The countdown is now down to 51 days until we commemorate the 175th anniversary of the settlers landing at Howick Beach with a picnic.
As part of the Howick 175 events and celebrations, we have asked Howick/Pakuranga residents to share some of their memories, Today we hear from Phil Dark. The Dark family played a big role in running organised athletics events in Howick
My Dad, Alan Dark, was always sporty, playing rugby as all young Kiwis did back in the day, also dabbling in amateur boxing and athletics.
When he and Mum – Elaine – moved to Howick, he was a well-established runner with the Technical Harrier Club, when an ad in the local newspaper caught his eye.
He and a few like-minded people gathered and out of that first meeting he and a man who would become one of his closest friends reformed the HAAHC – the Howick Amateur Athletic and Harrier Club.
His close friend, an Englishman with a love for running, was Fred Woods.
His wife Alma Woods was instrumental in founding the first theatre group in Howick, which we now know as Howick Little Theatre.
Things were very different in those days. It was long before the running or jogging boom, and most people who ran or, heaven forbid, trained semi-seriously, were thought of as strange.
My mother tells the story of pushing me or my sister Robyn up the main street in Howick only to have people cross the street, so as not to talk to the woman who was married to the strange Dark bloke who ran.
This was back in the mid-1950s, long before the exploits of Bill Baillie, Barry Magee, John Davies and Sir Peter Snell.
Their coach, Arthur Lydiard, was just a milkman in Mt Albert.
There was however an interest in running in Howick, firstly on the roads and then on the cross-country courses on local farms.
To give an idea of how obscure the sport was at the time, you needed a doctor’s certificate to enter road-running events like marathons, run in the heat of the day in summer.
I’m very proud to say my dad was a good runner and, as membership started to grow, the Howick club began to field teams in regional relays and, with a bit of unofficial coaching from him, began featuring in the results.
The HAAHC also catered for kids and started athletics nights on Wednesdays at club headquarters, Howick Domain.
Through the late 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, these nights would see the domain completely packed with children and adults regularly competing in sprint races, long and high jump, shot-put, discus, and even javelin.
Dad was involved in the administration of the club, serving terms as club captain, secretary, and president. He also became the club’s delegate to Auckland Athletics and the club’s standout events were inter-club competitions.
A standout on the club’s calendar was the annual Howick 10-Mile Road Race, a brutal out and back course that started and finished at Howick Domain.
This event had some of the best runners in New Zealand in it and winning. Jack Foster, the 1974 Commonwealth Games marathon silver medallist, at 40, was one that triumphed over the rolling hills in a course record.
For his efforts, Dad was made a life member, but I always thought my Mum should have got the same honour as she was beside him all the way.
- Full version of story at www.howick175.co.nz
