Olympic runner a regular at HOY

Olympic gold medallist John Walker, at Horse of the Year in Hastings. Photo / Paul Taylor

Horse of the Year has drawn crowds far and wide including Olympic gold medallist and record-holder Sir John Walker.

Sir John, a middle-distance runner known for his success in the mile run, was attending the show for the 20th year in a row to exhibit he and his wife Helen Walker's company Stirrups Equestrian - a business supplying clothing and horse apparel.

The pair were happy to be at the competition this year and expected to see good business despite the wet weather.

"The weather washed us out on Monday so we have lost a trading day but you can't do anything about that," he said.

"We have been coming here for 20 years and it is a great show. It is really good business every year.

"It has been a big exercise to get up here. The stall takes about seven hours to set up and another seven to pack everything away again, but it is worth it."

The company had seven staff manning its stall to cope with the large crowds and the anticipated large sale volumes.

Sir John achieved world prominence in 1974 when he ran in the 1500 metres final at the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. Running second to Filbert Bayi, both runners broke world records.

The following year, Sir John broke the world record for the mile with a time of 3:49.4 minutes set in Sweden on August 12, 1975.

Then in 1976 Sir John won the Olympic Games 1500m in Montreal, where he was the favourite to win.

"Being the favourite made the race very daunting. When you are racing in front of a crowd of 85,000 it is tough.

"But I believed in myself and I knew I could do it. I had the talent to do it but executing it was the hard part," he said.

"I kept thinking don't fall over, don't fall over as I ran. I was just hoping to get to the end without falling over."

During his race, Sir John said he was unaware of the other runners, focusing instead on the noise from the crowd.

For his efforts on the field, Sir John was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and was awarded the Olympic Bronze Order by the Olympic Committee in 1996.

"Winning that race was the best thing that could have ever happened in my life. I was tired when I finished it but so relieved I had won, because of all the training I had put into it. "I had been doing intense training for four years prior to it and running around 90 miles a week," he said.

As for Horse of the Year, Sir John said things weather-wise were starting to look up which meant business could go on as usual.