Masters Games: Battling tide of expectation

Members of the Moller family (from left): Bruce, Gary, Gordon and former Olympian Lorraine on Takapuna Beach yesterday. Bruce competed in the WMG ocean paddling event. Photo / Nick Reed

Coming from a high-performing family, where your sister is a bona fide legend of New Zealand sport, carries with it a certain amount of pressure, as surf ski racer Bruce Moller can attest.

Imagine his feelings, hitting the wall 3km from the finish of the World Masters Games ocean paddling event, with rivals streaming past towards the Takapuna Beach finish.

Now imagine sister Lorraine, a former Boston marathon winner, four-time Olympian and 1992 Barcelona bronze medallist, as part of his support team.

Add into the equation the two brothers who have already struck gold at WMG2017, waiting on shore to celebrate a unique trifecta of victories across three different sports.

On Saturday, Australian-based Gordon Moller took out the M60-64 half-marathon title with a time of 1h 29m 56s around the Auckland waterfront. On Monday, Gary Moller finished two minutes clear of his nearest 60-64 rival in the mountain bike event at Woodhill Forest.

But for Bruce, yesterday those paddlers just kept passing by ...

"We're a competitive family," he reflected afterwards. "There's no such thing as a friendly jog, it always ends up as a race.

"After Gary and Gordon both won golds, the pressure was on, but it wasn't to be. Over those last few kilometres, there were a few really old-looking guys passing me."

He would eventually finish fifth in his Men 55+ division, more than two minutes behind Kiwi winner Sven Hanson over the 15km.

But Bruce didn't expect too much trash talk from his brothers: "No, I'm a lot bigger and stronger than them."

Win or lose, Moller had enjoyed his day. With six siblings scattered around the globe, this was a nice way to bring the family together.

While Lorraine could not be enticed out of retirement - her last competitive outing was 46th at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, aged 41 - her fingerprints were all over her brothers' WMG2017 performances.

"I figure I've done my dash with competition," she insisted. "I have no desire to compete any more, but I'm really interested in helping other people to fulfil their dreams."

Based in Boulder, Colorado, Lorraine now travels the world, teaching the training principles made famous by legendary coach Arthur Lydiard, through his stable of athletes that included Peter Snell and Murray Halberg in the 1960s. While those teachings were applied primarily to running, they hold true for any activity that draws on aerobic capacity and Moller used them to great effect through her own career.

"I've been busy the last 11 years, putting together the Lydiard Foundation, teaching those principles to coaches. I go where I get invited. I just got back from England, I've been up in Canada and done quite a few in the US. I can see that, in a lot of areas in training, especially in older people, we need to get back to those basic principles that Lydiard proposed, because there's so much information out there and it's hard to disseminate the good from the bad. The Lydiard stuff is fantastic for performance and done correctly, it's regenerative."

• Gordon Moller has an opportunity to add to the family's World Masters Games medal haul on Sunday, when he contests the cross-country event at Auckland Domain.