Our History

The World’s Greatest Coach

Arthur Lydiard (1917−2004) was a legendary figure in the sport of running. One of the greatest coaches in the world, Lydiard helped popularize running as the commonplace sport it is today. His method of coaching was instrumental in transforming endurance training coaching methods and is attributed as the foundation of modern−day coaching methods.

A native of New Zealand, Lydiard was a keen runner who experimented on himself using different training types. He discovered that when he balanced distance with speedwork in his training, not only did his marathon times improve but so did his track times. Lydiard’s experiments enabled him to unravel the fundamentals of conditioning and he completed his recipe for training in the 1950’s. By then he knew how to mix the marathon type mileage with hill work, leg speed work, sprint training, sharpening and freshening. Arthur turned his sights to coaching and he adapted these various training sessions to meet the needs of different athletes so that they could peak for key races.

Lydiard’s first students were young men from Arthur’s Auckland suburb of Owairaka, who, without exception, rose to national and international prominence in the athletic arena. His most notable successes were with Olympic gold medalists Peter Snell, (800m -1960, 800m & 1500m -1964); Murray Halberg, (5000m -1960); and bronze medalists, John Davies (1500m -1964); and Barry Magee (Marathon -1964).

In the 1960’s, Lydiard began to influence other coaches around the world working with Budd Winter in Mexico and spending time in Finland, where the coaches of Lasse Viren and Pekka Vasala implemented his ideas. It was in 1972, four years after working with Lydiard, that Viren won Olympic Gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m with a world record in the 10k, and Vasala won gold in the 1500m.

Arthur later influenced coaches to the second generation of New Zealand Olympic medal success, including John Walker (1500m gold medal -1976) coached by Arch Jelley, Dick Quax, (5000m silver medal -1976) coached by John Davies, Rod Dixon, (1500m bronze medal -1972) coached by his brother, John Dixon, and Lorraine Moller (bronze medal -1992) coached by Dick Quax.

Lorraine Moller was one of three Lydiard−trained Kiwi women who performed with distinction on the world stage: Allison Roe, whose phenomenal 1981 winning campaign included the Peachtree Road Race and Boston Marathon and a World Best New York City marathon; Anne Audain took Gold and Silver in Commonwealth Games and was a prolific winner of road races in the USA in the 1980’s.

Lydiard’s approach was both intuitive and practical, but he later worked with physiology and sports medicine experts to establish the scientific reasons that were behind his success. He made his methods available to everyone and travelled extensively spreading the word on correct training. The Lydiard system has been applied to other sports including rugby, cycling, canoeing, triathlon, ice−skating, rowing and squash.

Lydiard was also a strong promoter of running for health and was asked to train a group of heart patients in Auckland with easy distance running. Many of these patients went on to run marathons. The famous American coach Bill Bowerman visited Lydiard and took the new jogging approach back to the USA in the 1970’s. With that, the worldwide running boom was born.