Running clubs puff to their finish line
A proud sporting tradition is fading, writes Jackson Thomas.
Some athletics clubs are running towards oblivion as they fail to attract new members and suffer from the growing commercialisation of large-scale social running events.
New Zealand has a fine tradition of producing Olympic champion runners, such as Murray Halberg, Peter Snell and John Walker, many of whom started out running at their local clubs.
But in the last year, two of the 24 registered clubs in Canterbury closed down, Waikato lost one and Wellington saw the closure of three, according to Athletics New Zealand’s annual report.
Clubs such as the Onehunga Athletics and Harriers Running Club in Auckland, established in 1939, is another such that has fallen on tough times.
With just 10 members – the youngest being 63 – the club is desperate for members, preferably young blood.
Don Park, 71, has been a life member since joining at 15 years old.
The club had not had a new member ‘‘in many, many years’’ and marathons were mainly to blame for the decline, he said.
‘‘Back in the 60s and 70s, everyone wanted to run marathons and they were all the rage but to do so, you had to be part of a running club,’’ he said.
‘‘Nowadays anyone with $100 can turn up and have a go. The organisers don’t care, they just want their $100.’’
Hamilton City Hawks running club president Glenn Sexton said the state of running in New Zealand was good, but agreed that marathons had affected It becomes part of your community, part of your family, when you’ve been involved in a club for that long. We cater for everyone. Everyone matters, you all feel like you’re equal. participation at club level.
‘‘Back in the day, being a part of a club was the only way to race. Obviously, now that is no longer the case and some clubs have failed to adapt,’’ he said.
The remaining members of the Onehunga club were now based out of Fergusson Domain, having been moved on from their old base at Waikaraka Park.
The average age was about 75 and they meet most weekends for ‘‘a shuffle around the block’’, Park said.
Unless membership numbers increased, the club would have to officially shut down, he said.
Fellow life member Alan Eustance, 75, said it would be ‘‘heart-breaking’’ to see the club go under and he hoped younger members would be encouraged to join before it was too late.
‘‘Back in the day we would have parents and their kids all running together, it was great. I have made mates for life through this club,’’ Eustance said.
The Onehunga Club had two Olympians over the years, including Barry Magee who won a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1960 Olympics.
Two-time World Mountain Running Champion Melissa Moon said clubs needed to move with the times to attract new members.
Moon has run with the Wellington Scottish Athletics Club since she was talent-scouted as a 13-year-old, and said the club had always been inclusive and progressive.
‘‘It becomes part of your community, part of your family, when you’ve been involved in a club for that long.’’
After being mentored by her coach to become a world champion, Moon was now helping other young runners coming through the club.
‘‘We cater for everyone. Everyone matters, you all feel like you’re equal.’’
The New Zealand Road Relay Championships, a highlight of the athletics calender, were held in Rotorua yesterrday. And although more than 100 teams competed, Moon said participation was down on previous years.
Olympic 5000m silver medallist-turned Auckland Councillor Dick Quax said he was disappointed to see running clubs struggling, but equally it didn’t surprise him.
Lack of facilities was a big reason for membership decline within the smaller establishments, and parents would rather take their kids to the ‘‘bigger, more established clubs’’, he said.
A spokesperson for the Wellington Harrier Athletic Club, founded in 1903, said that although membership numbers were not at the levels of the running boom of the 1970s and 80s, they were seeing steady growth every year.