Arthur Richard Paton Eustace (22 April 1926 – 24 April 2018) was a New Zealand sprinter, athletics coach, and national and International track and field administrator.

Biography

In 1944, Eustace was the athletics champion of

Takapuna Grammar School Takapuna Grammar School is a state coeducational secondary school located in the suburb of Belmont on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Established in 1927, the school mainly serves the eponymous suburb of Takapuna and the entire Devo ...

in Auckland. Later that year, he won the 120 yards hurdles at the Auckland inter-secondary schools championships, setting a new record in the process. In 1945, as a member of the Auckland Amateur Athletic and Cycle Club, he won the Auckland Centre junior 120 yards hurdles championship and set a new record. In March that year, he won the national junior 120 yards hurdles championship and set a new record of 15.0 s. In early April, at an invitation athletics competition in

Matamata Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which takes ...

, he set yet another record of 14.2 s, which stood for 15 years. He won eight New Zealand senior championships from 1946 to 1951, and set records in both the 120 yards and 220 yards hurdles. Three of these were won within a period of 25 minutes in 1948 in Dunedin. At the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games was the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. The main venue was ...

, he won a bronze medal as part of the men's 4 x 110 yards relay alongside Kevin Beardsley, Peter Henderson and Clem Parker. He also competed in the 100 yards, where he placed sixth in the second semi-final. He lived in Fiji between 1951 and 1954, and represented Fiji at the

1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fi ...

in the 4 x 110 yards relay, in a team of which he was coach and manager. Eustace was a member of the management committee of the New Zealand Amateur Athletics Association for 28 years and was its president in 1985. He was elected patron of Athletics New Zealand in 2009. Eustace represented Oceania for 14 years on the IAAF council. He qualified as a national athletics coach in 1955 and was elected president of the New Zealand Athletics Coaches Association in 1974. He served as the manager of coaching and development of athletics in Oceania from 1974 to 1985. In 2006, Eustace was an inaugural inductee into the New Zealand Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Eustace was a technical delegate at the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. In the

1996 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1996 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other co ...

, Eustace was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for community service. At the 2012 Westpac Halberg Awards, Eustace received the Lifetime Achievement Award, for outstanding service to sport. Eustace died at his home in

Waikanae Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kapiti Coast, 60 kilometres north of the Wellington CBD. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the grey mullet". The town lies between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Ōtak ...

on 24 April 2018.

References

*''Athletes at the Games'' by John Clark, page 43 (1998, Athletics New Zealand) {{DEFAULTSORT:Eustace, Arthur 1926 births 2018 deaths New Zealand male sprinters Fijian male sprinters Commonwealth Games competitors for Fiji Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Companions of the Queen's Service Order People educated at Takapuna Grammar School New Zealand expatriates in Fiji Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games