Arthur Lydiard

• 20 miles - 1hr 54m 52.4s
• Marathon - 2hr 39m 05s

Like none other, Arthur Lydiards philosophy of running training touches everyone that pulls on a pair of running shoes. He devised the principles of training now employed by leading coaches and athletes all around the world, in track and field and many other sporting spheres; he invented the simple exercise of jogging which has infected millions with its benign bug.

First tested and found successful in the 1950s, the Lydiard system has undergone some subtle refinements through the years. But it remains the same elemental theory that first placed a small handful of ordinary runners, from Lydiard's immediate neighbourhood in an Auckland, New Zealand, suburb, at the forefront of world middle and distance running for more than a decade and then, as Lydiard advanced from being a coach of runners to an international coach of coaches, spread around the running tracks and training centres of the entire world.

"Arthur Lydiard turned a simple, practical faith in himself into a world-wide nostrum for everyone seeking a method of running better. His name and his methods have won instant recognition in many nations speaking many tongues. As gurus go in the modern world, he ranks among the greatest and, almost certainly the most physically and psychologically effective."
Garth Gilmour