Rod Dixon one of the world's most versatile runners.

Geb is no doubt a far greater talent than Dixon. But where is Geb's Olympic medal in the 1500 meters?

1995. Not 1993.

Dixon has a real cult status here in New Zealand and is still able to inspire younger athletes. He has a classic reputation for popping up when you least expect it.

Last summer one of our top junior guys was at a party in Nelson (Rods home town), and went to get a beer and bumped into Rod who had turned up out of nowhere, not seeming to know anyone at the party. Rod sat the guy down and gave him a long lecture on how to train, then sunk a few beers and took off into the night!

He was spotted that same summer by another young athlete appearing out of some bush at a beach in the far north of the South Island (ie - 100 miles from any major towns) where he had been running through the bush for "3 or 4 hours". He relayed the story of how he used to disappear into the forests of Nelson with his rifle and run for several hours hunting pigs. This was his sunday run.

Another famous sunday run involved him running 20 miles hard with his brother (coach) driving along side him. At the end of twenty miles he went to get into the car, but his brother simply locked the door and took off back towards town leaving Rod to run 20miles back home.

A true icon of running.

Brilliant material.

Daggy wrote:

Another famous sunday run involved him running 20 miles hard with his brother (coach) driving along side him. At the end of twenty miles he went to get into the car, but his brother simply locked the door and took off back towards town leaving Rod to run 20miles back home.

A true icon of running.

Um, yeah. I love a good story, but this simply cannot be true.

Slomofo,

Tell you what, I will phone him Monday and get the real goods and post it here in this thread.

Keep the thread alive until then so I don't have to look too hard for it.

Wetcoast

'

For those of us who regard the '72 Olympic 1500 champion with due suspicion, Dixon has possible claim to rights as a silver medalist.

This story is part of NZ running folk lore, like Lydiards Waitaks circuit, Lovelocks plan, Shorty Morris beating the entire Australian cricket team in a boat race and the fight between Peter Renner and Alan Bunce after road relays in 1993. You would not be very popular over here doubting these things.

Fighting Peter Renner wouldn't seem a smart move, he was a pretty big fella from memory.

What LetsRun has to do is publish a book of all of these stories- from all of those threads that talk about the gritty runners from the past.

Then I could go for a hard run, get a few beers and relax and read.

I grew up, as a runner, following these guys. They seemed to have a real good time as international runners.

"Kiwis Can Fly" - may be out of print.

Thanks, I'll look for it. How about the Brits and some other Europeans?