It resonated for me because I was a mile and cross country runner as a
teenager. Not so good but we had our hero in Herb Elliot, a local boy who
became a world champion mile runner. I remember the man with the withered
arm - he was terrific! I'm off in memory lane, Max, so can't pick the
poetics of it :-)
Andrew
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On 16 June 2016 at 08:52, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Is it a NZ thing, Max, I wonder, to speak of roofs rather than rooves?
> Anyway, I like the touch of both you and Murray emerging from houses, he
> with withered arm and ambition, you ready with modest pride for him. We
> don't get Snell's house which might have been good too? Lydiard the coach
> seems flung on us a bit too familiarly. I for one, have never heard of him
> and the way he enters the poem, it as though you have already spoken of
> him, which you have of course, but not by name.
>
> Bill
>
> On Thursday, 16 June 2016, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Our Runners in Black, 1960
> >
> > I’d see him running past most days each week.
> > Both our families lived in Hargest Terrace,
> > postwar State Houses, somewhat look-alike,
> > tile roofs, some weatherboard, some yellow brick.
> > small front lawns, standard letterboxes.
> > (Hargest was a World War II V.C.)
> >
> > Murray ran lopsided, never looked strong.
> > It was the withered arm you noticed,
> > then his sandy coloring, that look
> > of ginger eyelashes. He’d attended
> > the other school. We felt smarter
> > and proud of our young runners.
> >
> > He took my sister out once; nothing
> > came of it. His training schedule
> > with a strict new coach took all week.
> > He made it in our Olympic team
> > that year. So did ‘my’ Peter Snell,
> > so stylish and strong, our school champ.
> >
> > Lydiard coached him too. Off they went, we
> > followed the team in black by radio
> > and daily paper. Few lodged bets.
> > Rome was so far away, so foreign.
> > When Peter won his gold we shouted.
> > Next thing Murray with his arm - the five
> >
> > thousand metres! we were delirious.
> > World-class courage, worn on his sleeve.
> > We boasted of their - and our - modesty.
> > We were a nation of runners, harking
> > back to Lovelock, quiet fifteen-hundred
> > surprise at Berlin ’36, who died so young.
> >
> > Peter and Murray, knighted, are still alive.
> >
> > Seattle, June 2016
> >
> > [Murray Halberg, born 1933;
> > Peter Snell, born 1938]
> >
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
Books available through Walleah Press
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