Michele Miles

Aucklander Michele Miles signalled she was ready for the step up to international level when she won the 1973 New Zealand 100m hurdles title while still at school.

Shelley, as she was usually called, competed in a strong era for women’s hurdling, with the experienced Brenda Matthews and Jan Lothian prominent and Gail Wooten also coming on to the scene.

Nevertheless she won the national title at the age of 16 in Wellington in 1973 in 14.6s to shake up the old order. She did enough at the following season’s New Zealand championships, which were held in December 1973 as a pre-Commonwealth Games trial, to confirm her Games selection.

In Christchurch, the outgoing Miles rose to the occasion. Still only 17, she ran a slippery 14.1s in her heat to comfortably move into the semi-finals.

There she ran a personal best 13.9s to earn a place in the final. Among those who did not progress were the well-performed Lothian and Northern Ireland’s Olympic gold medallist Mary Peters, who won the pentathlon gold medal in Christchurch.

Miles seemed far from overawed in the final, and was timed at 13.89s, another personal best, that earned her 5th place. Englishwoman Judy Vernon won in 13.45s. Miles’ time was still the national under-18 record half a century later.

Miles, who later became Michele Guthrie, did not last long in top athletics, but she made a strong impression with her mature performances in Christchurch.