Stuart Melville

Stuart Melville, born on January 1, 1950, was one of the fine New Zealand middle-distance athletes who made the world sit up and take notice in the early 1970s.

Melville, a product of King’s High School in Dunedin, was a talented rugby player, a winger in his college first XV. But it was athletics that claimed him. Coached for much of the time by Otago Daily Times sports writer Alistair McMurran, Melville was a consistent and well-performed athlete.

At the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games he ran in the 800m, along with fellow New Zealanders John Walker and Alan Gilmour. In his heat, Melville’s time of 1min 52.1s placed him 5th with only four to advance to the semi-finals.

He won New Zealand titles over 800m in 1974, 1500m in 1975 and 1976, and 5000m in 1975 and 1977. That 1975 double was particularly notable, and has seldom been achieved. These titles were all the more meritorious considering he competed at the same time as John Walker, Rod Dixon, Dick Quax, Kevin Ross, Tony Polhill, Dick Tayler and other world-ranked middle-distance runners.

Melville was involved in several noteworthy relay efforts.

An Otago University team set a Lovelock Relay record in 1971. The event comprises six consecutive 1500m efforts and Lindsay Dey (4min 06s), Alastair Stewart (4min 03s), Melville (3min 57s), Bruce Beath (4min 06s), Trevor Sutherland (3min 58s) and Keith Darling (4min 02s) set a time of 24min 12.6s on a grass track. This represented significant depth in middle-distance running at Otago University. Their time was not beaten until 2023.

In 1971, Melville, Stephen Lunn, Bruce Hunter and Tayler set a national 4 x 800m record of 7min 27.2s at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin. They shaved 10 seconds off the previous record. The event is seldom contested, but the result reflected the strength of Otago athletics at the time.

More famous was the national 4 x 1500m relay record Melville was part of in 1975. Quax, Walker, Dixon and Melville were timed at 14min 50.2s in the attempt in Auckland. Melville’s 3min 41.5s was the second-fastest of the foursome. The event is seldom contested and this remains the New Zealand record.

The Otago athlete ran successfully on the European circuit, where his pace judgement and consistency meant he was often in demand as a pace-maker for record attempts. He stopped competing seriously at 1977.

Melville became a successful accountant in Dunedin, eventually running his own firm.