Eddie Gray

Eddie Gray, who rarely leaves Greymouth, was in San Sebastian, Spain, when he placed a sensational third in the International Cross-Country Championship in March 1971. Coming only four years after his close friend and club-mate Dave McKenzie won the Boston Marathon, Gray’s performance confirmed West Coasters’ belief that if you’re the best on the Coast, you’re quite likely the best in the world.

Gray was beaten that day only by two new England stars, Dave Bedford, future world record-holder at 10,000m, and Trevor Wright, who would place second later that year in the European Championships marathon (and later migrate to Tauranga). To show the quality of the field, behind Gray were Ian Stewart (ninth), Rod Dixon (tenth), Gaston Roelants (twelfth), and Emil Puttemans (dnf), all to be Olympic medalists. Dixon later emulated Gray by twice placing third in the World Cross-Country. Previously, it had been done only by Bryan Rose (1967).

Gray ran four times for New Zealand in the International Cross-Country, which in 1973, his last appearance, became the IAAF (now World Athletics) World Championship. At that time, New Zealand sent teams every second year. In 1967, in Barry, Wales, Gray was 17th, third scorer in the New Zealand team that placed a historic second, with Bryan Rose getting individual bronze. In 1969, in Clydebank, Scotland, Gray was 57^th, seventh New Zealander. His great year was 1971, third in San Sebastian, with the team fourth. And in Waregem, Belgium, in 1973, when New Zealand placed fifth, Gray was again in the scoring six, in 38^th place.

To help adjust to the time change, the New Zealand team was on some occasions permitted to run as guests in the fiercely contested English National Championship, two weeks before the International, with some famous results, notably when Rod Dixon defeated Dave Bedford on his home mud in Hampstead in 1973. Gray’s best National place was sixth in 1967, in a vintage English year at a time they were the almost inevitable winners of the International. Ron Hill, for instance, was twelfth that day.

With so many international opportunities now, it’s hard to appreciate how important those trips to the International and English National Cross-Country were to the sport in New Zealand. Eddie Gray was both typical, a runner from Greymouth getting world-level opportunities that were not available in any other way, yet also extraordinary, achieving world-level performances. His 1971 bronze medal is a result that is still at world level notable, in New Zealand historic, and on the West Coast truly legendary. New generations of West Coast sports stars  – Josh Komen, Ruth Croft, Ruby Tui – invariably pay tribute to the inspiration of Dave McKenzie and Eddie Gray. Partly that is because their achievements on the world stage were done in such a low-key and modest Coast way.

Gray joined Greymouth AC in 1960, and set club and West Coast junior records that still stand (eg 15:18.0 5000m). He first featured at national level when he and McKenzie were in the Greymouth team that won the Takahe-to-Akaroa Relay in 1964. Greymouth went close to winning again in 1965, edged by Otago University, with Gray running a lap 2 record.

Travelling over the hill was much more challenging then than now, but Gray and his team-mates ventured to Christchurch and beyond more often, sometimes by railcar. His streak of Canterbury Championships began when he won the cross-country title in 1966. He dominated that highly contested race seven times up to 1973. In 1966, he added a classy 49:23 for ten miles on the road.

In 1968 and ’69, Gray took the Canterbury six miles title, and set two outstanding Takahe-Akaroa lap records, for the notorious Gebbies Pass lap 2, and for the all-uphill lap 6 to Hilltop, a time, 25:21, that has been bettered only once in 55 years, by John Hellemans in 1981. Gray moved up to his first New Zealand championship, the 10,000m (as it became that year) in 1970, in 30:28.6.  

Coached by Trevor Sweeney, he now moved into his peak years. The highlight was the International Championship bronze medal in 1971, which won him the West Coast Sports Awards “Sportsperson of the Year.” He won the New Zealand cross-country nationals, probably the most coveted title for him, in 1972. He got third (behind the rising Dick Tayler and Kevin Ryan) in 1973, and also had two good fourth places in the road champs, 1970 and ’75.

But in some ways the race that mattered most was the Greymouth Two-Man Relay (later Two-Person), a quirky challenging five legs through hilly Coast farm and bush terrain, where traditionally Gray ran legs 1, 3, and 5, each about 5K, usually each under 14 minutes, and McKenzie took care of the longer laps 2 and 4. The pair won it at least eight times.

Another local race that often saw world-class performances from Gray was the Hokitika Boxing Day race (on his birthday), originally the Westland 8 Miles, nowadays modernised as Jim Hamilton’s 10K. Typical was 1973, when Gray won, as he always did, from a good visiting field, in 37:56. That is 2:57 km/4:45 pace for eight miles, on 1973 roads in 1973 shoes, by a full-time carpenter.

His work meant that Gray travelled a good deal up and down the Coast. But he rarely missed the club run or race on Saturdays, nor the long Sunday run on the Coast Road with McKenzie.

As he moved into the masters ranks, Gray remained formidable, focused mainly on winning the annual Christchurch half-marathon (in conjunction with the Marathon). His masters record of 1:06:18 in 1985 added to the Gray legend, 3:09km/5:04 miles at age 40. 

Like others of his era (Bryan Rose, Gavin Thorley, Geoff Pyne) Gray made cross-country his priority event. He could run a 4:10 mile, on grass, as all track was until the 1970s, and he could skim along at sub-5 miles on the road, but his light springy fluidity and indomitable spirit were ideal for the varied, unpredictable challenges of cross-country. Eddie Gray made a special contribution to a great era of cross-country for New Zealand. He still runs up the bush tracks around Greymouth, where he lives privately and almost reclusively, in the house where he was born. He is still capable of surprising younger runners who visit, and is a revered part of the West Coast’s tradition of sporting legend. 

By Roger Robinson