Dick Quax

For some years, Dick Quax had a love-hate relationship with the New Zealand public. 

They loved him when he picked up medals at Olympic and Commonwealth Games, when he anchored New Zealand relay teams in world record attempts and, of course, in 1977 when he set the world 5000m world record. But they were turned off by the hype he brought to the sport, by his confident predictions, and by the times he was unable to run well because of injury. 

Quax, along with John Walker and Rod Dixon, was one of New Zealand's three outstanding distance runners of the 1970s. The trio - none of them shrinking violets - set the running tracks of Europe ablaze and were responsible for a resurgence of interest in athletics in New Zealand.

Quax was born in Alkmaar, Holland, and was christened Theodorus Jacobus Leonardus. Not surprisingly that name did not prove as catchy as Dick, which is what everyone always called him. 

The Quax family immigrated to New Zealand in 1954 and Dick grew up in Waikato, 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 travelled to Auckland to watch them race. He then latched on to the Arthur Lydiard training methods and by the time he was 16 was running 100 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. 

Quax came to public attention in March 1970 when he ambushed Olympic 1500m champion Kip Keino over a mile in Auckland and thrashed him by 30 metres. Later that year he took the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games silver medal in the 1500m, behind Keino. The Kenyan won in 3min 36.68s. Quax was timed at 3min 38.19s and there was a further 2½ seconds back to bronze medallist Brendan Foster. 

For several years Quax 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. He ran in the 5000m in Munich in 1972, but suffering badly, didn’t progress past the heats. Injury forced him out of the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games. 

The 1976 Montreal Olympic 5000m 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 the Finn, 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. Viren won in 13min 24.76s. Quax finished in 13min 25.16s.

Quax had been looking for a 5000m-10,000m double in Montreal, but became ill soon after arriving. He didn’t qualify for the 10,000m final and was fortunate he’d recovered enough to do himself justice in the shorter race. 

Suffering again from injury, he was unable to run up to his ability in the 10,000m at the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games. He finished a distant 9th in 29min 58s. Then Quax was chosen for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, but never got to compete because of the American-led boycott that year. It was certainly a career of highs and lows.

Asked about it once, he said: “In this life you have disappointments and triumphs. When something bad happens and you fall down, you have to get back up, dust yourself off and carry on.

”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. Quax showed what he might have done in the 1980 Olympic marathon when he ran 2h 10min 47s at Eugene in September 1980. It was the fastest time by a New Zealander at that time and more than three decades later was still 6th on the all-time list. 

Quax ran in one world cross-country championship, in Rabat, Morocco in 1975, when New Zealand won the world title. The team – John Walker, Euan Robertson, Dave Sirl, John Dixon, John Sheddan, Bryan Rose, Jack Foster, Kevin Ryan and Quax - was later inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. Quax finished 113th in the race out of 185 starters.

Quax played a major role in some 4 x 1500m and 4 x mile world record attempts.

In 1972, Kevin Ross, Tony Polhill, Dick Tayler and Quax ran 16min 02.8s to set a world 4 x mile record at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland. Quax anchored the team and hammered out his mile in 3min 58.4s.

In 1973, Polhill, John Walker, Rod Dixon and Dick Quax made a great attempt at the 4 x 1500m record at the Bislett Games in Oslo and ran 3min 35.9s. Quax’s anchor leg 3min 35.9s was easily the fastest of the night. Disappointingly, the record was not ratified because of a minor technicality concerning the Jamaican team that ran against New Zealand.

The Aucklander gradually scaled down his running, though he was still good enough to win the national road title in 1982. It went along with his other national titles – the 5000m in 1972, 1973 and 1974 and the one mile in 1969. 

Quax ran with a beautifully clipped stride, and oozed talent. He was tall, lean and economic. 

He remained involved in athletics in many ways. In the 1970s he was one of the co-promoters of the South Pacific track series when so many world stars were lured to New Zealand. Later, besides his promotions work with Davies, he coached. Among the better known of his charges were 1992 Olympic marathon bronze medallist Lorraine Moller and distance runner Nyla Carroll. 

One of Quax’s children, Theo, became a good middle-distance athlete. 

Quax stood for Parliament as an ACT Party candidate in 1999 and 2002. He became a Manukau City councillor and in 2011 was elected to the enlarged Auckland super-city council. He remained on the council until his death in 2018, when he was aged 70.