push the pace until the last lap and got a comfortable gap on me. I am plagued by a bit of a stitch which comes on around about 8k if I'm pushing it hard. This makes it hard to breathe and on that day I just had to try and relax as best I could in the hope that it would go away an I could stage a late challenge. This didn't happen and Paul beat me by 20 seconds in 37:52. Russell faded badly on the last lap but was still third in 39:18.

Molenberg Mile, Queen Street 1982

I'm not quire sure how we did it but Steve Walshe and I managed to get invitations to compete in the Molenberg Mile down Queen Street, Easter 1982. Possibly the reason was that we'd both competed at the Nike track series after the nationals. There'd been a few weeks between these events so I was definitely past my best but such an invitation was not to be sniffed at as it gave me the opportunity to compete against some of the best in the world and to post an awesome time.

The race started in Karangahape Road at 8:00 in the morning and I remember seeing people emerging from some of the bars up there, looking exceedingly seedy and wondering what was going on. Not being a morning person myself I was wondering if I could get the body into race mode at that hour.

The steepest part of the descent was the top quarter mile and I think we went through faster than I can sprint one on the track. We passed the half mile in 1:44 and at that stage the field was still quite bunched. It was also at about this point that my feet became blistered.

However, the road begins to flatten out over the last half and this began to separate the better runners from the rest of us. In the end it was Steve Scott who won the race in 3:31.25 from Michael Hillardt (3:32.20) and Ray Flynn (3:32.75). Then came John Wlaker (3:33.93), Tony Rogers (3:37.23) and Russell Haswell (3:39.15). I finished just behind Steve Walshe in eighth place with a time of 3:39.37 (to Steve's 3:39.32). Ken Moloney (3:39.97) and Ross Thurlow (3:41.69) completed the field.

Track 1981 - 1982. A Change of Attitude

It's very hard to trust your memories of a season from the distance of more than 30 years. I kept a diary for a couple of years over 1979 and 1980 but neglected it when things weren't going so well. The 1980 - 1981 track season I could pick up because the memories of that one were quite significant and I had a few newspaper clippings to help me out. However there are only two clippings from the 1981 - 1982 track season.

What I remember from this season was a change in attitude. No longer feeling the nervousness I had in the previous track season and having a certain cockiness in believing I couldn't be beaten, at least in Wellington, I felt free to go for faster times. This isn't always an easy task in Wellington conditions as the wind at Newtown Park is seldom benign. The main aim was to break 3:50 for the 1500 metres so I pushed the pace along on my own at less than 62 seconds per lap and usually nobody could stick with me.

But I still wanted to make sure I won the Wellington Champs so played it more cagey on that day which this article shows.

Then a couple of weeks or two later I finally managed it. The conditions were far from ideal on the day but having tried many times during the season it had to happen eventually.

At the National Champs I made the final of the 1500 and again broke the mark running 3:49.7 for sixth place.

A week after the Nationals an Auckland promoter set up a series with the aim of getting athletes personal bests. There were two meetings planned, both at Mount Smart, one on Wednesday and the second on Saturday (where Anne Audain was to make a record attempt on the 5000 metres). I drove up to Auckland on the Wednesday and competed in a 1500 that night. After the drive the legs were feeling just a little on the stiff side but the races were so well set up with pacemakers that I still managed to win and run a PB of 3:48.32 (just ahead of Alastair Leslie who ran 3:48.76). Not much off but still better. By the Saturday I'd loosened up nicely and finished second in the mile behind Tony Rogers (3:59.50) in 4:04.10, another PB, so the trip was worth it.

I may well have got noticed at this event because, come Easter, I was invited to compete in the Queen Street Mile.

Round Rarotonga Road Race 1981

At the start line. Joy and Mike Savage from Hawera are next to Steve Bullock, Bill Raymond, me and Bryn Kempthorne. Jack Foster and Kevin Ryan are next in line.

A couple of years prior to this a few runners from Kapiti decided it would be nice to have a bit of a holiday in Rarotonga and have a race at the same time. It didn't take too much encouragement for me to decide that would be quite a good idea too so we got a team together. We had a party of eight on the package tour with only four of us: Bill Raymond, Bryn Kempthorne, Steve Bullock and me running. There was a four person team's race involved so with very little margin for error we never considered that we might have any show of winning it.

As part of the package we stayed at The Rarotongan Resort and had events such as a Hash run and an 8km fun run (which I won) to participate in leading up to the big race.

The field for the race was probably the strongest they ever assembled for the race. Kevin Ryan, the race record holder, was there along with John Dixon, Jack Foster and Terry Manners. So the rest of us were running for fifth place.

The race started outside the Banana Court Bar in Avarua at 6:30 a.m. just as the sky was beginning to lighten. Right from the start Kevin Ryan disappeared up the road, obviously out to challenge his own record. The other three ran together at a more reasonable pace still well ahead of the rest of us. Kevin never did break his record, I think the conditions were against him, but he was well clear of John Dixon in second, Jack Foster and Terry Manners. I managed to beat all of the bunch I was running with to finished fifth, Bill and Bryn were eighth and ninth respectively and Steve came 11th. This was good enough to earn us the team prize, part of which was four air fares back for the 1982 event. This was the start of a six year relationship with Rarotonga.

Bill epitomises how draining it is running 31.1km in heat and humidity.

The winning team. Me, Bill, Bryn and Steve.

Takahe - Akaroa Relay 1981. Kapiti Takes the Cup

The Kapiti team of Nigel Power, Des Woods, Daryl Clark, Rob DeBique, Steve Bullock, Alan Handley (crouched), me (with the cup), Bill Raymond, Trevor Walker, Clarence Marter and Bryn Kempthorne (squatting). We seem to have 11 members for an eight man team. The cup was from the Motel room and we put it back.

The Takahe to Akaroa Relay is the last of the classic road relays left in the country. It is still run on an annual basis for local Canterbury clubs, but every four years it was opened to every club in the country. Once the National Road Relay Champs were established, this relay became a championship event every time it was open.

At Kapiti Harriers we never considered we had any show at delivering a decent placing in the champs so our attitude was that we were away for a weekend of partying with a bit of running thrown into the mix. On this occasion we took the ferry across to Picton and drove rental cars from there to Christchurch. The drinking for the weekend began on the ferry and continued on the drive (we weren't very responsible about drink driving in those days). 

I don't remember a lot about the relay but do remember running the first lap. I was fairly well up heading up the hill but got overtaken by a couple of guys on the steep descent into Governor's Bay. From Governor's Bay to the lap change there are a couple of wicked climbs which are a real test for the legs rubberised by the steep downhill. I think I may have got the guys who overtook me back again on those hills.

I've got no idea who ran the other laps for the team, nor where we finished, but from the photo below it looks like Alan ran the uphill.

After the race was over there was the obligatory pub crawl back to Christchurch. Some things never change and I hope they never do.