Magic Moments: Derek Turnbull, probably Southland's most acclaimed runner
"I first met Derek in 1987 at the Melbourne World masters Champs, where I witnessed his six gold medal triumphs. However, to me, the magic moment of all the magic moments was a race he didn’t win."
Southland athletics has produced many magical moments so as part of a Tribune series we are recalling some of them. Today Lance Smith takes a look back at what a legend of Southland running - Derek Turnbull - achieved.
There were so many magic moments in Derek Turnbull’s running life that it would take a book to describe them all. (In fact there is one, The Fastest Old Man in the World by Vince Boyle)
Derek was a down to earth Southland farmer. He was also probably the most acclaimed and accomplished runner Southland has produced.
Derek won 28 world championships, set 25 world records. had documentaries made about him, a book on his life and still has his name to 14 New Zealand records, some lasting over 40 years.
Sure, these are all masters records and performances, but being at the top as a 60 year old is just as tough and demanding as being a top 25 year old. The world masters championships is the biggest athletics event in the world, yes bigger than the Olympics, and just as hard to win.
Win he did. At more than one world championship he won 6 titles – 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m, marathon and crosscountry. A brutal schedule made all the more demanding by having heats in the 800 and 1500. schedule for anyone, let alone a 61 year old as Derek as was then. And don’t think small fields made things easy: the M60 10,000 for instance, had over 60 entrants.
I first met Derek in 1987 at the Melbourne World masters Champs, where I witnessed his six gold medal triumphs. However to me, the magic moment of all the magic moments was a race he didn’t win. Place getters in the 1500’s all raced a mile with entrants handicapped by age.
Normally Derek would probably win such a contest but this one came straight after the marathon.
On the handicapping system used he finished middle of the field but running at 5.26 mile at 61 is notable; running it straight after a 2.42 marathon is almost beyond belief.
Mant would put his gold medal world championships as their magic moment, but to me that mile surpassed them all. And was he disappointed he didn’t win? Not in the least. Having a run was all the satisfaction he needed.
Derek hardly slowed as he got older. At 60 he was running almost as fast as he was as a teenager.
He claimed he didn’t train, just went for runs. But those runs might be 4 hours or they might be a sprint to the next tree. While he didn’t call it training, it was quality training. Southland farmer style.
He died in 2006, aged 79 following an earlier stroke.
The Forest Hill bush track was re-named by DOC as the Derek Turnbull track, “in honour of world-renown, home-grown athlete, a passionate environmentalist who used Forest Hill as a training ground.”
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We used to have friends and family BBQs at the Forest Hill picnic ground on Sundays many years ago and often Derek would appear from the road and head off up the track and reappear an hour later heading back in the direction of his home a few kms away. On one occasion he stopped and asked if we had any coke or another drink with sugar in it. I remember looking at his shoes and they had holes in the sides and looked pretty tattered.
When Graeme Hyde was training a sizeable group of runners a few years later he would go out and run the track right across Forest Hill and return along the road. The track with its up and down terrain was great for building stamina he said.
Southland was well served by guys like Graeme who did it for the love or the sport rather than any personal gain. Laurie Tall in cycling, Ian Hamilton in rowing and many others just loved their chosen sports and would put in time and knowledge that was invaluable in todays world where everything is measured in dollar notes