By Virginia Winder
It's difficult to keep up with Howard Wilson.
He talks fast, thinks even quicker, with yarns and quips flowing as easily as the legs on a long-distance runner.
His stories all relate to the New Plymouth Harrier Club, of which he is a life member.
The 71-year-old wrote the history to coincide with the club's diamond jubilee. The club, now called the Energy City Harriers, celebrated its 75th anniversary in New Plymouth during July 2003.
Before we make it to the farmland races of rugged Taranaki, Howard strides back in time. "Harrier running is steeped in antiquity. It began many centuries ago in ye olde England."
Then, the aristocracy spent a great deal of their leisure time hunting on horseback. With baying hounds upfront, they chased fleeing foxes.
"Not to be outdone, the commoners devised their own form of hunting," Howard says in the book. "Their victim was the hare, which they hunted on foot, assisted by the harrier – a small dog bred specifically for chasing hares. Harriers was a term used for cross country runners and still is today."
The New Plymouth club has never chased hares, or foxes. But they did begin with a wily move.
Breakaway blokes
"It all began in 1929, when the harrier section of the New Plymouth Athletics Club became dissatisfied with the treatment they were getting from that committee. A meeting was held in the Hookers Building in Queen St."
The rebel runners decided to form their own club. "There was no animosity (with the athletics club), because they went back to run on the track and served as officials."
On 13 April 1929, the first run was held, with 23 harriers turning up. The event was deemed newsworthy, with this report appearing in the Taranaki Herald two days later.
"The pack left the racecourse, going south through private property … The going throughout was soft and the atmosphere was decidedly warm for running, but most of the runners finished happy though muddy."
From Go: The 1929 foundation members of the New Plymouth Harrier Club are named from left. Back row, A.C. Sadler, C.C. Robertson, J.S. Hingston, T.W. Rawson, A.W. Lander; front row, J.A. Haymer, H.J.N. Capon (vice-captain), J.W. Palmer (secretary), A.S. Hunter (captain), J.E. Warner (treasurer), M.F. Eaddy, G. Lander; in front, R. Connett; inset: E.J. Hutchinson (chairman). Absent were, H.J. Brown, J.H. Thornburgh (England) and R.J. Smith.
The New Plymouth racecourse was the club's headquarters until 1940.
"Most of the runs took place around New Plymouth because they had to walk, tram or bike to get to a venue or a pack run," Howard says. "A few had cars, but not many."
New Zealand, like the rest of the western world, was in the grip of the Great Depression.
The harriers made their own fun, and went to great lengths to do so.
"Early in the piece, one of the big things was the invitation run to Hurworth," he says of an area on the outskirts of New Plymouth, heading up Carrington Rd towards the mountain.
Dressing up and down
This run also involved a number of quick changes.
"They would start in town, usually on Hori (St), which was the home of the handicapper. He would drive their good clothes up to Hurworth (Hall) and they would run up there. When they got up there they would get back into their dress clothes and they were entertained by the residents. They would have community singing – one fella used to do the haka – and they played games.
"And they ate and they ate and they ate. The old trestles were buckled with food. When it was all over, they changed back into their running clothes and ran back to the handicapper's where their clothes would be waiting for them."
An annual trip up the mountain was another highlight.
Once again the athletes had to get up there on their own steam, so would bike to the Egmont National Park gates. "They would have to use the telephone to ring the old (North Egmont) mountain house to make sure the way was clear and they would push their bikes up to the old hut, that used to be the barracks on Marsland Hill.
"They would stay there the night and sing and do a bit of climbing," Howard says.
"When they came down – the conservation people wouldn't be very happy about this – they only had back brakes, so they would cut a big branch off a tree and tie it on to the back of their bikes to slow them down on the return journey."
Beneath the fun of these events rippled a powerful current of competition.
In praise of Brown
One of the keenest and most talented was one of the founding members, Harold Brown. Howard Wilson says that in 1930, the young man from Hurworth raced one of the best. "When he was 18, he was second in the New Zealand (cross country) championships in the Hutt (Valley). The person who won was Randolph Rose," he says.
"Harold came second again in 1938 when the championships were held here, at the race course."
Top Lineup: Bagpipers lead the way as harriers prepare for the New Zealand Cross Country Championships at the New Plymouth Racecourse in 1938. C. Weller won the race, with New Plymouth harrier Harold Brown in second place.
On the club front, he was dominating. The records show H.J. Brown won the senior title in 1932, 33, 38, 39 and 1940. The farmer had a four-year break from harriers in the mid-1930s.
A newspaper tribute to the life member, said: "Brownie matched his performance with service and loyalty to the club and his enthusiasm in the mud patch on a pack run seemed as great as his tenacity in the toughest race." Harold Brown died in 1983.
One of New Zealand's great runners belonged to the club for just one year. Randolph Rose, already mentioned for beating Brown in 1930, was a New Plymouth harrier in 1932.
Rose for a season
He was past his best by then, but still a fine runner. Rose bloomed in 1926, when he took on American runner Lloyd Hahn in a mile test series. After losing the first race in Masterton, Rose took control for the next three races, winning the last in 4 minutes 13.6 seconds. That time gave him a New Zealand mile record, a world grass-track record and the Australasian record.
While running on smooth tracks is tamer than cross-country running, Rose was probably more used to the latter. He was a farmer, whose entire training regime consisted of working on his Wairarapa land. In short, he didn't train, just spent his life scorching from farmhouse to paddock and back again.
Like Rose, the harriers of old were tough, sinewy young men who tackled mud bogs, boxthorn hedges, sagging barbed wire fences and water-logged ditches with hare-like agility.
Ready for the trenches
Sadly, this was also perfect training for war.
After the long, hard years of economic depression, New Zealand's young men were shipped off to fight the Germans and Japanese in far-flung parts of the globe.
A picture in the club's history book, says it all. Nineteen New Plymouth men who took part in the Wanganui-Taranaki Cross Country Championships in 1930 are snapped in the classic sports club pose, the front row sitting cross-legged.
Man Down: These were the New Plymouth harriers who competed in the Wanganui-Taranaki Cross Country Championships in 1930. The man at the front right, Howard Cooper, was one of 10 club members who died in World War II. The others in the photo are, from left, back row, Cam Sadler, Bert Lander, Harold Hingston, Dick Stewart, Stan Alsop, Bays Walsham, Les Thompson; middle row, Archie Thompson, Lionel Fox, Harold Capon, Cedric Drake, Frank Morine, Harold Brown, Alec Hunter; front row, Dick Smith, Frank White, Alan Eaddy, Gilbert Buckley and Howard Cooper.
The man on the front right is Howard Cooper, an open-faced, astoundingly good-looking young man with an easy grin. He has a face that could break hearts.
And he did.
From 1941 to 1946, the New Plymouth Harrier Club stopped running. Howard Wilson says that with the soldiers away, there was no hope of continuing.
"After the war the club was restarted by the same people who were in charge before the war – less 10 harriers that were killed in the war."
One of those was Howard Cooper. The others were: M. Geddes, C. Jackson, L. Richards, brothers L. and A. Ryan, S. Cottam, T. Gray, H. Mundt and W. Wilson.
Patron lasts the distance
In 1946, one of the club's stalwarts added his loping strides to the harrier ranks.
Crelin Keig, now the club's patron and a life member, preferred cross country to pounding roads, but earned his best race result on the track. In 1957, he won the 800-yard title at the New Zealand championships.
Although, Crelin went ahead in leaps and bounds, the harrier club did not. The older members who restarted the club after WWII began to drop out and the ranks were reduced to about 12 runners.
Howard says there have been other low ebbs, which he believes relate to leadership and nurturing the young members. "When the club has been strong, there's always been senior people, some older person, who is prepared to take an interest in them (the young runners)."
Sharp Racing: Athletes battle to get over a boxthorn hedge at Hurworth during the West Coast (North Island) Cross Country Championships in 1962.
He names Len Sexton with Jack and Bing Harris in the 1950s, Brian Bowering in the 1960s and 70s, skips his own "come along and have a go" involvement in the 1970s and 80s, and names Karen Green as one of the greatest influences in latter years. "She was behind the youth squad," Howard says.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let's head back to 1951, when the club was struggling for members.
Women's lib a slow journey
At the opening run of that season, three Shirleys (Leatherland, Reekie and O'Keefe) turned up to join. These track runners simply wanted to keep fit during the off season, but were not even permitted to join the pack run that day. At the next committee meeting it was resolved: "That the New Plymouth Harrier Club remain for active male members only."
A second attempt was made in 1963, but the female athletes were again turned away. The committee decided: "That until there were larger numbers wanting to take part in harrier running it was decided not to foster a ladies' section owing to a lack of facilities."
But the more liberal views of the 1960s began to change minds, with Bryan Rose leading the charge.
Howard says the nephew of the great Randolph put pressure on the committee. "He said if they didn't admit women to the club he would form another club."
On 10 March 1966, Bryan Rose moved that women be accepted into the club. This was seconded by Keith Dravitzki and passed.
Winning Women: All of these runners made names for themselves on the long-distant circuit. As a team, they were a force to be reckoned with. They are, from left, Gail Poad, Sonia Barry, Karen Green, Lesley Graham and Brenda Ballinger.
The first nine female members included Wendy Urquhart, who later became a New Zealand sprint champion.
Beers and a bus ride
There were other fun and games in the 1960s.
One of the annual events was the Waitara to New Plymouth road race. "A bloke called Owen Mitchell, he won the race in 1960," Howard says.
"He was what I call a 'go man', one of the slower people who leave when the gun goes and the rest follow."
In the 1961 race, Owen got to the outskirts of New Plymouth and felt a bit tired. "He always carried a bit of money with him. When he got to the Fitzroy Pub he had a pint (of beer) or two. He checked his change and found out he had enough to catch the bus. So he caught the bus and there was a stop just fore the finish mark by the State Hotel and he walked casually across the line."
The officials were aware of his game, and Owen was officially recorded as a DNF (did not finish).
Taking on the big wheels
Howard laughs at the story and about other ridiculous outcomes, especially in the harriers versus cyclists race, held on Ian Kurth's farm and surrounding roads. "There was a lot of cheating going on, oh God it was a bloody terrible thing."
"Old Kurthy, he grabbed his wife's horse and finished that race. On a horse!"
Howard, is shaking with mirth at the memory.
Another year, a runner called Mark Harris offered to help a cyclist lift his bike over a fence, but there was cunning in his kindness. "He took his bike and rode away on it and left the cyclist there. He finished on a bike!"
Paper chases, dances at the Kawaroa Bungalow and more mountain trips were all part of the celebration of running. The club was also instrumental in starting the New Plymouth Joggers Club in 1975. The next year, it helped set up the Port to Park Fun Run following the Arthur Lydiard-led move to get the nation on its feet.
And among all these events, the racing continued.
Home-grown stars
The list of names is as long as the races they excelled in. Those who achieved national fame included, Harold Brown, Bill Wells, Max and Gerald Dravitzki, Joe Casey, Robbie Baxter, Howard's son Ross Wilson, Brenda Ballinger, Karen Green, Lesley Graham, Gail Poad, Sonia Barry, Lee Ann Laurence, Olympians Nyla Carroll and Michael Aish, the unstoppable Paul Ballinger and the women's rights advocate, Bryan Rose.