Welcome to The Lydiard Legend Marathon and Arthur's Half Marathon

2010 EVENT DATE - SATURDAY SEPTEMBER THE 18TH

The Lydiard Legend Marathon and Arthur's Half Marathon will once again be on the event calendar in 2010, and will be held on Saturday, 18 September.

Not only has The Lydiard Legend Marathon been billed as the toughest road marathon in the country, it will also be the richest in prize money.

There will once again be significant cash prizes up for grabs in 2010.

In order to safeguard the event and guarantee its ongoing place as a premier event on the NZ running calendar, the Legend Charitable Trust was established. The Legend event is now owned and operated by the Legend Charitable Trust. Trustees are; Ian Winson (Chairman), Katherine Winson, Garth Gilmour, Gary Lydiard & Aaron Carter.

Both events follow the famous Waiatarua routes (set in the Waitakere Ranges in West Auckland ) previously used by Arthur Lydiard to train his prodigies - elite athletes such as Sir Peter Snell and Sir Murray Halberg, among others such as the Arch Jelley-trained Sir John Walker.

Arthur's training courses are now world-renowned and countless elite and not-so-elite athletes from many parts of the world have used it them, and still do, as a key element of their training regimes and schedules. The Waiatarua run through the Waitakere Ranges is as punishing a course as you can do and its benefits are beyond reproach.

The focus of The Legend event is to celebrate, enjoy and experience the Lydiard training route within a structured race environment. Since Arthur's death in December 2004, the event has grown from a 35km run to a full marathon and now takes on an even greater significance. Arthur Lydiard, well known and recognised as the guru of distance running worldwide, was still spreading the word in the United States at the time of his death.

The Legend was an idea conceived by Ian Winson after viewing a television documentary earlier in 2004, featuring a young athlete completing a run on the Lydiard training route.

Contact was made with Arthur to seek permission to organise an event in his name, he gave his blessing and written permission – and The Legend was born.

Training Schedules by Arthur Lydiard

Thanks to Arthur's good friend and co-author Garth Gilmour, we are able to offer Arthur Lydiard's original marathon and half-marathon schedules to anyone looking for some training pointers. These were published in the Lydiard-Gilmour book, Run To the Top, in 1962. They were in good old-fashioned miles and yards but are re-produced here in metric distances.

Download Arthur Lydiards Run to the Top with Master Coach Arthur Lydiard

By Garth Gilmour, Arthur's biographer and co-author for more than 40 years


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