Brenda Matthews, born in Auckland in 1949, was one of New Zealand’s finest hurdlers and sprinters.

She attended Kelston Girls’ College and was fortunate that expert coach Russ Hoggard took her under his wing. Hoggard had had success with long jumper Bev Weigel and her sister Pam, and later successfully guided 800m runners Sue Haden and Carlene Dillimore.

Matthews competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics and in two Commonwealth Games, and was of true international calibre.

The Aucklander won three national 100m titles, in 1966, 1968 and 1972, and five 100m hurdles crowns, from 1966-68 and in 1972 and 1974 (when she shared the title with Jan Lothian).

She was up against some top opposition too. She took over the mantel of the country’s top sprinter from Avis McIntosh, and in the 100m sprint tangled with Penny Hunt and, later on, Wendy Brown.

At 17 she was chosen for the 1966 Empire Games in Jamaica and acquitted herself well. In the 100 yards sprint she was 3rd in her heat in 10.9s. She improved to 10.8s in her semi-final, but could finish only 6th and did not advance to the final. In the 100 yards hurdles, she was 3rd in her heat in 11.1s, but could turn in only a time of 11.3s in the final, for 7th place.

Her next outing was to the 1972 Munich Olympics. Matthews had won the sprint-hurdles double at the national championships earlier in the year to confirm her selection.

At Munich her heat time of 11.77s, a personal best, was good enough to advance her to the 2nd round, where she was timed at 11.87s and failed to progress further.

In the 100m hurdles, she ran 13.81s in her heat, but did not qualify for the semi-finals. She missed out by just 0.03s.

Matthews ran in only the hurdles at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games and did well to reach the final. She won her heat in 13.69s, a personal best for an electronically timed race, was 3rd in her semi-final in 13.9s (the same time as fellow New Zealander Michelle Miles) and finished 7th in the final in 14.0s. That heat time still placed her 12th on the New Zealand all-time list half a century later.

In a golden spell of eight weeks in 1972, Matthews lowered the New Zealand 100m hurdles record four times, taking it from 14.5s to 13.4s, but on each occasion with hand timing.

After leaving top athletics, Brenda Matthews forged a career with the New Zealand Police.

These days she is Brenda Donald and lives in California.

Brenda Donald

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