I did not have a long history of "bombs" during my Junior and Senior days. I had some embarrassing incidents, probably caused by insufficient understanding of physiology, such as the terrible comp. I had in Melbourne in 1975. I was definitely undertrained, coming back from ten week’s field work around Mt Isa. I usually lost 7 or 8 kilos of bodyweight during these trips, and even had "Barcoo Rot" (scurvy ulcers) after one of my campouts. This was the result of inadequate diet, directly related to lack of refrigeration. Nonetheless my brief training spell allowed me to get within 7.5 kgs of my best, so I was hoping to total within 10 kgs of PB. So I started on weights done the week before. Both of these felt like lead, and I could not make seconds or thirds. The reason was that I had decided on the principle that "some is good, twice as much is better" in the case of Glucodin tablets. This induced hypoglycemia, which is a massive insulin reaction to the elevated blood sugar levels. Thus I really did have the stuffing knocked out of me, and was lucky not to bomb.

I could only get a starting snatch at another comp., mysteriously "blacking out" as I started the second pull. The effect was that I came to lying flat on my back at the back of the platform (luckily unhurt). I did not find the likely reason for this until quite recently, when I started to get pins and needles in the forearms while doing clean pulls. Lawrie Townshend cured this neck problem fairly quickly, with simple exercises. The strain on the neck and trapezius had probably pinched a nerve somehow.