Dixon’s Big Apple Re-run

On 23 October 1983, Nelson-born middle distance runner Rod Dixon raced past UK-emigrant Geoff Smith and won the New York City Marathon raising his hands to the sky in victory. The winning snapshot is not unlike that of Muhammad Ali’s celebrated moment of victory against Sonny Liston at Lewiston in 1965; in New York in 1983 it came after more than two hours of pounding the streets of the city’s five boroughs at close to world-record pace. “I’ve got a copy of the picture here,” Dixon, 58, said from his office in Los Angeles with the 25th anniversary fast approaching of the New Zealander’s epic tussle with Smith, the one-time Liverpool fireman, who lies prone in exhaustion to the rear of Dixon in the famous image. As it is, a quarter of a century on, Dixon is getting ready to return to New York as a hero. On 2 November he will run in the ING New York Marathon alongside one of his daughters, Emma, 29. “It will be an amazing experience for me to run the marathon with Emma,” he said. “I still love to run. I don’t have to win or be the fastest. I just like to go out and connect with the emotional, physical and spiritual part of running.” Since 2006, Dixon has helped coach the LA Roadrunners – a Los Angeles Marathon training club open to the public.