University of Toronto Track Club correspondent Jay Brecher writes…
Does the name Murray Halberg ring a bell? Maybe this will jog your memory: Olympic Champion in the 5000 (1960), trained under the legendary Arthur Lydiard, and the first New Zealander to run a mile in under four minutes. I’m told that he was a major inspiration to Bruce Kidd when the latter was a young runner.
Watch this riveting race footage (courtesy of Coach Peter Pimm). If it looks like his left arm was in a sling, it might as well have been. Halberg suffered a serious rugby injury in his youth that rendered his left arm virtually useless.
UTTC hosted an evening with Murray on Wednesday night.
UTTC Masters Coach Mike Sherar, Murray Halberg, Duncan Greenshields Photo courtesy Duncan
Duncan mentioned that Murray also won two Commenwealth Games Gold Medals
Laird Sloan writes……
I remember Murray Halberg very well. At the 1954 Empire and Commonwealth Games he competed in the 1 mile run. He edged out Rich Ferguson from Canada in the first heat in 4:07.4 (Roger Bannister was third). Both competed in the final (Miracle Mile) where Rich ran the race of his life to place third and Murray finished fifth. Murray went on to compete in the 1956 Olympics where I had the chance to watch him run again, and from then on he became one of the major distance runners of his era. He was an incredible inspiration to all of us. Not only did he have a withered arm but he had one of the least impressive physiques you have ever seen on an athlete. We all figured that if this man could be a world-class runner, there was hope for the rest of us. Murray
Jimson Lee writes…. Check out …. http://www.budwinter.com/audio/ This is an awesome recording of Lydiard, Peter Snell and Murray!
M50 Dave Birnie ON broke the CAN Javelin record with a 51.69m throw at the York Lions Spring Open meet on May 1st. Dave broke Mike Finkbeiner’s 51.12 record set in 2005.
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A number of us were at last night’s World Premier of Autumn Gold the documentary film at the Hot Docs festival.
The film follows five athletes as they prepare for, and compete at the most recent WMA Championships in Lahti Finland. The Director, Jan (center in black shirt), was present for a Q&A.
Canadian multi-Gold medalist Olga Kotelko’s WR Discus throw is part of one segment.
Jan did a great job of capturing the personalities and motivations of these athletes.
I highly recommend it – two thumbs up! Ebert & Smith
Harold Morioka reports from BC..
Recent CAN Records set in British Columbia
AGE RECORD RECORD HOLDER AGE DATE VENUE
100M M80 16.15 p 0.5 Norm Lesage 80 12/05/10 Surrey, BC 16.25 -1.4 Norm Lesage 80 20/06/10 Langley, BC 800M W35 2:03.25 p Dianne Cummins 36 17/04/10 Mt. Sac, CA 4 X 100M RELAY M65 54.17 Tony Badowshi (67), Lee Southern (65) 20/06/10 Langley, BC Harold Morioka (67), Tuomas Ukonmaanaho (65) TRIPLE JUMP W55 8.04 -0.2 Margaret Rhebergen 55 20/06/10 Langley, BC W70 6.93 0.0 Christa Bortignon 73 20/06/10 Langley, BC HIGH JUMP W55 1.25 Margaret Rhebergen 55 19/06/10 Langley, BC (tie) SHOT PUT M80 11.40 Rainer Sillantaus 80 20/06/10 Langley, BC W60 9.31 Rose Hare 61 15/06/10 Coquitlam, BC DISCUS M55 45.23 Don Allemeersch 56 19/06/10 Langley, BC M95 12.46 Jim Murray 95 19/06/10 Langley, BC JAVELIN M80 30.61 Rainer Sillantaus 80 19/06/10 Langley, BC M95 9.80 Jim Murray 95 19/06/10 Langley, BC HAMMER M90 13.40 Jim Murray 95 18/06/10 Langley, BC
W70 Christa Bortignon
