Barry Magee

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Arthur Barrington "Barry" Magee (born February 6, 1934 in New Plymouth / Taranaki ) is a New Zealand athlete who was successful as a long-distance and marathon runner in the early 1960s . The 1.65 m tall and 53 kg heavy athlete started for the Three Kings Athletic Club in Auckland . He was trained by Arthur Lydiard .

Magee won several national championships (possible title wins before 1960 are not documented):

year 1961 1962
6 miles (min) 29: 07.4 29: 25.4
Marathon (h) 2:18:55 2:24:56

He also appeared on an international level.

At the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958 he started over 3 and 6 miles, in 1962 in Perth only over 6 miles, where he achieved his best result with fourth place and in 28: 41.0 minutes was only two tenths behind the third placed.

At the 1960 Olympics in Rome and 1964 in Tokyo he went over 10,000 meters at the start, but did not come successful in the top 20. By far he was against it on the marathon course, which he in addition to the 10,000 m denied in Rome (in Tokyo he was registered for the marathon, but had to cancel due to an injury). The competition was all about the barefoot Ethiopian Abebe Bikila (gold in 2: 15: 16.2 h), with whom only the Moroccan Rhadi Ben Abdesselam (silver in 2: 15: 41.6 h) kept pace, but Magee was able to take almost two minutes from the Soviet master Konstantin Vorobjow and finished third in 2: 17: 18.2 hours.

Magee celebrated another great success in December of the same year when he won the famous Fukuoka Marathon in 2:19:04 h and at the same time set a course record.

Finally, Magee signed the list of world record holders. On July 17, 1961 in Dublin , the New Zealand team (cast: Gary Philpott , Murray Halberg , Barry Magee as third runner and Peter Snell ) was victorious over 4x1 mile in the new best time of 16: 23.8 minutes (it was ten months later pressed by a team from the USA to 16: 08.9 min; best time today: 15: 49.08 min, set in 1985 by Ireland ).

Barry Magee's best performances are given:

  • 10,000 m: 28: 50.8 min (1961)
  • Marathon: 2:17:19 h (1960)

Magee now lives in Auckland, where he runs a running school.

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personal data
SURNAME Magee, Barry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Magee, Arthur Barrington (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand athlete
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH New Plymouth , Taranaki , New Zealand