Bryan Rose

The annual International Cross-Country Championship was a British, European, and North African affair when New Zealand first lodged a wildcard entry in 1965. By 1973, when it became the World Championship, New Zealand was established as one of the major forces in the global sport of cross-country. That national progress in eight years from unknown outsider to world leader owes much to a self-effacing Wellington runner, Bryan Rose.

Rose was in the first New Zealand team to travel, to Ostend in 1965, and was fifth New Zealand scorer. He stayed in the scoring six in each of the teams that placed between fourth and second in the four subsequent (alternating) years, in Wales, Scotland, Spain, and Belgium, a record of remarkable consistency. His lowest place in that blazing cauldron of competition was 39^th . His best was when he won the individual bronze medal in 1967. 

Rose captained the team from 1969 to 1975. And that year, in his last international race, in Rabat, Morocco, he was the team’s sixth scorer, contributing crucially to New Zealand’s greatest moment, when they won the world title for the only time. (See more here)

Rose would be happy to see himself defined mainly as a key part of a successful team. He was similarly central to the rise of Wellington Harriers during the 1960s/70s to a national force capable of matching Auckland’s best clubs. Third in the national road relay in 1978 (with Rose running the longest leg), Wellington won in 1984 (Rose had retired and moved to Hamilton and then Auckland, but his legacy continued).

“The excitement of a club/team success was always a highlight more so than the individual success. Nothing like beating Scottish eh!!!!!!!” Rose wrote in an email.

Individually, Rose won New Zealand championships, from the under-19 three-miles (1962) to senior cross-country (1969) and 10,000m (1977). Selected against strong competition for the Commonwealth Games 5000m at Christchurch in 1974, he was the only New Zealander to make that final (13:57.2 for fourth in his heat), and placed tenth (14:01.0) in the final, ahead of the world record holder for 10,000m, Dave Bedford.

Rose’s individual high point was finishing third in the 1967 International Cross-Country in Barry, Wales, on a fast grassy course with hurdles, behind two world-ranked steeplechasers, Gaston Roelants (Belgium) and Tim Johnston (England). He led New Zealand to a historic second place in the teams scoring, at only the second attempt. Behind him that day were such global stars as Ron Hill, Jim Alder, and Lachie Stewart. Rose’s world-class achievement has been matched among New Zealanders only by Eddie Gray (1971) and Rod Dixon (1975, 1982).

Bryan G. Rose was born in Inglewood (24 July 1943), and grew up mostly in Rahotu, near New Plymouth, attending secondary school at Opunake. He made the Taranaki schools rugby squad before concentrating on running with New Plymouth Harriers after the family moved into the town. He was born with good running genes. His father was a regular New Plymouth harrier, and his uncle was Randolph Rose, famed for winning eight New Zealand middle-distance titles in the 1920s/30s. He is related also to Billy Burk, a top amateur and professional in the 1890s, and his son Hector Burk, who won New Zealand championships in 1905-07.

Bryan Rose lacked some of their middle-distance speed, and never seriously focused on the marathon, although he ran a little-known 2:19:43 at Hamilton in 1973. But he was very hard to beat in the 5K to 12K range, and laid down some superb road relay laps. His 1972 record for the long last lap in the Wellington-Masterton survived until the event’s demise, and his official record for the viciously hilly lap 2 over Gebbies Pass in the 1969 Takahe-Akaroa was also world class (though it is fervently argued by some that Dave McKenzie ran even faster).

Springy and agile over barriers, versatile and strong over all surfaces, Rose thrived on cross-country as it was designed in New Zealand in that era, and had many great wins in events like Wellington’s Dorne Cup and Vosseler Shield, and the Skellerup Steeples in Christchurch. Early on, he had one good track steeplechase win, beating Kerry Williams, Bill Rodger, and a certain P. Snell at Inglewood in 1963. Peter Heidenstrom surmises in Athletes of the Century that “I often wonder whether Rose gave the steeplechase a fair go before deserting it.” But 3000m was too short for him. If it had been longer, as historically it should be, Rose might have achieved Olympic fame.

Despite winning the selection trial for the 1972 Olympic 10,000m, in a qualifying time, Rose was not selected, which in his own words was “a bitter disappointment that made me almost give running away.” A too familiar story. The 1974 Commonwealth Games were therefore his track highlight, and he continued at world level through to the New Zealand Games in 1975, also in Christchurch, where he placed sixth in the 10,000m (second of the six New Zealanders, behind winner Dick Quax) and tenth in the 5000m (13:57).

Everything Rose did was in a strictly amateur era. He worked in retail and  wholesale, which demanded very long hours, at one point for a sports store in New Plymouth, then for Moore Wilson in Wellington. Often he trained at 5am. Coached initially by Arthur Lydiard, he largely adhered to Lydiard’s principles, but with more emphasis on cross-country skills. In New Plymouth, his sandhill sessions at Moturoa Beach became infamous, and after he moved to Wellington, admiring packs used to tempo-train over the twenty kilometres of non-stop hills, frequent fences, and lumpy grass paddocks that made up “Rosy’s Run,” around Porirua and Rangituhi/Colonial Knob, from his home in Tawa. These days the last part before the final descent is a scenic reserve known for its spectacular views. The cantankerous bull who was often a hazard has been displaced by suburban housing.  

Written by Roger Robinson