Skip to main content

Story: Athletics

Randolph Rose, 1920s

Image
Randolph Rose, 1920s

Randolph Rose leads the pack in a long-distance race somewhere in New Zealand in the 1920s. Rose was one of New Zealand's best known athletes of the decade despite never competing at the Olympics or Empire Games. Instead, he won a series of national and Australasian titles. Perhaps his finest sporting moment came in 1926 when he raced against visiting US Olympian Lloyd Hahn, winning four out of five of their one mile races before large crowds. Rose retired in 1931.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Making New Zealand Centennial Collection (PAColl-3060)

Reference: MNZ-2289-1/2-F

by Edward Thomas Robson

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

David Colquhoun, Athletics – Athletics between the wars, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/39941/randolph-rose-1920s (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Colquhoun, published 30 November 2012, updated 20 September 2016.