In February 1954, an unlikely looking runner with a withered left arm shot into world reckoning as a miler. His name was Murray Halberg. Coached by Arthur Lydiard, an Auckland shoe factory foreman, Halberg went on to become an Olympic champion and world record-holder, so too did another athlete Lydiard coached, Peter Snell. Their success and that of other athletes coached by Lydiard inspired a new generation of champions through the 1970s and into the 1980s: Allison Roe, Lorraine Moller, Anne Audin, Dick Quax, Rod Dixon, Dick Tayler, and John Walker. New Zealand became known as a nation that produced great runners. Then tradition faded and almost died until a new star emerged, Nick Willis. However, apart from Willis the days of world-class runners coming consistently out of New Zealand have gone. This book explores what happened.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 384

Dimensions: 185 x 240 x 23 mm

Publication Date: 01-01-2022

This book chronicles the emergence of organised middle and long distance running in New Zealand from the time of early European settlement through to the 1950 Empire Games which were held in Auckland in 1950. It tells how professional runners dominated through to World War One and reveals the stories of runners now forgotten - John O'Connor who travelled between New Zealand and Australia competing in the 1880s, Lachie McLachlan who had he been an amateur could have been an Olympic champion in the early 1900s, and Billy Trembath, of Gore, a world professional champion just before World War One. After the war amateur athletics grew helped by the rise of the Olympic Games and the start of the British Empire Games. A Wairarapa farmworker Randolph Rose became a star of the 1920s but the greatest period of running started in 1930 with Billy Savidan winning the British Empire Games 6 miles in 1930. Then came Jack Lovelock, a medical student who became a world famous celebrity setting world records and winning the Olympic Games 1500m at Berlin. The decade ended with Cecil Matthews and Pat Boot winning British Empire titles to make middle and long distance running arguably the most successful sport internationally speaking for New Zealand during the decade. The book carries through to Harold Nelson who won the British Empire Games 6 miles in 1950. Containing more than 70 rare photos the book also explains the evolution of training methods as well as the formation of the NZAAA (now Athletics NZ) and world governing bodies while telling the stories of all the great athletes who started New Zealand's middle and long distance running tradition.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 226

Dimensions: 185 x 240 x 18 mm

Publication Date: 15-09-2020