The Rotorua Marathon 1977 winner Grahame Struthers, pictured having a look back in his scrap book of the race. Photo/Supplied
With the Rotorua Marathon fast approaching the Rotorua Daily Post takes a look back in the history books of the iconic race.
The first year the course ran from Government Gardens and clockwise around the lake, the marathon route we know today, was 40 years ago. Steve Landells caught up with 1977 winner Grahame Struthers - the Aucklander who with only two years of serious training behind him shocked a couple of legends that day to claim a memorable race win.
The previous year in Rotorua the relative unknown runner had sliced five minutes from his lifetime best to run 2h 22m 14s to place second behind Englishman Bernie Vine. However, in 1977 Struthers was among the favourites and it was not a feeling that sat comfortably with the modest West Aucklander.
"The 1976 race was a surprise," he explained. "But the next year I faced a lot more pressure, people expected I would be up there and I didn't enjoy it as much."
Maybe Struthers' pre-race nerves can be explained by a relative lack of experience. Born and raised in Massey Struthers took up running after breaking an arm playing rugby and it was only after he began serious training in early 1975 when he started to see real progress.
"I came back to New Zealand after a period overseas quite inspired by the 1974 Commonwealth Games," he said. "I then met a good runner called Roger Weatherley, who said, 'if you ever want to be runner, you need to start to do some decent training'."
The shipping clerk heeded the advice and incorporated huge 44km round trips from his home to his city centre workplace as part of his weekly training diet.
Under the demanding training load, he quickly improved and, within just over a year, lopped 25 minutes from his marathon PB to a best of 2h 27m ahead of the 1976 Rotorua Marathon.
There Struthers, now coached by Kevin Ryan the 1974 Rotorua Marathon champion, ran 2h 22m 14s and continued to improve, finishing third at the New Zealand Marathon Championships in Hawera two months before the 1977 Rotorua Marathon.
Nonetheless, it would be no easy challenge as his main opposition included veteran Jeff Julian, a two-time Olympian and former Fukuoka Marathon winner, whom he has beaten into second place the previous year, and former Boston Marathon winner and 2h 12m athlete Dave McKenzie.
Another factor to consider was the course route had changed from an anti-clockwise to its existing clockwise route around Lake Rotorua, which according to Struthers made the race more of a challenge.
"The hills were in the same place at the back of the course but I do think the drag from the airport to the finish was a long way and in 1977 it was into a headwind," he explained.
Struthers also hit a last-minute glitch with an untimely stomach bug the day before the race, but he shrugged off the inconvenience to step on to the start line.
Opting to bide his time, Julian and McKenzie took control of the race from the front before the eventual champion chose to launch his winning move on the last big hill around the 30km mark.
"I pushed on ahead and by the time we reached the top of the hill I had opened up quite a gap," Struthers said. "All I needed to do now was hang on. It was a great feeling to see Jack Foster (four-time former Rotorua Marathon champion), the legend, come alongside me on his push bike and say the words, 'you can win this'."
Struthers duly delivered on Foster to pull further ahead and stop the clock in 2h 22m 43s - marginally slower than he ran in 1976 on the anti-clockwise course - but more than 1m 30s clear of McKenzie in second.
"It was a great thrill to win," Struthers said, now a 65-year-old grandfather based in Whenuapai. "My grandparents were also there and I recall my gran - who was about 5ft nothing - prodding the person next to with her umbrella saying 'that's my grandson.' "
The 1977 Rotorua Marathon champion went on to win the Victoria Marathon in Melbourne in early June, to complete his third marathon in 13 weeks, and although he later posted several times below 2h 20m, he failed to finish the Rotorua Marathon on the defence of his title the following year due to a lack of fitness.
Reflecting on a proud career in the sport, Struthers, who today works as an exporter, believed he fulfilled his potential and said he had little doubt about the standout moment.
"Winning Rotorua was probably the highlight," he said. "It is one of the great races on the New Zealand calendar and never an easy race to win. It is a great course, a circular course and to its great credit it has carried on for to be a successful event for many years."