Max Carr

John Maxwell Carr (14 June 1922 – 5 July 2016) was a New Zealand field athlete and coach, athletics official, and air force officer. He represented his country at the 1950 and 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and served as a wing commander in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. In later years, he won three World Masters hammer throw titles.

Early life and family Carr was born in Christchurch on 14 June 1922. He married his wife, Norma Joy, in about 1949, and they had one daughter.

Military service During World War II, Carr served as a second lieutenant in the New Zealand Army from November 1941 until June 1943. He left the RNZAF in January 1946, but rejoined in December 1948.

Athletics

National competition Carr joined the Technical Amateur Athletic and Cross-Country Club in Christchurch in the 1930s. He first came to national attention in 1940, when he won the national under-19 long jump title with a leap of . He went on to win the national senior men's long jump title at the 1945 national athletics championships, with a distance of . In the former event, he finished in eighth place with a best throw of , and he came sixth in the latter event, recording a best distance of .

Four years later, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Carr was New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony.

Masters athletics Carr went on to be active in Masters athletics. He won numerous age-group titles in the hammer, discus and shot put at New Zealand Masters championships in the 1980s and 1990s, and he won three world Masters hammer throw gold medals: in the M70 category in 1993 and 1995; and the M75 age group in 1997. and for many years he served as an amateur athletics official in Auckland, verifying the specification of throwing equipment.

Carr was also involved in coaching, and, with Les Mills, trained Beatrice Faumuina during the early stages of her career.

Death Carr died in Tauranga on 5 July 2016.