This was the great era (1956-1965) when New Zealand middle and long-distance runners showed a clean pair of heels to the world...Peter Snell, Murray Halberg, Bill Baillie, Marise Chamberlain, John Davies, Jeff Julian, Barry Magee and Neville Scott. It was a decade when 'black' signalled a tough time for opponents everywhere. Amazingly, a grand total of 23 world records or world best times were set or equalled by New Zealand runners. In the Olympic and Commonwealth Games arenas Kiwi runners won medals of every colour - gold, silver and bronze. A total of fourteen medals, with five gold medals won by the incomparable Snell. Kiwi runners climbed to the top of the podium in such far-flung places as Cardiff, Dublin, London, Boston, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, Toronto, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Cologne, Helsinki, Oslo, Rome, Stockholm, Turku, Zagreb, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. It was a decade when Peter Snell and a band of Kiwi runners took on the world.