| Dick Quax |
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Quax emigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1954 and he grew up in Waikato , going to school at Hamilton Boys' High School where he played Rugby and then discovered he had a particular ability for distance running. He was inspired by Peter Snell and Murray Halberg , and remembers travelling to Auckland to watch them race. He latched onto the Lydiard training methods and by the time he was sixteen years old, he was running hundred miles a week. In 1968 he asked John Davies, a Lydiard runner, to coach him, and the two formed a bond that existed until Davies' death in 2003 . Quax and Davies co-promoted and organised the international track series for a decade and put together other running events, such as business-house races. They formed a company, Athletics Marketing and Management, which Quax took over after Davies' death in 2003. Quax came to public attention in March 1970 , when he ambushed Olympic 1.500 metres champion Kip Keino over a mile in Auckland and defeated him by 30 metres. For several years he battled shin splints and it wasn't until a revolutionary operation in 1975 proved successful that he was able to rain and race relatively injury-free. The 1976 Montreal Olympic 5.000 metres final, which also included Dixon, was his most famous race. It turned out to be a classic and New Zealanders at home watched a dramatic last lap in which Lasse Viren again proved himself supreme, beating Quax by one stride with Dixon just behind, but deprived of the bronze because of a desperate dive by the German, Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand . Late in his career, Quax devoted himself to the marathon, turning in a brilliant debut time of 2h 11min 13s in the big Nike marathon in Eugene . There was no Olympics in 1980 for New Zealand athletes because of the American-led boycott, but Quax showed what might have been when he ran 2h 10min 47s at Eugene in September, 1980. It was the fastest time ever by a New Zealander. At the 1970 British Commonwealth Games , Quax won the silver medal in the 1500 metres. In 1977 at Stockholm , Sweden he set a new world record time of 13m 12.9s in the 5.000 metres. In October 2001 Quax was elected to the Manukau City Council from the Pakuranga ward and subsequently re-elected in 2004 to represent the new Botany-Clevedon ward after a failed bid for the Manukau mayoralty. He is also a member of the ACT Party having stood as a list candidate in the 1999 and 2002 general elections. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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