Marion Hextall, Naracoorte Community News
A Naracoorte athlete of the early 1900s whose records were compared with those of Olympians has been largely forgotten today.
Robert Leitch later became a guide at the Caves, but prior to that he was renown as an outstanding long-distance athlete.
How far can you walk in 24 hours? What is your best time for a ten-mile run? His exploits can be found in newspapers of the day ranging from Kalgoorlie to Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland.
His name began to appear in 1903 when he was 20 years old, winning one-mile and half-mile races at athletic meetings in Naracoorte, Kingston and Mount Gambier, and in 1906 he established a South Australian record for a one-mile race.
By 1907 he was winning races at Nhill and competing at the Stawell Easter Sports. In May 1908 he attempted to break the world record for a 24-hour walk but frequent showers of rain slowed his performance and he had to be content with only breaking the Australian record.
The following year he attempted to break the Australia marathon record but again was hampered by rain, but four months later was successful in breaking the Australian record for a ten-mile run.
Some of his records were achieved when Athletic League officials weren’t present, so the records weren’t recognized until he broke them for a second time.
He eventually concentrated on long distance records and racing against champions from other States, usually in Mt Gambier or Adelaide but occasionally in Melbourne.
He was very narrowly beaten in 1910 in a one-mile race against school teacher WP Steele of Edenhope who was the Victorian champion.
An agreement was signed for a race against a Canadian athlete in Sydney in 1911 but when Robert arrived the Canadian wanted to change the terms of the agreement so the race didn’t proceed.
The spectators at many of the exhibition races were charged an entrance fee and the competitors received an appearance fee from the organisers, which would have been handy for Robert. There were no sponsors in those days to pay for railfares or days away from work.
At a record attempt in September 1911 it was announced this would be his last contest as he was about to be married, but he continued for another twelve months until the age of 29. He held Australian records for the 24-hour, one-hour and fifty-mile walks and the ten-mile run, as well as State records and intermediate distances.
A story is told that Robert and a local resident in a horse-drawn conveyance met at a crossroads somewhere out of Naracoorte, where both of them were heading; the other man asked “can I give you lift?” but Robert replied “No thanks, I’m in a hurry.”
This article appeared in Naracoorte Community News.
