With sparking a golden era of Kiwi athletics
in Edinburgh behind the great Kip Keino.
“He was the only one to go out and give it a go [against Keino], and that inspired a lot of runners in New Zealand and I was just one of them.
“It wasn’t long before I was racing him and he would be telling me to stay behind him, until it was time to go. He was a character. I loved the guy.
“I think at first, a lot of us were in awe of him. He was a silver medallist and we were a little shy in coming forward in those days.
“We didn’t know how he would respond and we didn’t have social media to form an opinion.
“It wasn’t long before he was quite prepared to share his knowledge,
At first, a lot of us were in awe of him . . . It wasn’t long before he was quite prepared to share his knowledge, give advice. Rod Dixon on Dick Quax
give advice, encouragement.”
Dixon recalled that the famous trio “travelled a lot, suitcase in one hand, shoes in the other — it was amazing really”.
“Dick was very good at getting us to balance everything — we were running four or five times a week in Europe.
“It was Dick who was the lead, who was very good at working with race directors. I was pretty good at organising travel. John was pretty good at winning races.
“We were a great combo and a threesome. We had to do it all ourselves. We always thought of it as 33 per cent each, all contributed equally. That followed right through to the rest of our lives. It was an incredible friendship that went on for 48, 50 years.
“He was very opinionated, very determined that his opinion was taken seriously. Somehow with all of this, we got along brilliantly, we never had a cross word, never fell out, always found a way to compromise or put it behind us. That was the great thing about that man.”