Yes, I know. We are all over the Liza Hunter-Galvan saga, as Kath and Kim would say, “over, O-V-A-H”. So, why did I fork out on a North and South, just to read Lorraine Moller’s article ? Because I remain puzzled by the unrelenting support Liza has had from the legends of our sport. I have a huge amount of respect for Moller as an athlete and a person. Her autobiography is one of the best books I have ever read, so thought, damn it, if her writing does not convince me, nothing will ! I sat down with the magazine, an Amstel Light, an open mind and.....NO ! STILL DO NOT GET IT ! I just cannot fathom how Athletics NZ can be blamed for an adult, capable of making her own decisions, travelling to Mexico, purchasing EPO and shooting up in the bathroom. NZ does tend to have a blame culture, you do not need to look much further than Hone Harawira and his mates to see this. I just hope we never get an “it is not so bad to take drugs- it was the pressure that made me do it and everyone else is anyway” culture as well. I feel gutted for top marathoners such as Nina Rillstone who remain behind LHG on NZ’s all time list.
Since my last blog my tally of NZ Championship bronzes for 2009 has hit four. My partner has taken to calling me the Bronze Whaler. Evidently Golden Retrievers have more street cred’. I have been sitting on a tally of nine NZ titles since last century, much of that time away from the sport, but even so it would be quite nice to have a change of colour and crack double figures at some stage. It seemed pretty easy for Tiger last week.
The NZ Marathon Champs from Riverton to Invercargill provided some valuable experience over the distance and where else do you get a photo with the Ranfurly Shield and a peck on the cheek from Dick Taylor ? It has left me itching to have a serious crack over the marathon distance after a really good, healthy, build up. The World Cross Country trial looms first however, in Trentham, late January, where I hope to add the seal to my “pre-selection”. Pre-selected athletes are expected to prove their fitness by finishing in the top six at the trial. World Cross is in Poland, in a place I cannot pronounce, Bydgoszcz, but wherever it is, it will require a lot of training, a lot of saving and some grovelling for more time off work. All well worth it. It will be pretty cool if we can have strong kiwi contingent over there, and who knows what Kim Smith could do after mixing it up with the Africans last year.
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