The original articles were published in
"The
New Zealand Runner" issue 106 and issue 107 in 2000. Reproduced here with permission from the author, Brian Taylor.
New Zealand distance running has a much celebrated history. For a country our size, what we have been able to achieve with intuitiveness, practical thinking and inspiration has startled the rest of world. This was certainly the case with the intuitive thinking of Lovelock and the inspired coaching of Arthur Lydiard, who not only guided much of our spectacular success, but was instrumental in the total revolution of endurance training that influenced more recent champions such as John Walker, Dick Quax and Rod Dixon, plus a host of international stars such as Lasse Viren, Pekka Vasala and Frank Shorter.
Starting with the Halberg/Snell era and continuing with Walker, Quax and Dixon, running really took off in New Zealand, as it did elsewhere in the world. The reason was clear - the performances of these athletes inspired others such as Anne Audain, Allison Roe and Lorraine Moller, plus countless other lesser knowns, to their own relative greatness.
Over the last 15 years however we have seen a steady decline in New Zealand distance running, and certainly nothing that has come close to gold in any Olympics. Yet, at the same time world records have been shattered to an extent many thought impossible. Quite simply, the rest of the distance running world seems to have gone passed us by. This article looks at why and what we might do about it.