Iron will to win brings tragic end

By ANGELA GREGORY

She was focused, smart, talented and could run like the wind.

But some of the qualities which took Auckland schoolteacher Helen Moros to international ranking as a long-distance runner contributed to her death.

The 35-year-old collapsed and died at her Mt Wellington home on Waitangi Day after years of suffering from anorexia nervosa.

Her death was shocking, but not unexpected, to those who knew her.

Primary and intermediate-age pupils at Bailey Rd School in Mt Wellington had for three years watched Moros waste away in front of their eyes.

It caused distress to some parents, but the school could not interfere.

The primary teachers' union offers personal and professional counselling services, but it is up to the teacher to make use of them.

Moros' family are too upset to yet talk publicly about the loss of their daughter and sister.

A former coach, John Davies, recalls an intelligent and determined runner. "It is terribly tragic. She was a wonderful person and a very talented athlete."

Davies, president of the Olympics Committee, coached Moros in the mid-1990s.

He acknowledged light weight was considered an asset in long distance runners, but said excessive dieting could finish their careers.

Davies suspected Moros had an eating disorder when he coached her, and said abuse of diet was brought to her attention.

"It was not something people ignored, but in the end it is a very difficult matter to deal with."

Davies said Moros, with her firm views and iron will, had the classic personality type for anorexia.

"It was very difficult to get her to be moderate at times."

Davies said his strategy to improve Moros' health had been to encourage her into five and 10km track races, where her training could be changed quite dramatically.

While Moros was hard on herself, she was admired by others, he said.

"She was very dedicated, also as a teacher."

Others who knew her as the successful athlete who made the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland never realised Moros' tiny frame was anything but that of a competitive runner.

Sports journalist and Athletics Board member Murray McKinnon, followed Moros' career through the 1990s not knowing she was suffering from the debilitating disorder.

Instead he saw a "very determined, very positive" young woman.

"She knew in her mind what she wanted and what she wanted to achieve."

Moros gained exposure overseas with good rankings in the United States, including fourth places in the Chicago and Los Angeles marathons in 1990.

In Wellington in 1993 Moros won the 10,000m New Zealand national title, which gave her a ticket to the world track and field championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

She did not compete because of an injury problem.

She carried on to win New Zealand half-marathons, cross-country races, and long-distance championships before turning her considerable energies into a teaching career.

Dr Roget Mysliwiec, clinical director of Auckland Hospital's Eating Disorders Service, said about 3 to 5 per cent of anorexics were likely to die from health problems such as heart or kidney failure.

The longer a person had the condition, the more likely it was that they would die within the next five years.

There was often a strong genetic component, and vulnerable women were not able to diet within a healthy range. Low self-esteem and a high degree of perfectionism were common traits.

Dr Mysliwiec said anorexics who overexercised lost sensitivity as to what was happening to their bodies.

"It is not uncommon for them to just collapse mid-exercise."