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.