Nicki McFadzien wins NZ women's cross country championships. Remembering Brian Taylor.

Nicki McFadzien gave no one else a chance bolting to the front after the first 500m and carrying on for a convincing win in 28m 5s for the 8000m New Zealand's women's cross country championships at Minogue Park in Hamiliton last Saturday, August 3, 2013.

 When McFadzien crossed the finish line, her thoughts immediately turned to two people who have had a profound effect on her career: coach Sam McLean and the late Brian Taylor, who was killed in the Canterbury earthquake.

In an interview after the race she said this about her coaches 

Who is your coach?

Sam McLean has been my coach since February 2011 because my coach of six years Brian Taylor tragically passed away in the February earthquake. Sam was best friends with Brian and he has been incredible in taking me on and continuing to train and support me.

Brian Taylor (centre) and Sam McLeod (right) with a group of promising athletes in early 2010. Photo: Bob McKerrow

Here is the full interview conducted by Athletics New Zealand. 

	Could you give me a rundown on how the race went for you at the National Cross Country  Champs? It was a really tough, eight kilometres of hills and thick mud which made for an interesting race. I really  enjoyed racing on a true cross country course. The nationals doubled up with Oceania’s this year and I  placed third in Oceania and second in New Zealand to Celia Sullohern from Australia and Mikayla Nielsen,  who both ran an awesome race. I led for the first lap and a half and tried to pull the field apart. However  after that I was passed and lost about 90 metres. They maintained that gap until the last lap when I was able  to pull in Mikayla to about 20metres. How much training had you been doing prior to this year’s National Cross Country Champs? I ran the Christchurch half marathon in June and had been doing high mileage leading up to that. I continued  with this mileage plus some speed work in the build up to nationals. What does a day by day training schedule consist of for you? Throughout the week I have three long runs (1.10hr, 1.20hr and 2hrs+), a drill and stride session, two  tempo/ rep sessions and a recovery session which is a really light run. On five of those days I also have a  gentle jog late afternoon Is there much difference between the training that you do now and in previous years? Compared with previous years my mileage has increased a lot. Last year I ran twice a day a few times  a week and now my training is twice, five times a week. During the winter it is especially difficult getting  out the door on cold mornings and evenings. Who is your coach? Sam McLean has been my coach since February 2011 because my coach of six years Brian Taylor  tragically passed away in the February earthquake. Sam was best friends with Brian and he has been  incredible in taking me on and continuing to train and support me. Brian Taylor training a group of athletes in Christchurch in early 2010. Photo: Bob McKerrow What club do you run for and how long have you been with this club? I run for the University of Canterbury and have been with them for eight years. They have been a very  supportive club and it has been a lot of fun being part of their relay teams. What’s next for you in the way of races? The next big race that I am aiming for will be a half marathon early next year. Prior to this I want to race  track and improve my times in the 5km and 10km. I have the opportunity to go to New York next year  and do some road races but I will see how my 10k times are before deciding on that. When and where did you first start running? The earliest I remember running was at the age of three. I have video footage running around the cul de sac  and telling mum and dad that I didn’t want to stop.  I loved to run around the block and try to better my  time. There was never any pressure to run, I just loved doing it. At what age did you first start running? I first began to run seriously with a coach in Year 9 when I joined Brian Taylor’s group. This group was  about ten strong and we met four times a week for long runs and speed sessions. It made training a lot of  fun and I made some great friends. What and who were your influences when you first started running? Kathrine Switzer, the first lady to run the Boston marathon has been a huge influence. She was a friend of  my late coach and has motivated me to challenge myself and do what I love. What about work and studies – what’s your current situation? Currently I am in the last semester of my degree. I am studying Psychology and Education at Canterbury.  I hope to be accepted for Teachers College next year and become a Primary School teacher. Is there anything else that you think readers might be interested in about you? I have a great appreciation for fish and chip shops that sell deep fried Mars Bars...you must try this at least  once.

Mythical, something from a remote, wild and innocent past - something Greek.

Jim Wiikimson - a tribute to Brian Taylor killed in the Christchurch earthquake 22 February 2011

Bounding over the Otago hills there was something mythical, something from a remote, wild and innocent past - something Greek. We used to run down these hills and dive into the cold surf after a 40 km training run. 

Riccarton High School engages in a winter and summer sports exchange with Kaikorai Valley College in Dunedin. That year of 1962 my billet was said to be a pretty good miler. I was the Riccarton school champion in everything from 440 yards to the mile and thought I would have no trouble putting him in his place. In the back straight on the last lap he put the screws on and went past me like a tank in overdrive. "Keep calm", I told myself. "Just stick on his tail and use your speed in the last 50". But when I hit the last 50 he was has already across the line and soaking up the applause. His name was Brian Taylor. (photo: left)

We became friends. After the sports day we put on our glad rags and went out partying. I drove my pride and joy, my 1937 Ford 10, and Brian sat in the back playing "If I had a Hammer" over and over on his guitar as if it were the only tune he knew. It was.

Next time we met was at the inter-university tournament the following year. This time I was billeted with Brian in Dunedin and I met his parents and sister Suzanne. Brian could now play a selection of Beatles songs - I especially remember "I Should Have Known Better" (I should have, as you will see) - so he was making progress on more fronts than one. He was now a solid promise in New Zealand middle distance running. Once again he won the mile by half a lap, but by then I had decided that discretion was the better part of valour and entered the 880 instead. We went partying, of course, and at 4 o'clock in the morning, quite the worse for wear, I smashed my Ford into the front of a milk delivery truck. A total write-off. However, Brian's guitar was the only casualty apart from the car. The girls we were with wobbled away in a taxi and we were left facing a wreck and an irate milkman. "Don't worry mate", slurred i, "Dad's a lawyer. He'll get you out of this one".

The writer, James (Jim) Williamson left

And as it turned out, he did. That was when I really got to know Warrington Taylor. He listened to my version (the truth, I was drunk in charge and didn't know what side of the road I was on) with an amused but affectionate smile and then announced his opinion: "Well young man, it looks like your goose is well and truly cooked". But over the following months he wrote the right letters and signed the right depositions and got me off the hook, for if I had had to pay the damages the milkman claimed I would have ruined my own father. Dealing with Warrington Taylor's subtle ironic intelligence during those months taught me lessons I have never forgotten, and he made me a special gift of one aphorism (I later found its source in Oscar Wilde) he buried in my mind forever: the pure and simple truth is seldom pure, and never simple.

Brian Taylor (centre) and assistant coach Sam McLeod left, with three promising New Zealand athletes at QE II park in Christchurch, January 2009, Photo: Bob McKerrow

Left: Bob McKerrow and Neville Cleveland who were part of the team that trained under Brian Taylor at Karitance camp on successive years- 1963-65.

Brian, meanwhile, was knocking on the door of the sub 4-minute mile, a feat reserved for the international elite in those days. He was the golden boy of Otago athletics, but none of that affected him as a person. For several years he called me his best friend even though my own interest in competitive athletics was waning. When we took long runs together (long, for Brian, began at 20 miles) he had the decency not to wait for me over the last stretch, and when I dragged my aching legs to the nearest pub there he was, waiting eagerly for the deep philosophical conversations over endless jugs of Speights. And the jokes. And the all-night parties in sordid flats enlivened by his new guitar (now into Bob Dylan). And Karitane. Through Brian I met Bob McKerrow, Neville Cleveland, Rob Urghart and Graeme Lockett at the Karitane training camps, influential events on the lives of all of us as Bob explains somewhere else on this blog. Maybe nothing in my life has ever again achieved the purity of those sun-drenched days. Bounding over the Otago hills there was something mythical, something from a remote, wild and innocent past - something Greek - in the marriage of sheer physicality and intellectual curiosity that melded our disparate personalities into an indivisible whole. And the vital fulcrum of all that was Brian, who, in spite of his lack of some of the talents or traits that marked us as individuals (Bob's adventurous spirit and disdain for authority, Graeme's romantic bond with nature, my intellectual hunger, perhaps) he was the undisputed leader as every phalanx must have a leader, and not only because he could run us all into the ground. One could analyse the reasons - instinctive understanding of group dynamics, innate respect for each individual... but the real reason is as simple as it is unattainable by any act of will: Brian loved us all, unconditionally. And it is the heart that remains nearly fifty years later when the splendid limbs have turned to dust, as bright and as warm as it was the day he destroyed me on the back straight at Riccarton High.

The Making of Genius - hard work.

After I gave up athletics around the age of 20 to concentrate on mountaineering, I  coached athletes for about 10 years and I came to realise that those athletes who put in the hard work, after a number of years. started beating athletes with a lot of natural talent, but skipped by with only light training.
A case in point for me was Neville Cleveland who was in the same year of High School with me in Dunedin, New Zealand and from the age of 13 to 17, I could beat him over every distance, quite easily, including cross-country. Neville lacked speed, was physically large-boned heavy, and landed quite hard on his feet. Being a builder's apprentice, he was used to hard work and he applied the hard work theory to his running and by the age of 18, Neville was turning in to a top cross country runner. After 10 years of really hard work, he was a top New Zealand cross country runner.

Left: Neville Cleveland (right) and Bob McKerrow after a 15 km run in Featherston, New Zealand when we were 28 years of age. Through hard work, Neville had become a top NZ cross-country runner and a very talented long distance runner. He further applied the 'hard work' theory to his profession and rose to the top.

Neville went on to rise from a carpenter, to a quantity surveyor, and then on to Area Commercial Manager for Arrow International Limited Privately with 200 employees and was one of the leaders of the magnificent covered Forsyth Barr Stadium stadium in Dunedin. Neville was part of a team that built a dream stadium for New Zealand — one that provides the best facilities to make every event unforgettable. The construction of this architectural icon has been no mean feat. They have built a space that acknowledges the contribution of visionary citizens.real grass under a transparent roof. Stands that bring you close to the action. Sports, concerts, events and conferences have a new home. Neville got to the top of running and construction through hard world.

Neville, Jim Williamson and I went to a number of athletic training camps run by Brian Taylor  at Karitane in OTAGO New Zealand.  We trained together and competed against each other regularly and Jim wrote the following about Neville and our younger days which helps me understand where we are today.

"I read the story about Neville, and the one about 90% perspiration (which is illustrated by my career - I have so many talents that I am always anxious to explore the possibilities of the next one on the list). I'm really happy for him, glad that he is successful and a great professional. In most ways my life has been a stark contrast to his: on the occupational front I've been a jack of all trades - teacher, painter and marchante, restorer, bar owner, businessman in various ventures... and now translator. I was good at all of them but have always been seduced by new experiences, new adventures, moving on. Like my father, who was an itinerant worker, good at everything he did but always hearkening to the romance of the new venture. But a working career was never the priority (and money less), more a means to an end, and treated him (and me) accordingly. Like you, not a single regret. It's the journey that counts, not the destination, and mine is still a source of fascination - to me if to nobody else. Who I am today is the result of that journey up to this point. Once again I am a talented translator, well established and making a good living, but... I have an ambition to write a novel and I know I will need to concentrate all my resources on that some day and leave everything I have achieved as a translator behind to join the others as just another step along the path. ¿Path? There is no path before we walk it. We make the path by going that way. So there will never be a "final version" of that kid, little Jimmy Williamson who played in the Garston station goods shed in the 1950's and broke his arse falling out of impossible trees, or did the beach olympics with soul-mate Bob McKerrow in the late 60's. Count on it. We have a departure point, but no destination. Thank god (or whatever)."

The magnificent covered Forsyth Barr Stadium stadium in Dunedin. Neville was part of a team that built a dream stadium for New Zealand

This leads me back to the  theory that I have expoused about genius being at least 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. Recently I discovered an article written by Nobel prize winner Eric Kandel , on the making of a Genius and it was good to have my thoughts confirmed..

Despite numerous romantic stories of child prodigies, the hard evidence shows that genius tends to be made, not born. Studies of elite physical and mental performance confirm what is termed “the Decade Rule”. You have to put in a decade at the very least of the right focused work to even approach mastery in any field. And you have to want to do it.

It helps a little, but only a little, if you are born with great talent. It seems to help more if you already have access to some of the in-built software of the brain, but have difficulty learning by conventional methods, as is the case with savants. Albert Einstein for example, is cited as the most famous case of Asperger’s syndrome, or high-functioning autism. Born in 1879, he was reported to be below average at mathematics at school. His mathematical brilliance did not show until age 26, when he worked as a clerk at the Swiss Patent Office in 1905. None of the people who tried to teach him mathematics achieved any prominence themselves, yet, despite them, over 20 years he grew to excel.

Putting in the time occurs not only in science and in sport. The best concert pianists take about 15 years to earn international recognition. Top sculptors and mathematicians put in similar amounts of consistent training. Recipients of MacArthur Foundation Fellowships, popularly called the “Genius Awards” have typically spent more than 20 years in their chosen fields. From 1900 to 2000, the Nobel Prize awards indicate a lifetime of learning. In physics the median age of a Nobel laureate is 51, in literature 63.

A representative example of the Decade Rule in action is the 1985 study of 120 elite athletes, performers, artists, biochemists and mathematicians led by University of Chicago psychologist Benjamin Bloom.1 Every subject in the study took more than a decade of hard training before achieving recognition.

From other research, Olympic swimmers train for an average of 15 years before making the team. Success seems to be only marginally related to talent. The data indicate that the best way to make most Olympic teams is to begin to practice the sport relentlessly - shortly after birth.

The Decade Rule applies even for those few who are born with supreme talent. Mozart for example, was playing the violin at three years of age and received brilliant instruction from the start. By age seven he was writing his own symphonies. But he did not produce the music that made him a genius until his teens.

The same is true for Tiger Woods. He seems magical on the golf course, but was swinging a golf club before he could walk. He got the best instruction and practiced constantly from infanthood. Even today, he outworks most of his rivals. He has laboriously constructed his genius.

Right now ESPN has a piece on the internet on E-ticket, in which they have enlisted a triathlete, Kathryn Bertine to try out in various sports to see if a naturally talented athlete can gain a spot, any spot, in the 2008 Olympics over the next two years. They clearly have not read the research. Kathryn is a talent, and a nice person besides, and calm and laid back and focused, and a lot more good things, but she hasn’t a hope in hell of making the Olympics on these qualities alone. It makes a good story but that is all it is. Olympic level in any sport, and genius in science, music, and art are all built from a lot of hard yards in that in the particular specialty. They are never born.

Spend the Time Right

You not only have to put in the concentrated time in any field, you also have to use it brilliantly. In my work with potential Olympians, I encounter talent aplenty, as parents bring their children to the Colgan Institute for assessment as potential world champions. Even with great parental involvement and consistent training most do not succeed. From studies of more than 1500 of them, and the associated research worldwide, we have extracted some major reasons why, reasons that form the basis of this paper.

A dominant problem is what we call cosseting. The talented child is often indulged, and allowed to behave in weak and dependent ways. Consequently and inevitably, they develop behavior patterns that are the opposite of those required for athletic success.

A second problem is insufficient competition. Often the talented child is competing only against local children. Often they are protected against failure by parents and well -meaning coaches by being entered in only those competitions they are likely to win. Their progress is hampered by others who do not have their talent and do not understand how to develop it. Thus many talented children do not have to work very hard to succeed, and do not apply the focused motivation that is essential to growing the brain networks required for their sport. They also fail to acquire the brain circuits for toughness and resistance to pain that come from fierce competition. For Olympic sports especially, it is essential to develop this toughness early, in order to continue to train and progress through the failures and injuries that inevitably litter the path to the few short years of youthful glory on the Olympic stage.

We have found that the people we have trained, both in sport and in science, who have become elite, work hard every day, year in, year out. They rarely excuse and they rarely complain. From 32 years of working with them, I have learned that the moderately talented but fearlessly persistent, will beat the big but high maintenance talent every time. When I first met Julie Moss for example, she had been training in the three sports of the triathlon for seven years. She had moderate talent in cycling and swimming but was not a talented runner. I trained with her for another six years before she won the World Triathlon championship - twice. And she became a champion runner. She was noble in defeat, modest in victory, but always relentless.

I have been privileged to work alongside two Nobel Prize winners, and in the company of many world-class scientists at Rockefeller University in New York. I am also a long time member of Mensa, the high IQ society. One big difference between these two groups of highly intelligent people is the individual toughness of the elite scientists, the overriding motivation to perfect their work, often against great odds. Because of these experiences, and because the Colgan Institute is in the business of training champions, I prefer to take only students who have demonstrated tenacity, that is the ability to stick to the path, unwavering through failure and injury, disappointment and injustice, every day, for as long as it takes.

Mentors Essential

The third important factor that has emerged from our study of champions is the necessity of a great mentor in order to use the time right. I was privileged to know the genius violinist Yehudi Menuhin who died in 1999. Like Mozart he began to play the violin at age three. Under the tutelage of Sigmund Anker, he presented his first solo performance at age seven. But, restricted by his early instruction from several teachers, Menuhin did not reach prominence until 1947 at age 28, when he performed in Germany as the first Jewish violinist to play there after the Second World War. His playing then improved dramatically to genius level in the 1950s, after meeting and commencing the study of meditation and yoga under the great BKS Iyengar in 1952. He called Iyengar, “my best violin teacher”, even though the yogi does not play. Menuhin was acknowledged for his contributions to music by a knighthood in 1965.

The subjects of Bloom's study above, like most elite performers, almost invariably had great support in their formative years. As I am contending in this course regarding our goal of improving the brain, Bloom came to see genius as less of an individual trait, and more a creation of environment and mentoring. "We were looking for exceptional kids," he said, "and what we found were exceptional conditions."

He was intrigued to discover that few of the study's subjects had shown special promise when they first took up the fields they later excelled in, and most showed no early ambition for stellar achievement. Rather, they were encouraged as children to explore and learn, and then supported in more focused ways as they began to develop an area they particularly liked.

In addition to Bloom, numerous other studies have shown that almost all high achievers are blessed with at least one crucial mentor. A representative example is the work of Rena Subnotnik, of the American Center for Gifted Education Policy. In 1996 she began to compare music students at New York's elite Juilliard School of Music against winners of the high-school Westinghouse Science Talent Search. She found that the Juilliard students realized their potential more fully because they had one-to-one relationships with expert mentors who prepared them for the challenges ahead.2 Subnotnik showed that the most important relationship throughout this developmental process is with the student’s studio teacher, and that most Julliard teachers who work with advanced students continue a talented lineage of descent from earlier generations of music teachers, performers, and composers. In contrast, most of the Westinghouse prizewinners she studied went on to colleges where they failed to find the right mentors to nurture their talent and guide them through the rough spots to shape their careers. Only 50% ended up pursuing science, few with distinction.

In science, Nobel laureates also display a mentor to apprentice relationship that mirrors the one found in music 3 Doctoral students generally continue the work of their professors, and extend their lineage. As in music, reputation is crucial, even when choosing a teacher for a pre-adolescent. Unless the student has an expert mentor that they admire and are motivated by, they are unlikely to excel. Thomas Edison said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Now we know it has to be correctly guided perspiration.

Chunking

In addition to long-term self-motivated study and brilliant mentoring, the research on genius offers one more important strategy that we can apply to improving the brain. That strategy is called chunking, that is the skill of grouping details and concepts into easily remembered patterns. With innumerable details to remember, medical schools and law schools are awash with chunking routines, but chess provides the classic illustration. Show a novice a chess game in progress for a few seconds, and typically they will be able to remember the positions of only five or six pieces. Show Gary Kasparov the same game and he will memorize the board instantly. He can not only recreate it unseen but also detail all the moves open to either side.

Yet chess masters don't necessarily have innately better memories than you or I. Their chunking skills apply predominantly to the chessboard. Show a chess master and a novice a random list of 20 digits for a few seconds, and the memory difference declines dramatically. Neither will be able to recall all the digits in sequence. In a chess game, the master sees not the 20 or more pieces that confront him, but patterns of power relationships, well learned chunks, each of which is already in his memory. By long and correct study he has altered his brain to construct a mental map of chess.

We all use chunking skills when we read. Conventional instruction in reading starts with being taught to recognize letters. Then you learn chunks of letters as words, then chunks of words as phrases, and eventually whole sentences. That’s where most of us stop learning to read, about the end of high school. It is not even close to the capacity of your brain. In fact, as you will see later in this course, conventional methods of learning to read may interfere with some in-built software in the brain, which is capable of processing the skill of reading without most of that schooling.

As you saw in the course DVD, Release the Power of Your Brain, some savants, such as Kim Peek, can read and totally recall whole pages of text in a few seconds. To improve brain function at the Colgan Institute we have taken these findings, plus the work on brain plasticity of Michael Merzenich and his group, and his techniques of Fast For Word, to advance the learning of reading a step further.4 We have successfully taught some of ourselves, and some children with above average IQ, to read by whole paragraphs at the same pace that the average person reads a sentence, and with no loss of comprehension. This level of chunking quadruples reading speed, and provides a great asset for academic studies and personal affairs.

Neuroscience of Genius

The study of elite performance has been based mainly on observational and interview techniques. Nevertheless, its models agree well with recent discoveries in neuroscience about how the brain learns. In 2000, Eric Kandel of Columbia University in New York, shared the Nobel Prize with Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greenspan for their work on the neural basis of memory and learning.6 Research worldwide, especially that of the Kandell and Merzenich groups, shows that both the number and strength of the nerve connections that process a memory or skill increase in proportion to how often and how effectively the lessons are repeated.

From this recent research, it is likely that the right focused study and practice can literally growing the neural networks of genius. Genetics may allow one person to build the connections faster than another, but the lessons can be learned by almost everyone. And the lessons do have to be learned. You cannot appreciate the genius of Shakespeare unless you have studied his works.

No matter what age you are now, if you want to improve your thought processes, and with them every aspect of your existence, you should begin today to grow your new brain with the right study and the guidance of an expert mentor. There is no more important task in your life. The new research shows that, within a decade, you may well begin to think like a genius.


1. Bloom, B.S. Generalizations about talent development. In B.S. Bloom (Ed.). Developing talent in young people New York: Ballentine, 1985, 507-549.

2. Subotnik, R.F. The Juilliard model for developing young adolescent performers: An educational prototype. In C.F. M. van Lieshout & P.G. Heymans (Eds.) Developing talent across the lifespan. Hove, UK: Psychology Press, 2000, 249-276.

3. Zuckerman, H. Scientific elite: Nobel laureates in the United States (2nd Ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1996.

4. Kilgard MP, Merzenich MM. Cortical map reorganization enabled by nucleus basalis activity, Science, 1998 279:1714-1718.

5. Merzenich MM, Jenkins WM, et al. Temporal Processing deficits of Language-Learning Impaired Children Ameliorated by Training. Science, 1996 271:77-81.

Death toll rises in Christchurch earthquake - 6 March 2011

Midst death and destruction in Christchurch, flowers bloom and are a tribute to the dead. Photo: Colin Monteath,

A 4.8 magnitude aftershock has shook Christchurch again last evening.being felt as far away as Timaru.

The aftershock struck at 7.34pm within 5km of Lyttelton at a depth of 11km.

The tragic fight to find survivors in the pancaked Canterbury Television building has come to an end.

Urban Search and Rescue Teams at work on the Christchurch CTV site. The Fire Service today announced it has finished its operation at the destroyed building.

Fire Service spokesman Paul Baxter this morning announced the search and rescue operation at the building had ended.

It is believed about 100 lives have been lost in the building - the worst single place suffering loss of life in the February 22 quake

The body of  Brian Taylor, my good friend for over 47 years has not yet been found. He was in the Canterbury TV building when the quake struck.(see link to earlier article about Brian) http://bobmckerrow.blogspot.com/2011/02/are-you-alive-there-brian-christchurch.html 

Dear Prue, my deepest sympathy to you and my tears join yours and the boys at this devastating moment.

Brian is pictured on the right with myself left when we met recently in Christchurch.

Also among the missing is Scott Lucy, the son of Bill Lucy, another friend who I spent time in Antarctica with.

Photo (left)

It will be with a mixture of great sadness and relief when relatives find out definitely as their grieving can slowly move towards some form of closure. My heart and prayers go out to you all who are affected in this tragedy.

Towards the end of this article I post first hand accounts and photos from another close friend for over 40 years, Polar and Alpine photographer Colin Monteath,

Yesterday Superintendent Sam Hoyle told a media briefing today that a further 38 bodies had been identified and the victims' families had been told.

The death toll was lifted by two to 165 yesterday day, but searchers have concluded that there are no bodies inside the collapsed ChristChurch Cathedral.

Previously it was reported that as many as 22 people may have been trapped in the church. A search of the rubble covered areas surrounding the cathedral would continue today.

TEARS OF JOY
The Dean of ChristChurch Cathedral cried when he was told early yesterday day there were no bodies buried in the rubble of the church.

The Very Reverend Peter Beck (pictured below) got a telephone call about 1am from the head of the Urban Search and Rescue task force, Ralph Moore, who told him the shattered cathedral had been checked and rechecked and there were no bodies in the rubble.

                                                           Photo: stuff.co.nz

"I was expecting to get a call from him saying they had found a body and I and my colleagues were going to go down and say prayers at the side of the body.
"But of course I got this other news and I just burst into tears. I was speechless, It was unbelievable."

Since the 6.3 magnitude earthquake on February 22, it had been reported that as many as 22 bodies could be were buried in the rubble of the 130-year-old cathedral. Beck said he had no idea where that figure came from.

"I have always said it seems too high and I have always had this sense within me that it was a lot fewer than that.

"Straight after the quake a young woman was in tears and I gave her a big hug. She was telling me that she had just rushed out of the tower just before the quake and there were people behind her.

"Then you get other anecdotal stories from people saying they saw people in the viewing platform so that is the kind of stuff that was going around. But where 22 came from I have no idea."

Beck said it was great news but he was also very conscious that a lot of people had lost loved ones.

"Our hearts go out to them. This is good news in a sense that there are no bodies there but at the same time we are very, very conscious of those who are mourning their loved ones and our hearts and prayers are with them."

Beck said his faith was as strong as ever. The earthquake was not an act of God; it was the planet doing its thing the way the planet does.

 "The act of God and the miracles has been the extraordinary way people have pulled together, reached out to one other. The act of God has been in the tears of people, in the weeping, in the lament. The act of God is in the compassion people are showing to one another. The act of God is in the courage people are showing.

"That is where you see God's love working in among people in that extraordinary human spirit that is enabling us to keep together.

VICTIMS NAMED

Six more names have been added to the list of victims of the Christchurch earthquake..
Yesterday afternoon police released the names of Melanie Jane Brown, 54, Christopher Grant Homan, 35, Melissa Ann Neale, 42, Allan Alexander Sinclair, 46, Murray John Wood, 57 and Gilhwan Yu, 24.

Yesterday  superintendent Sam Hoyle said a further 38 bodies had been identified and the victims' families had been told.

The death toll was lifted by two to 165 yesterday, but searchers have concluded that there are no bodies inside the collapsed Christchurch Cathedral.


POWER RESTORATION

Orion said it still had still 12,500 customers throughout the city without power and the company is working hard to deal with the 500 or so cable faults affecting the system.

Orion aims to have power back 99 percent of its customers by Monday night, but is urging people to be conservative with power use.

TEEN VICTIM FAREWELLED

The cheeky face of Bart Simpson adorned a funeral service sheet in Christchurch today, reminding mourners of the young life snatched away a day before his birthday.

Jayden Andrews-Howland was last seen alive on his way into central Christchurch the day before his 15th birthday - believed to be heading into town to pick out a birthday present for himself.

He had his bike stolen a few weeks ago and he used the No 3 bus into the Christchurch CBD shortly before the magnitude 6.3 quake. He had been let out of school early due to a teacher-only afternoon.

Today, grieving friends and family - many dressed in Canterbury colours - farewelled the boy they described as having a big heart and an infectious smile.

Jayden was carried into the Harewood Crematorium in a black casket decorated with the silver fern.

Those gathered were told of his love for television programme the Simpsons and the service sheet for his funeral featured a big picture of Bart Simpson.

His former teacher at Linwood College told mourners that Jayden was a diligent student who was a "quiet, gracious and humble" role model for the other boys in his class.

Mourners were told Jayden loved to travel and dreamed of becoming a coach driver when he left school.

His aunt told mourners that she would never understand why her nephew was taken so soon but said Jayden had changed the lives of everyone he had touched and would never be forgotten.

Jayden was an only child.

Clean up work continues, a never-ending job: Photo: Colin Monteath


"
RECOVERY OPERATION CONTINUES
Manderson said recovery work continued throughout the central city.

"They've been working really long hours, really hard, and with great respect to the people that they're serving," she said.

"There's just huge amounts of rubble all around the town. Much of that has been searched, but there's still work to be done."

Some areas would be searched again.

So many houses in the hill suburbs will have to be pulled down, and rebuilt. Photo: Colin Monteath.

WEATHER UPDATE

Demolition and recovery work in Christchurch should not be hampered by the weather this week.

The long term forecast is for temperatures hovering around a high of 18 degrees and a low of 9 degrees.

And other than the occasional shower it should be fine with a cool southwesterly moving around to a northeasterly later in the week.

The forecast will be welcome news for the thousands of rescue workers still out on the city's quake-torn streets.

RECOVERY CENTRES
Six recovery assistance centres will open in the hardest hit areas of quake-stricken Christchurch this morning, offering a range of services and information for people who need help.

Eventually there will be two more of the centres, which Social Development Minister Paula Bennett describes as "one stop" shops.

"These centres will provide a range of services to people in localised areas in Christchurch, particularly the Eastern Suburbs," she said.

Recovery assistance centres will provide face to face service and information from agencies like Work and Income, Housing New Zealand, Christchurch City Council, Red Cross and Salvation Army.

More non-government organisations will join these agencies over the coming days to ensure a wide range of services are available.

"People visiting a Recovery Assistance Centre will find they're essentially a one stop shop where people can sort out emergency payments, housing issues, get counselling or just have a cup of tea and a chat," Bennett said.

Most recovery assistance centres will be in the hardest hit suburbs in east Christchurch such as Aranui, Linwood, Dallington and New Brighton.

Rescue teams and construction workers toil away 24/7. Photo: Colin Monteath


PM SEES UTTER DEVASTATION

Prime Minister John Key had a first-hand look at the quake-ravaged eastern suburbs yesterday, where many who live there still lack basis utilities such as power and running water.

He talked to locals in the suburb of Bexley who expressed their frustration at their plight.

Key acknowledged the "utter devastation" of the eastern suburbs and moved to reassure residents and the wider public that the Government was doing "everything possible".

He said the inquiry into the earthquake and the rescue, recovery and relief operations - which he announced on Thursday - would deal with the way the eastern suburbs had been treated.

CORDON REDUCTION

The cordon blocking off central Christchurch after last week's destructive earthquake will be reduced tomorrow.

Civil Defence head John Hamilton said four green zones had been established at the edge of the cordon area and two of those would be open to the public at 2pm on Sunday.

Residents and business owners would be able to access the cordons from 8am to secure their properties, he said.
In the central city, search and rescue teams have made solid progress clearing the main buildings.

Deconstruction of the CTV buildings, where up to 100 people are believed to have been killed, should be completed in two or three days' time.

Richard Brewer, a spokesman for the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce, said the opening up of parts of the CBD represented a significant step forward.

''It will come as an absolutely huge relief for a lot of businesses, particularly if they can now get access to servers and other vital equipment for business,'' Brewer said.

Businesses in the so-called red-zone were still unable to access their properties because the area was judged too hazardous but the chamber was working hard with Civil Defence and other applicable agencies to make the area safe so businesses could get in there soon as possible.

DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

Mayor Bob Parker said he would like to hold a day of remembrance, and to open a safe walkway through the CBD for people to see the destruction.

"Perhaps it can start with a remembrance service in Hagley Park and a silent procession into the city as part of the grieving process.

"We need to have that opportunity to remember, to grieve not only for the people that we have lost, but also for those buildings that are part of the story of our lives."

One of the many photos Colin Monteath has taken of the earthquake in Christchurch.


Jottings from my good friend Colin Monteath whose house was in the middle of many destroyed homes. Colin in one of the world's foremost polar and mountain photographers.

He writes:

Today....Stone chimney probably coming down later today as its pulling end

wall out of lounge on 2nd story...but that's minor as neighbour's wife still
missing....and all of son-in-law Richard's Canterbury television mates are
almost certainly dead...maybe 100 in that building...nobody knows. It'll be
awesome if 14 story hotel Grand Chancellor falls ( as it must as its on a
terrible lean)..it'll take out three blocks of other buildings at least

Must go..lots to do...but hugs to you Colin.

Today Friday I think 25th...everyone stuffed/emotionally drained ...delayed
shock setting in all over city....but many international crews here now as
the really hard work goes on.

Suburbs really hit by liquifaction/mud volcanoes erupting everywhere so
siltation through houses very depressing. 1000s uni students out helping door
to door...much aroha.
Aftershocks still rolling through....sometimes like jet engine...some of
these will be dangerous for crews who are now entering badly damaged/very
fragile buildings downtown.

Friday...spent morning at friend's antique polar/mountain book store...mud
volcano/bad smelling water came up through floor so many many lovely books
destroyed with water soaking..very depressing & tiring just getting book
cases off crazy angles. Whole shop will have to be evacuated due to water
damage. Slept this afternoon...just woken up.

Saturday/Sunday....working locally on neighbours houses cleaning oceans of
glass/food/cooking oil etc, pulling brick down etc...very depressing as
neighbour's wife's body now found he thinks....

There are many more quick notes like this. In the middle of destruction Colin manages to find beauty in Christchurch, a colourful flower garden..

What a tragedy. I wasn't even there when my home town was devastated but my daughter and husband survived. I grieve for Brian Taylor and so many others who died, and for those who lost so much. This was one of the most beautiful cities in the world, 'the Garden City." But like their 'Crusaders Rugby team' the people of Christchurch have an indomitable spirit and will never give up. Time will heal and this city will grow and bloom again.