On the Wings of Mercury

Book excerpt: Lorraine Moller is one of New Zealand's greatest women distance runners. Four times an Olympic contender, winner of three Avon Women's Marathons, winner of the Boston Marathon, three times the winner of the Osaka international Ladies' Marathon, and a Commonwealth Games medallist, she is indeed a living legend of the running world. Lorraine began running barefoot with her father near her home in Putaruru and went on to win a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games. Here, in her own words, Lorraine looks back on a golden era of athletics in New Zealand and the personalities she ran with - Arthur Lydiard, Dick Quax, rod Dixon, Anne Audain, Allison roe and others. She traces her development as a world-class competitor and reveals the strategies and coping techniques that took her to the world stage. A longtime battler for equality and professionalism in distance running, Lorraine is upfront about her struggles with officialdom. With the roman god Mercury as her guide, Lorraine competed with immense courage and determination at the highest level. Here is a candid, personal story of an extraordinary life: intense, insightful and highly entertaining.