Dave Leech

David Dower Leech (9 March 1927 – 21 October 2017) was a New Zealand hammer thrower and athletics official. He represented his country at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. In 1997, he won a World Masters hammer throw title in the M70 category.

Leech was born on 9 March 1927. He married his wife, Patricia Elizabeth, in the 1950s.

National competition

Leech won his first national hammer throw championship in 1952, with a distance of 142 ft 8 in (43.48 m). It was another 10 years before he won a second national, with a best throw of 169 ft 1⁄2 in (51.52 m) in 1962. He went on to win the national title on four occasions in all, with successive victories in 1964 and 1965. His best winning throw was 177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) in 1964, when he became the first New Zealander to achieve a distance of over 54 metres.

International competition

At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Leech represented New Zealand in the hammer throw. He finished in seventh place with a best throw of 166 ft 5+1⁄2 in (50.74 m).

Masters athletics

Leech went on to be active in Masters athletics. Between 1976 and 2014, he won 20 age-group titles in the hammer throw at New Zealand Masters championships, and he won a world Masters hammer throw bronze medal in the M70 category at the 1997 World Veterans Athletics Championships.

Management

At the 1974 British Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, Carr was a New Zealand's athletics section assistant manager, and two years later he was the athletics section manager for the New Zealand team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He received a merit award from Athletics New Zealand in 1988, and was awarded life membership of Athletics Canterbury in 1988.

Leech died in Christchurch on 21 October 2017. His wife, Pat, died in 2021.