Rod Dixon

A charismatic and larger-than-life personality, Rod Dixon enjoyed a stellar 17-year international career in which his versatility reaped huge rewards on the track, cross country and on the road.

A surprise winner of an Olympic 1500m bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Games, Rod went on to win a brace of individual medals at the World Cross Country Championships before memorably claiming an emotional victory at the 1983 New York City Marathon.

Born and raised in Nelson, together with his younger sister Bernice and older brother John, Rod found school life, and sitting in the classroom tough.

“I struggled at school, I didn’t pay attention, I was a fidget, disturbed others and was quite happy to look out of the window,” he explains of his formative years.

However participation in various sports, and more particularly running, was to prove his saviour. “Born again” and his life “ignited” after joining a local athletics club (Nelson Methodist Harriers) at the age of 12 suddenly Rod found an outlet for his excess energy and quickly discovered a natural ability to run cross country, and other club running events.

“I would run as fast as I could for as long as I could, I was in my element,” he recalls. “I used to love jumping fences and in some races I was so far ahead I used to fall deliberately in the creek to get muddy to make it look like I’d worked harder than I had.”

In 1963 he joined the Nelson Amateur Athletics Harrier and Cycling Club – which he describes as like his “second family” – he fully embraced the club and the wider running community. Initially a good athlete, although no world-beater, it was only later between the age of 17 and 18 “when the dots started to connect” did he step up to a new level. During this period, he won the U20 South Island Cross Country Championships, finished second in the U20 race at the national cross country championships, won the New Zealand junior mile title and quickly advanced his PB over the classic distance from 4:19 to 4:06.

Recognising the significant improvement, older brother, John, who would himself later win two national cross country titles, took on the role as Rod’s coach.

“He was three years older but saw something in me that he recognised as a potential world-class athlete,” explains Rod. “He put his full effort into coaching, he was always there to support me and he would jump in and out of my training sessions to make sure everything was consistent.”

Broadly adopting the Lydiard principles and philosophy of training – the pair were also very open to other ideas. They explored yoga, cross training, carried out training on the sand dunes and were prepared to not only run anti-clockwise around the track but also clockwise to help build all-round muscle strength and conditioning.

The elixir was starting to work. Aged 20 at the time, Rod made his New Zealand debut at the 1971 International Cross Country Championships – the forerunner for what later became the World Cross Country Championships – in San Sebastian, Spain. Impressing over the 12km distance he finished tenth to signal his future potential.

Given his cross country pedigree many expected the rising talent to target the steeplechase or 5000m in pursuit of a place in the New Zealand team at the following year’s Munich Olympic Games. However, the strong-minded Nelsonian had other ideas.

“I said to John, I wanted to run the 1500m because of Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and John Davies,” explains Rod, who in 1971 was also crowned New Zealand cross country champion. “John looked at me, put his hand on the table and said ‘done, let’s do it’.”

Working to a specific training plan, Rod knew he needed to run a quick time at the Olympic Trials, so John was prepared to set a fast pace and sacrifice his personal 5000m ambitions for his younger brother. It proved the masterstroke, as Rod set a personal best of 3:41.0 to book his ticket for the Munich Olympics.

“That was when John had passed on the baton to me, it was a defining moment,” recalls Rod.

Embarking on his first European athletics adventure in 1972 – spending much time alongside fellow Kiwis, Dick Tayler, Jack Foster, Dave McKenzie, Dick Quax – he describes the experience of competing on the international track and field circuit for the first time as “Dixon in Wonderland.”

Nonetheless, by the time he arrived in the Munich Olympic Village he was still ranked a lowly 47th in the 70-strong field and few gave the 22-year-old Kiwi a prayer.

Soaking in the Olympic atmosphere for the first time was a mind-blowing experience for the young South Islander however his world was turned upside down following the barbaric massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic team members and a West German Police office by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.

“It was an absolute shock,” recalls Rod. “The New Zealand team were housed right next to the Israeli compound and that morning (of the massacre) I went out to the balcony and saw a man with a balaclava with a machine gun. I had no idea what was going on or that we were under siege. It was only 10 or 15 minutes later we had a knock on the door and told to get our passports and get out. Avery Brundage, the IOC President, suggested the Games should be cancelled but the Israeli’s said ‘don’t you dare cancel. We cannot bow to terrorism’. I’d like to think I ran with that spirit in my heart too.”

Some four years earlier during the 1968 Mexico City Games he had recalled listening on a transistor radio to Kenya’s Kip Keino defeat world record-holder Jim Ryun to gold and suggested to his friends, that he wanted to compete against the pair in Munich.

As fate would have it in his first round heat in Munich, Rod would face both Keino and Ryan. But while the American tripped and fell his Olympic dream in tatters, the Kiwi advanced to the semi-final with a one-second personal best in 3:40.0 to place second in the same time as heat winner Keino.

His confidence rising, in the semi-final Rod scalped a further 2.1secs from his lifetime best to run 3:37.9 and advance quickest to the final.

Yet the long-striding angular Kiwi was to save his best for last, setting a national record 3:37.5 for bronze behind Pekka Vasala of Finland and Keino in silver.

“It was incredible, amazing and I was very humbled to break Peter Snell’s New Zealand record,” he explains. “I felt very spiritually, emotionally and physically connected to that bronze medal. After all these years that medal still always travels with me. Presidents and Prime Ministers, Sir Edmund Hillary have touched the medal as have sporting legends such as (American footballer) Joe Montana and (basketballer) Magic Johnson. When I go to schools, I tell kids about the famous people who have touched the medal together with thousands of KiDS all over the world. It still gives incredible energy. Nothing else has that power.”

Success continued in 1973 as he won a bronze medal at the inaugural World Cross Country Championships in Waregem, Belgium and he also impressed in the UK winning the AAA 1500m title and English Cross Country title as a guest. Rod also gave further evidence of his incredible versatility by setting a New Zealand record of 8.29.0 on his 3000m steeplechase debut in Oslo.

In 1974 Rod was all set for an assault on the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. Desperately looking forward to competing at a home Games his preparations were, however, given a jolt when he injured his back attempting to jump a gate during a training run.

Despite this Rod still ran an outstanding race in the final, placing fourth in a personal best 3:33.89 behind the world-record breaking run of Tanzania’s lion-hearted Filbert Bayi.

“It was unbelievable race and to this day many writers regard it as the greatest 1500m race in history,” he explains. “I had run the fifth fastest time in history but I only finished fourth in the race! What this told me was for the 1976 Olympics, I should be looking at the 5000m.”

The move up in distance appeared a masterstroke when in 1975 he was ranked number one in the world for 5000m and in 1976 he continued to impress winning a second AAA 1500m title.

However, in the final of the 1976 Montreal Olympics, a race where was up against Finnish track legend Lasse Viren, who was gunning for a second successive Olympic 5000m and 10,000m double, and his Kiwi friend and rival Dick Quax, he had to settle for an agonising fourth. Finishing just 0.12 behind bronze medallist Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand of Germany, who had dived across the line to nab the minor medal, Dixon was heartbroken to miss out on the dais.

“As I crossed the finish line I had thought I had won bronze but when I found out it was fourth I was devastated,” he recalls of an epic 5000m final won by Viren with Quax in silver.

Rod won his second national cross country title and in 1978, secured the 1500m and 5000m double at the national championships, surprisingly, his first national senior track titles.

Primed and ready for the Commonwealth 5000m final in Edmonton later that year, his preparations minutes before the final suffered a major setback after his kitbag was stolen containing his spikes. 

“Emotionally spent” and running in borrowed shoes, Rod finished a distant eighth in the 5000m final before repeating that placing in the 1500m.

Angry to be denied the chance to compete at the 1980 Moscow Olympics following the controversial New Zealand boycott of the Games had the benefit of ushering in the second phase of his running career. He switched to the USA road running circuit, where he quickly established a reputation as the man to beat. The move supported his travel and living in the USA with his young family and allowed him to focus full-time on training, leading to improved rest and recovery. “Running became my business,” he remarks.

In 1982 he rolled back the years to snare a second World Cross Country Championship bronze medal in Rome and also claimed victory on his marathon debut in Auckland, stopping the clock in a handy 2:11:21. Encouraged by his performance over the 42.2km distance he targeted the following year’s New York City Marathon for his second marathon. Taking a different approach to the previous season, where he has competed 40 times, he and John scaled back the competitive appearances to focus on a detailed marathon training plan.

And it was a plan that was carried out to perfection for Rod, who trained and prepared in the Amish farmlands and countryside of Pennsylvania.

“This time, I knew I had prepared the best ever, he remarks. “I had been totally focused for 25 weeks of marathon training.”

In one of the most memorable New York City Marathons in history Rod reeled in Englishman Geoff Smith in the final mile to clinch victory in damp conditions by just nine seconds in a national record time – which was to last 35 years – of 2:08:59.

After crossing the line he dropped to his knees and kissed the wet pavement. He then raised his arms and put his hands on his head. “That finish was a reflection of the highs and lows, I’d experienced during my running journey. I wasn’t grandstanding. It was the defining moment of my career.”

Admitting to becoming distracted in the wake of his success in the “Big Apple” he returned to training six weeks later than he should have in preparation for the 1984 Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles. A little undercooked he was, nonetheless, still good enough to place a solid tenth in 2:12:57

Rod, aged 38 at the time, made his final senior international appearance at the 1988 World Cross Country Championships in Auckland. However, he later won the World Masters 1500m and 5000m double in the M45 category.

Post his competitive career he has stayed closely connected to the sport of running. He served as Race Director of the Auckland Round the Bays Run, Director of the Sovereign Mile series and the Rod Dixon’s Family 5k and 2k Fun Run as well as organising several community fun runs and marathons. He was also Director of Training and Coaching for the Los Angeles Marathon for 10 years. Today spending much of his time based in California, he directs the Rod Dixon’s KiDSMARATHON Foundation, where he has spread his message of health, fitness and nutrition to more than 500,000 youngsters in the USA and New Zealand.

www.kidsmarathonfoundation.org

Rod, 69, who has four children and four grandchildren, was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Written by Steve Landells