Dave McKenzie

Standing at 1.60m tall and tipping the scales at 54kg, Dave McKenzie was a lightweight of the roads but thanks to his indomitable spirit the proud West Coaster was a heavyweight of the marathon.

When the great names of New Zealand distance running are discussed the man who has spent his entire life living in Inverness Street in the tiny town of Dunollie is often overlooked

But in a proud career in which he claimed four New Zealand Marathon titles, made two Olympic appearance and memorably won the 1967 Boston Marathon – at that time the world’s most prominent marathon – Dave’s considerable accomplishments deserve a lot more attention.

Born into a coalmining family he started his sporting life playing rugby league – the favoured sport in the hardy but proud West Coast community.

Yet after winning the high school mile he realised he had a talent for running and followed his older brothers into the local Greymouth Harrier Club at the age of 15.

Initially training three to four times a week he slowly started to make an impact on the local running scene. Self-coached he was also fortunate he had a good pool of training partners including Eddie Gray, a former Rugby League colleague.

“Eddie had so much ability he later (in 1971) finished third at the International Cross Country Championships (the forerunner to the World Cross Country Championships),” explains Dave. “He was more of a cross country runner and I was more of a road runner but we bounced off each other and helped each other along.”

Struggling to make an impact on the soft cross country surface he nonetheless discovered his rock ‘n’ rolling style could “spring and bounce” off the road circuit. He quickly earned a reputation as one of the leading performers in road relay races – excelling, in particular, on the longer laps.

In 1962 and aged just 19 at that time he opted to make his marathon debut at the Great Westland Marathon from Greymouth to Hokitika.

Ill-prepared for the distance he was forced to pull out at 18 miles with stomach cramps but he was not finished with the marathon and returned to the race the following year.

“I just changed what I ate a little bit and trained harder,” adds Dave, who from the age of 15 worked as a machine print operator on his local newspaper.

In his second attempt at the marathon he won in a time of 2:40 and so his future career over the classic distance was determined.

“I was always going to be a marathon runner,” he explains. “I just didn’t have the speed to do track. I did compete on the track but got better results on the road.”

Inspired by the Lydiard model over time his mileage crept up to 140 miles a week. Training every lunchtime at work he then used to run the 9km home from Greymouth to Dunollie often tagging on double that distance to rack up the miles.

Carrying out training on the undulating Coast Hill Road proved the perfect terrain for building strength and endurance and four to five weeks out from a marathon he used to complete the full marathon distance on two occasions.

Dave, however, was a smart cookie. He recognised that endurance alone would not earn him victory in the top races and he was also prepared to work on his weaknesses.

“Where I was perhaps a bit different is that I did a bit of speedwork as well,” he recalls. “I used to do 200m and 300m strides out and hill bursts,” he explains. “I never ran with a watch just on feel, that’s how I always used to run.”

The hard work started to pay off when he won the first of his eight Canterbury Marathon titles in 1964, recording a breakthrough time of 2:23 and he set about preparing for the 1965 New Zealand Marathon Championships in Dunedin.

There he was in contention approaching the final six miles only to have to kick his shoes to the side of the road suffering from severe burns on the bottom of his feet. He completed the remainder of the race barefoot, fading to fourth but out of the disappointment, Dave, revealing typical Kiwi ingenuity, came up with an innovative solution to prevent the foot issue reoccurring.

“You have to remember that at that time running shoes were shocking and not much different to walking shoes,” he says. “Running at a three-hour marathon pace the shoes are fine but running at a two-and-a-half hour marathon pace the friction was much greater and would cause burns on the feet. So I went to a shoemaker in Greymouth who glued a jandal to the soles of the shoe for softness.”

Running in shoes which provided greater absorption in 1966 he triumphed to win his maiden New Zealand Marathon title running 2:16:59 in Hamilton to defeat a gun field containing the likes of Mike Ryan, who two years later would win Olympic marathon bronze, Jeff Julian and Ray Puckett.

“I didn’t really run that well in the early part of the race, and at one point I think I was two minutes behind Mike Ryan. To end up winning the race by two minutes and taking my first New Zealand title was very special.”

Selected to compete in the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica later that year, heartbreak was to follow as he was forced to withdraw following a stress fracture of the shin.

Ranked second fastest in the Commonwealth at the time it was a “huge disappointment.”

Taking a six to eight-week break he returned to training later that year and in December claimed victory in the Great Westland Marathon.

In excellent shape and preparing for what he hoped would be an outstanding 1967 season, his world and that of his local community was devastated after an explosion killed 19 men in the Strongman mining disaster in nearby Runanga. Among the dead were his older brother, Hector, and his larger-than-life training partner Harry Van Looy.

The loss of a brother understandably took its toll. He described the double loss as a “big hit” and he still struggles to talk about the disaster but running helped the healing process. Just one week after the disaster he triumphed in the Canterbury Marathon in 2:16:02.

Later that summer he beat a stellar field, which included Bill Baillie, the world one-hour and 20km record-holder, to retain the New Zealand Marathon title. Running in a thunderstorm the red-haired Greymouth runner completed the Auckland course in 2:21:50.

“The newspapers said that for three quarters of the race we ran into a headwind,” recalls Dave. “It was a very satisfying to beat Bill because he was a great inspiration to me.”

Some said that the death of his brother instilled in Dave an extra desire to perform well during the 1967 season but he downplays such thoughts.

“When you out there racing, watching the field and listening for the opposition breathing, that’s what you are concentrating on, although it (the disaster) is in the back of your mind,” he adds.

Shortly after his victory in Auckland he received an invite to attend the Boston Marathon – then the world’s most prestigious marathon.

Having suffered the disappointment the previous year of missing out on the Commonwealth Games he accepted, although he required the unstinting support of his local community via a series of raffles to raise the airfare funds.

Dave, who had never previously ventured overseas, arrived at Greymouth Airport to start his epic trip. Unfortunately, the flight from Greymouth to Nelson was cancelled due to mist and drizzle and he was forced instead to take a three-and-a-half hour taxi ride to Nelson. Arriving late for his outward bound trip to Auckland he took a flight to Wellington, which presented an unexpected opportunity.

“I got the chance to run for one and a half hours around the airport,” he says. From the capital city it was on to Auckland then to Los Angeles before finally arriving in Boston more than one week before the event where he stayed with a family in the small suburban town of Winchester close to Boston.

“I was looked after very well and the area was perfect for running,” explains Dave, who ran the race course in two separate sections in the countdown to the race.

Ranked sixth in the race he respected his rivals – many of whom were from Japan – but he was also quietly confident following his success in the New Zealand Marathon.

“I knew I wouldn’t be far away because I’d beaten Bill Baillie, who was a world record-holder,” he says.

He did face another nemesis on the day – icy drizzle and chilly temperatures of 2-3C. Rain lashed down and snow still lay on the pavements.

“I’d never been very good running in the cold,” explains Dave. “Back then all the top New Zealand Marathons were run in the summer in the heat.”

Running in white gloves and his distinctive Greymouth singlet with long sleeves, Dave set out for the high noon shoot out where later his reconnaissance work of checking out the course was to pay dividends.

“The pre-race plan was to make my move on the hills at around 16 miles,” recalls Dave. “I’d trained on the hills, so knew I was strong on the hills.

“I made a break but because the Japanese runners were running as a team they’d put a spurt on and catch me every 100m so. This happened several times until about two thirds of a way up the hill, I thought I’d go for broke.”

The imaginary piece of elastic between the Kiwi and the rest finally extended and the New Zealander was away and clear. With eight miles remaining race organiser Jock Semple told Dave he held a 300m advantage. Quickly calculating the distance into time he continued to push on and crossed the finish line in a race record time of 2:15:45 to become the first and only Kiwi man to win the Boston Marathon.

“It was pretty wet and I remember having a shower, going back for the presentation and then spending the night with the people I stayed with. Without doubt it was my greatest accomplishment,” adds Dave, who won the 1967 Lonsdale Cup awarded to New Zealand’s outstanding individual or team in an Olympic or Commonwealth sport.

Over time, however, Dave’s success has been lost in the achievements of Kathrine Switzer, the pioneering woman who defied the rules of the time to compete in the 1967 race.

The fact she was later bundled off the course by race organiser Jock Semple made headline news and set about a new era for the sport as the door was prized open for women marathon runners in the future.

“I know Kathrine very well and what she did for women’s marathon running was marvellous,” he adds.

Back home in New Zealand he was presented a book and film of the race by the US ambassador John Henning and was greeted with a large reception by the Greymouth community still grieving the loss of 19 men following the Strongman mining disaster.

Later that year, Dave was invited to the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan – next to the Boston Marathon the world’s leading race over the distance.

There he performed with pride, recording a lifetime best of 2:12:26 for the distance – a performance which still ranks him 12th on the all-time New Zealand lists – for third behind race winner Derek Clayton of Australia, who became the first man in history to clock a sub-2:10 marathon.

“I was a little off the pace that day, although I was quite surprised with the time because I thought I would run around 2:17,” he recalls. “I couldn’t get my head around how quick it was.”

Returning from Japan, Dave picked up a virus which lingered in his system for much of 1968. He was selected to compete for the Mexico City Olympics but badly compromised he trailed home a distant 37th in 2:43:36.

Dave continued competing and secured successive New Zealand marathon titles in 1971 and 1972 – the latter in Dunedin completed in an impressive time of 2:14:11.

He went into the Munich Olympics “in decent shape” but simply not good enough on the day he finished 22nd in 2:22:19. It was his final international appearance.

Post-retirement from competitive athletics, Dave stayed involved in the sport through his passion for Greymouth Harriers and Greymouth Athletic Club. He coached “on and off” for more than 25 years and acted as the race organiser of the Great Westland Marathon for six years. “I was always very attached to the Harrier club” he explains.

He retired after 44 years working as a print machine operator the last 38 of which were spent diligently working for the Greymouth Star.

Today he lives 40m down the street from the house where he grew up. He is married to Adele and has three children. He loves to hang out with his six grandchildren (all boys) and enjoys a flutter on the horses, although he no longer runs and walks with a limp after a dog pulled him over into a fence walking on a frost-covered ground.

In 1996 he was invited back to Boston for the 100th anniversary of the iconic marathon and organisers also invited Dave and his wife to attend the 50th anniversary of his victory in 2017.

Humble, self-effacing and modest, Dave never pursued running for glory and adulation. But he enjoyed a proud and successful marathon career in a sport which delivered so much to the proud “West Coaster”

“Running gave me a lot of pleasure and a bit more self-confidence,” he explains. “Running with your mates in the Harriers was special. It didn’t matter if you were running at seven or eight-minute a mile pace, it was just good to be out running with your mates.”

Written by Steve Landells