I enjoyed watching New Zealand athletic championships at Carisbrook in the 1940s and 1950s, before Dunedin's first all-weather track was laid. There were some exciting races, and an interesting factor in some longer races was the short length of the straight, which nearly caught out the fast finishers (or "grandstanding" ones).
The festival athletic meetings were very popular in the 1950s.
Some of the guest runners were outstanding, including my idol, Gordon Pirie, of Britain, and Australian Mervyn Lincoln.
I ran in a 3000m event on Carisbrook and found the track excellent, a pleasure to run on.
- Cliff Donaldson
I am lucky enough to have two favourite memories. First of all, I made my international debut v England in 1988 (after being plucked from the relative obscurity of club cricket in Auckland) and unsurprisingly made an inauspicious 8.
And secondly, in 1991 I took my (thus far) only international wicket v Sri Lanka. They needed something like 80 off three overs, so New Zealand were pretty safe. I have a lot to thank Mark Greatbatch for because he took an outstanding catch in front of the main stand after I completely foxed Rumesh Ratnayake with the pace of my slower ball.
- Otago rugby general manager Richard Reid
The game was exciting, there was an ideal atmosphere created by a massive crowd. Everything was in my favour.
In the years that followed, I returned to Carisbrook many times.
The little, often freezing, broadcasting box was eventually upgraded but other aspects of Carisbrook never changed. The assistance from officials was always superb and the after-match functions were, well ... dangerous!It is sad that we'll be farewelling Carisbrook. It has provided me with numerous happy memories, but having visited the Forsyth Barr Stadium recently, the sadness will be only fleeting.
- Commentator John McBeth
