I can add a little to this thread. In 1977 I joined the Mornington Harrier Club in Dunedin, a small city in the South Island of New Zealand. During the winter months when there was not an organised competitive event to run, we would gather at one of the runner's homes and run from there. John Campbell, although not competing at that time, had retained his membership of the Mornington Club and was one of the former athletes that would have the club runners at his home in the nearby town of Mosgiel. His wife put on a wonderful afternoon tea and gradually I got to know John. At that stage he had a milk run and was doing some fishing. His fitness was impressive for a guy that was no longer competing. A few years later, possibly around 1983, the Club organised a social evening. John was there, and divorced at that stage and he asked me if I'd mind if he had a dance with my wife. I said sure. They did the "Twist" and in the process, John injured his knee. I believe this lead to the removal of a torn portion of a medial meniscus. A month or two later John mentioned to his doctor that the knee felt a little weak. Unaware of John's background the doctor asked if he had ever done any running and suggested some light jogging would strengthen the knee. Some weeks later, John told me he was enjoying the running so much that he was building up the mileage as the weeks rolled by. That winter he finished in a very creditable time and placing in the regional Cross Country race and the following year he went on to win the event. It wasn't too long after that he started attacking the Marathon again. He was second placed in a race in Hamilton and the first Kiwi home. Two weeks later he ran the Riverton/Invercargill marathon in 2 hr 11 min. That result surprised everyone, except perhaps a few people that knew John well. That race was a major stepping stone giving John the confidence to enter into the USA Masters Circuit. About that time, the Dunedin newspaper, The Otago Daily Times wrote about John's meteoric rise. His training schedule was exceptional. He was up before dawn in Winter, doing a long run in frosty conditions before going to work at 7 am in a green grocer's shop after which he would have a couple of hours rest, then pound out another long run that evening to clock up around 150 miles plus by the end of the week. No doubt John would have been familiar with Arthur Lylliard's training methods and applied his own take on them to suit his goals. I used to tell people he had what John Wayne called 'True Grit'. I lost contact with John after the Mornington Club wound up and John had moved to Ariki - a Maori name meaning 'chief'. I believe John shifted to Auckland as a NZ base for his trips to the USA. He remains a great NZ athletic hero, sadly little known to the NZ public, but better known perhaps in the USA.
