The former athlete was the recent official ambassador for the 2008 ACC New Zealand Masters Games in Dunedin and he spent five years living there during the early days of his running career in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
Dick has held numerous NZ titles and was ranked No.1 in the World for 10,000M in 1974 when he was named as "Sportsman of the Year"
Sadly, just twelve months later Dick was bed ridden with arthritis. It took him a further three years to get to gentle jogging but his athletic career was at an end.
Dick has always been a "people person" and was the NZ Marketing Manager for harness racing before taking up the reins with DB Breweries for five years. He later became involved in the gaming industry and is now the South Island manager for a business distributing gaming machines.
His love of rugby is well documented - he is the President of the Canterbury Rugby Supporters Club and is held in high esteem throughout the region.
Dick is an inspiring, motivating and popular after dinner speaker with an excellent sense of humour. He shares a raft of stories drawn from his athletic experiences and the people he has met. One of the most influential of these is the late Arthur Lydiard who played a major part in Dick winning Commonwealth gold.