Terry Manners, born in Levin in 1939, was one of a group of world-class marathon runners produced by New Zealand in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

He ran in two Commonwealth Games and the 1972 Munich Olympics, and went very close to winning a medal at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games.

When the young Manners saw Peter Snell running at the Hastings Highland Games, he knew athletics would play a big part in his life.

He set about mowing a running track in the paddock behind his parents’ house, incorrectly measuring the 440 yard distance. On that shortened track, his times compared pretty favourably with Snell’s - and that was encouragement enough.

It transpired that Manners had a natural talent for running and he began to compete successfully in local Hawke’s Bay events. He ran his first marathon in Feilding in 1965 and won it in 2h 39min.

After finishing his apprenticeship as a painter, he decided to move to Australia in 1969. He felt athletics was more advanced there as a competitive sport.

Manners was always keen to measure himself against the best. “You improve in good company,” he said.

Improvement came quickly. After only three months, he won the Queensland marathon and then he came 3rd in the Australian nationals. He moved from Brisbane to Melbourne to join the Glen Huntly running club and finished 2nd in his first 10-mile cross-country race. He also won the Victoria marathon.

Manners considered joining the Australian national team, but hadn’t been in the country long enough to qualify. So he returned to New Zealand and finished 2nd to Dave McKenzie in the 1972 New Zealand marathon, which earned him selection for that year’s Olympics.

He based his training methods on the Arthur Lydiard system and continued to seek out opportunities to better himself. He paid his own way to Japan in 1971 to compete against a field of elite athletes at the invitation-only Fukuoka Marathon, and finished a creditable 5th. After that he was invited back. He finished 4th in 1974.

Manners was regarded as a particularly tough opponent. He got involved in a duel with Dick Tayler in the 1971 national championship road race. “I had to dig really deep to win that one,” Tayler said later. “I knew I had more natural speed, but I simply couldn’t shake off Terry. He was so gutsy and never knew when he was beaten. He hung in right to the end that day.”

At the 1972 Olympics, Manners didn’t have one of his best days and managed just 2h 25min 29s, for 34th place among the 74 starters. Rod Dixon, who won a 1500m bronze medal in Munich, recalled later: “I shared a room with the three marathons runners, Terry Manners, Dave McKenzie and Jack Foster, and I used to do my longer runs with them.”

Manners ran very well in the 1974 Commonwealth Games. The race headlines were captured by Englishman Ian Thompson, who ran a sensational time of 2h 9min 12s and New Zealand veteran Jack Foster, who took the silver medal. But Manners mounted a strong finish and closed in on Swaziland’s Richard Mabuza. Eventually Mabuza held off Manners by just four seconds for the bronze medal. Manners was clocked at 2h 12min 58s, the fastest time of his career.

His final Games marathon was at Edmonton in 1978 when, a few days before his 39th birthday, he was 13th in 2h 22min 59s.

Though he faced strong opposition, he won two New Zealand marathon titles, in 1973 and 1977, and had three other top three finishes.

Running was in his blood and Manners continued to run in road races long after his days as a marathon star were over. He ran the New York Marathon in 1982 and was timed at 2h 24min 52s.

Terry Manners

Biography

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