Philip Watson

Canterbury runner Phi Watson was a bit-part player in one of the great days of New Zealand athletics.

Watson, born in Christchurch in 1951, ran for New Zealand in the 10,000m on the opening day of athletics at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games.

The race is recalled for the wonderful effort by eventual gold medallist Dick Tayler, who beat the world record holder, David Bedford, and a host of other world-class runners with a sensational finishing sprint.

Watson finished 13th in 29min 54.8s, just behind another New Zealander, Kevin Ryan, but way behind Tayler.

The Methodist club athlete had qualified for the Games team with a determined run in the New Zealand championships, held the previous month as a trial for Games selection. Tayler won the title, but Watson hung on well and his time of 28min 40.6s booked him a place in the Games team.

Watson, a product of Shirley Boys’ High School, was coached in his early days by Neville Reid and showed promised over 5000m and, especially, 10,000m.

He trained hard, though he said years later he wished he’d known more about the effects of iron deficiency and dehydration. “Sports science was really in its early days when I was running. I look back and think about all the things I did wrong without even knowing!”

He said before the Games he hammered out a training session of 20 fast 400m laps, done at QEII Park in the mid-afternoon sun. “I never had any idea of the long-term effects. When I ran in the 10,000m, I had no gas. I’d put my foot down and there would be no response. It was only years later I learned about iron deficiency being caused by heavy sweating. I often thought back to that gruelling session in the blazing sun a few days before the big race.”

After the Games, Watson trained hard and then paid his way to Europe to see how he fared in some bigger races overseas. He ran 28min 52s for 10,000m soon after arriving in London, but didn’t feel he quite did himself justice overall.

He moved to Auckland in 1975 to study at St Paul’s Theological College and decided to have another serious crack at running, this time under the guidance of former Arthur Lydiard star Barry Magee.

“I didn’t get my timing quite right, and finished back a bit in the national 10,000m race on a very windy day at Newtown Park. But three weeks later I ran a 6000m road race in Auckland and put it all together. I beat Dick Quax, who was then in top form, by 40 seconds and he was ahead of a lot of other good runners, such as the Healey twins. To run that well in such company showed me what I could have done.”

Watson finished his career with three 2nd placings in the New Zealand 10,000m championship and national junior titles in the cross-country and 5000m.

He tried his hand at various jobs over the years, sometimes self-employed, sometimes in administration. These days he and his wife live in the Coromandel community of Te Puru, north of Thames.