Gordon Pirie cause of death

Fine Tuned Machine wrote:

Phil. wrote:

Stomach cancer as I recall.

Too many processed meats and alcohol.

Have you actually read this thread?

I was with Gordon and crew mid 60's and in NZ in the late 80's he suddenly started to have enemas galore and recommended that to all of us. Gordon never ever spoke of personal stuff and met any issue head on as would Harvey Smith.... and I suspected he was ill as he was too thin even for him and he hankered to go back to UK and relive the places of his youth and find a spiriitual way to beat the cancer he had been diagnosed of in NZ. Tummy colon whatever organ is irrelevant as it was untreatable and think he detested the idea of chemotherapy as that is a drug and he wanted to beat it himself......he never boozed or smoked and even from the 60's always told us to avoid processed food and avoid gimmick shoes.

Gordon was often a good influence on folk to stand up and embrace a challenge and often as a teacher I found myself doing a Gordon when seeing soccer, cricket or athletic kids and go over and advise them to learn to use 2 feet in soccer, be patient and accumulate runs in cricket and tactical sense for running !!!!

So many kids and that includes Rod Dixon were tactically inept...for mid distances relax at start and get into a smooth rythm and then do your thing depending on whether you are a sit and sprint or a one pace stayer type. Walker was the same and it was Ross Pilkington Senior and Pirie who got Walker to stop rushing out from the traps and learn to settle and finish the race off. Pilko took Walker back to Ellerslie home after Walker got embarassingly beaten by an eccentric B grade runner who ran the last 40 yards like a harness trotter horse just to put the boot in...it was set up to embarrase him after bludging in training and erhh partying. He sat Walker down and asked if he was serious about training and tactics to reach his potential....or just another Auckland speedster hot shot who knew it all....I think they may have gone with Pirie to otahuhu and ran laps in certain times and Gordon would blow a whistle at say 13 secs at the 100 marker, 26 secs at 200 etc etc

I digress so back to Dixon...One day I was at Crystal Palace and Rod Dixon was running in a 5k and there he goes chasing after a bunny early and thorughout a race... so Ross Pilkington Junior, his Kiwi mate, asks me "Hey horsey what do you think of that " and pointing at Rod.....off I went ..."what a bloody school boy..look he has best 1500m time and he's chasing bunnies and wasting energy like he did in the Canadian Olympic race..what a bloody fool.. " then Ross said "Ah horsey...I didnt introduce you to the lass sitting next to you....."

Dixon's wife.

.....I'd done a Gordon alright and Rossie set me up knowing my rant about Dixon as a hopeless jockey......Meh !

But all these runners gave and took the Mickey as part of normal banter and on the humane side something very few folk know is that Walker, Ross and us on a club Wednesday night at Otahuhu, El;lerslie, Manurewa and Papatoetoe would run a 800 or a 1500 and one night at Ellerslie saw a Maori kid but his family were there to see him race against us and .....his family went home proud. On another occasion 4 of us had had to fall at the 200 yard mark to let Ross Senior win a race....and we always kept our mouths shut afterwards and not spoil the moment. Albeit 44 years ago...we athletes were fun loving humane beings ... and I still break out into a gallop when crossing the park to the shops.....

Some interesting comments about Gordon. I never meant him but know very well some of our old legends who raced/trained with him. Clearly I'm more than a little biased as he lead the glory days of SLH competitive running. I think it's fair to say he was a man with strong opinions who was reached a competitive level most of can only dream of. If you are ever near Farthing Downs or the Happy Valley it's worthwhile going for a walk/run to see how steep the hills are that Gordon used to train on.

In that post world/baby bloom period was everybody just a bit tougher? Also running around Surrey at that time was Ed Whitlock (he won the Surrey Schools) although not up to Gordon's standard he holds some pretty good age group marathon records.

What do you think of a line like this?

From Wiki on Pirie: "Kuts [was] an aggressive front runner whose bursts of speed were particularly damaging to a long-striding runner like Pirie."

With regard to the comments about the "irony" of a person with a healthy lifestyle dying of cancer and the suggestions that Pirie must have caused his cancer by smoking, eating processed meats, sawdust and all of that, most cancers are the result of bad luck. A healthy lifestyle improves your odds by eliminating many possible causes of cancer, but you are still just improving your odds, not making yourself cancer-proof.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-cancer-cases-arise-from-bad-luck/

Pirie died of Cholangiocarcinoma, also known as bile duct cancer, is a form of cancer that is composed of mutated epithelial cells (or cells showing characteristics of epithelial differentiation) that originate in the bile ducts which drain bile from the liver into the small intestine. Other biliary tract cancers include gallbladder cancer and cancer of the ampulla of Vater.

The incidence of the disease is 1-2 cases per 100,000 in the Western World. It's incurable, probably genetic and normally causes death within six months. Pirie was not a smoker. The Gordon Pirie I came across was not the arrogant person referred by some of your correspondents. He was a perfectionist and, in addition, to athletics won the first two British Orienteering Championships, represented New Zealand in the sport and claimed three Olympic medals before breaking the 4 minute mile barrier. He was ahead of his time and none of us are perfect.

you pays your money and you takes your chances wrote:

most cancers are the result of bad luck

Bad luck = you went to a doctor quack.

100% of people dead from cancer went to doctor quacks.

Stay way from doctor quacks, be healthy and don't worry about cancer.

The common demoninator / wrote:

you pays your money and you takes your chances wrote:

most cancers are the result of bad luck

Bad luck = you went to a doctor quack.

100% of people dead from cancer went to doctor quacks.

Stay way from doctor quacks, be healthy and don't worry about cancer.

Hi JR, long time no troll.

South London Harriers produced a lot of county level runners over the years - Surrey, that is.

However, it should be pointed out that most SLH runners did not live near Farthing Downs, so most would only do the Sunday long run there.

Runners like John Roberts, Bob Gevers, Andy Evans, etc., mostly trained in places like Wimbledon -Roberts- and Croydon -Evans.

I was a second claim member, and my moment of glory was winning the club 5 miles cc champs. in October, 1978, in 25.57, over that extremely hilly course, and that was the only time I beat John Roberts.

John Roberts, had an exceptional longevity as a runner, clocking 14.17 -5000 at age 38, and even better in cross country, winning county titles, and representing Surrey many times in the Inter Counties cc. What surprised me, was that John only ran around 40-50 miles a week, with occasional weeks at 60.

I know this for a fact, because I lived on Salisbury rd., SW19, and he was just a few doors down from me on Worple rd. SW 19. I followed him closely, and used to see him, at Wimbledon Stn., doing the Times cryptic crossword puzzle, in the morning, while waiting for his train to Victoria, where he worked as an accountant. His life was very balanced. In summer, Roberts would holiday in warm countries, and stop ruunning completely for 3 - 4 weeks. A legend, Roberts -the thin man, around 1.80 tall, 60 kg weight ！

Memories.

Ghost in France

Alf Shrubb. wrote:So before the 5000 at the Melbourne Olympics, he took on Kuts in the 10 and got destroyed.

Am I correct in understanding that Kuts is the same Vladimir who recently posted in the Orville Atkins tribute thread?

greatness pointer outer wrote:Am I correct in understanding that Kuts is the same Vladimir who recently posted in the Orville Atkins tribute thread?

Incorrect re Gordon not liking water --- as are many of the 'stories'on this site.