Tauranga Twilight 1985 - John Walker's 92nd Sub 4 Mile

It's hard to believe this was thirty years ago today.

Probably my favourite photo of myself running. After about 250 metres things were quite relaxed.

It's amazing what can transpire at New Year's Eve parties.

I'd normally go up to Tauranga over the new year period to get some good training in and race over 3000m at the twilight meeting on New Year's day. But John Walker was looking at extending his tally of sub four minute miles up to 100 and was taking every opportunity available to get there. The Tauranga Twilight meeting just happened to be another opportunity. However the organisers were finding it difficult to arrange a pacemaker and approached me with an inducement of a dozen beer. I accepted.

Unfortunately the summer had been a bit wetter than usual, which left the track a little soft, and the wind, if not strong by Wellington standards, was quite steady and hampering. John wasn't too sure whether the attempt would be worth it and as we jogged around together he was umming and aahing as to whether to make the attempt or not. This struck me as strange from a guy who always seemed confident of his abilities but years later I saw a documentary about his first breaking 3:50 for the mile and there was the same guy wondering if the conditions would be against him. Finally, about halfway through the warmup, the decision was made to go for the mile.

The field for the mile was a pretty strong one and included Russell Haswell, Mark Furlan and Kerry Roger but the pace which I was to set meant that they'd be left well behind, running for second.

I knew my pace pretty well by this stage in my career and set off to run the first lap in around 58 seconds but John called at me from behind saying "Go faster" so I did. We got through the first lap in 57 and I carried on into the second lap but things became a bit more difficult. I had hoped to carry on for another 200 metres or so after the half mile but unfortunately the softish track and steady breeze precluded this and I had to let John go on his own after I got through the half mile in 1:57 (which was a full second quicker than the 800m was won in that day).

At about 650 metres things aren't looking so comfortable.

John carried on to finish in 3:58.9 which was really impressive given the conditions. The rest of the field were more than ten seconds behind.

The black and white photo above (or at least one very similar to it) was to reappear in The Herald years later, in 2013, when the Queen Street mile was resurrected.

Nike Capital 15k (and the Legend of the Beer)

In the early 80s someone in the Scottish had the idea of staging a road race around the bays which would attract the cream of runners from around the country. Run at the end of November, the race was over the unusual distance of 15km and was mostly flat but contained a substantial climb over Awa Road in Miramar. This should have had the effect of slowing the times somewhat. There was also a prize awarded for the first runner past the Greta Point Tavern which was located at the 5km point. The prize was a dozen beer and was much coveted by many a runner in Wellington.

The first race was held in 1982 and, even though I'd won the Wellington Dross Country Champs, I didn't fancy my chances of lasting the full distance with the quality of runners in the field. However, I did think I could beat most people over 5km and earn my refreshment.

The task didn't prove all that difficult on the first occasion, it was just a matter of hanging in there at a 15k pace and sprinting away once in sight of the entrance to the Great Point. But it still took a bit out of me and I let several people past me before regathering my faculties and deciding I could actually finish reasonable well up. In the end it was Dallas McCallum who took the victory (and the prize of a trip to a marathon in Australia) in a decent time, considering the terrain, of 45:25. I worked my way back through the field to finish second and, in addition to my dozen beer, won an electric barbeque. How useful is an electric barbeque? you may ask. I did use it, but not very often.

By 1983 a few more people had wised up to the idea that there was a dozen on offer for the leader after 5k so the runners at the head of the field didn't look so much like those who were gong to complete the distance as they had the previous year. Initially it was Pat Meffan who made the pace to Point Jerningham, then it was just Mike Gilchrist (a really good 1500 runner) and me battling it out to Greta Point. I got there in a time of 14:04 (it must have been a tail wind) and took a rest while the better runners in the field went past. Mike carried on and held out all challenges except the one from Brent Addison who overtook him just before the tunnel under the airport runway. Brent won in 46:14 and although I rallied towards the end I couldn't get past Mike, who finished three seconds in front of me in 46:30.

1984 saw even hotter competition for the beer. This time the major contender was Phil Barnes and we got to the Greta Point in 14 minutes, but again I prevailed. However, this time there was to be no great recovery and I finished well back. Phil held on well and battled it out with Alastair Leslie for the honours. Alastair prevailed in 45:45 after running away from Phil inside the last kilometre.

Years later I managed to anchor a team of 50 year olds home in the University Relay. The prize was a dozen beer each. There were comments made that if there's beer a stake I'm unbeatable (but this ignores the fact that there was beer at stake the previous year and we didn't win it). It's just the stuff of legends.

No Defence - 1984

Going into the 1984 cross country season I had a new plan for my training. I'd decided that I was too soft over the longer distances and the way to remedy this was to work harder on the anaerobic phase of my training. You may wonder, why change a formula which was working? but in order to achieve a goal of representing New Zealand I felt I had to change something in training to improve my performance in racing, especially over the longer distances. So instead of doing an unknown number repetitions over an unknown distance, in an unknown time over parkland, I decided to go to the track and do a predetermined number measured reps in a predefined time. In my case this tended to be 10 x 400m repetitions in 60 seconds with a 400m jog recovery. The mileage and hill phases of the training remained the same.

As usual I ran poorly in the Dorne Cup but improved my performance in the Vosseler Shield. The latter race ended up being a classic showdown between Dallas McCallum and me. Dallas, being his normal aggressive self, put the pace on almost from the start and with me being the only one game enough to go with him, we quickly established a huge gap on the rest of the field. Dallas wasn't happy that I was keeping up with him and kept putting in bursts over the opening lap. By the time we got down to the Badminton Hall towards the end of the first lap I was beginning to doubt that I could keep up the pace he was setting, so when he put in another burst I decided to let him go. That was all he needed, he'd established a gap and he defended it until the finish. His winning time was 35:34 and I was nine seconds back.

Years later Dallas would tell me that if I'd've stuck with him at the crucial stage he would've given it away. Knowing him, somehow I doubt it.

I won the interprovincial cross country again so things were looking pretty good for a third Wellington cross country title. Little did I know the training I'd been doing had been taking its toll on my body.

Dallas makes the pace from the start leading me, Barry Prosser and Phil Barnes.

There were no surprises in the way Dallas tackled the race. He went to the lead from the start and tried to make the pace so hot nobody could stick with him. But I did. Initially I found the pace comfortable enough but before too long I ran into problems. Fairly suddenly my breathing packed up and my legs ceased to function as they normally do. I had to let Dallas go and didn't have any ability to latch on to anyone else as they came past.

Alan and Alastair battle it out for second.

Into one of the later laps. It appears that I have given up.

Alan almost keeps it in the family, finishing second.

The picture that began it all. Sprinting in with Gary Weston-Webb for 10th place.

Finally Gary Weston-Webb caught me but it was within sight of the finish line so I wasn't going to let him past.

Aftermath

After that performance and another below par one at the nationals I decided to go to the doctor and get things checked out. What the tests showed was that, although my haemoglobin was fine, my ferritin levels were pretty low. The doctor prescribed a course of Ferrogradumet and in a few weeks time, after giving away the repetitions and reverting to a pure mileage regime, I was back to a good level again.

The first lap of the Wellington to Masterton Relay 1984. Alastair leads me, Euan Robertson, Mark Furlan and Dave Hatfield.

The National Roady Relay was the Wellington to Masterton and, despite indulging in a few celebratory pints the night before, I got out and ran one of my best road races ever. Alastair was the fastest on the day, getting the drop on me just before the Petone overbridge, and we did beat a lot of classy runners.