Grant Anderson

Canterbury sprinter Grant Anderson represented New Zealand in three events at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games.

In the 100m, he ran 11.1s in his heat and did not advance any further. He ran better in the 200m, where his time of 22.0s was good enough for 4th in his heat, but still did not qualify him for the semi-finals.

Anderson then lined up with Trevor Cochrane, Bevan Smith and Kerry Hill in the 4 x 100m relay, and their time of 40.5s carried them into the final. The New Zealanders improved fractionally in the final, recording 40.4s for 7th.

Anderson, who’d attended Shirley Boys’ High School, ran for the Old Boys club (now called Old Boys-United). There he was coached by the innovative Paul Davies, who also coached Cochrane and hurdler Rendell McIntosh from the 1974 Games team.

After the Commonwealth Games, Grant married athlete Sue Burnside, a high jumper, but the marriage eventually broke up. He then married Linda, a top-level netballer and later an author. Grant taught at Auckland Grammar and was also a PhD scholar.

One of their sons, Corey, became a New Zealand cricket rep. He was a hard-hitting all-rounder, who played test cricket, but did even better in shorter forms of the game all around the world.