Arthur Benjamin Postle (8 March 1881 – 21 April 1965) was an Australian professional athlete, one of the country's most renowned sprinters in the early twentieth century.
[3] Born in Queensland and becoming a professional runner in 1902, Postle rose to prominence for the defeat of Beauchamp Day – then an Irish world champion – at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia in December 1906.
Postle's career took him throughout the United Kingdom and to New Zealand as well as across Australia, where he had a rivalry with fellow Australian champion Jack Donaldson.
[1] Postle set world records for fifty, sixty, seventy-five, eighty and two-hundred yard sprints during his career,[4] which ended in 1913 a year after his marriage to an Englishwoman.
[1] Edward Seldon Sears wrote that Postle, together with Donaldson, had "few peers among sprinters of their day"[4] and since his retirement he has been considered one of "the greatest of all Australian runners".
He showed much promise as a runner from early on in his career, and after leaving education in 1893 to work on his father's farm he continued to compete in local athletics tournaments.
[3] Postle adhered to a strict diet – foods with high fat contents including milk, eggs and steak – largely based on experience rather than scientific research, which was minimal at the time.
[12] In 1906, in front of a 20,000-strong crowd at Kalgoorlie gold mine, Postle defeated Beauchamp Day, a champion Irish runner sponsored by promoter Rufus Naylor, in a seventy-five-yard spring.
In addition to his crimson vest he wore green shorts with gold trim, and his shirt had an emu and a kangaroo, one on each breast.
[15] As Postle's notoriety grew, a rivalry began between Jack Donaldson – a prolific Australian sprinter nicknamed 'Blue Streak' – and himself.
Postle and American runner Charles Holway challenged Donaldson to a race at Johannesburg in February 1910 to decide who would be crowned World Champion over a one-hundred yard sprint.
[1] After retiring from running in 1913, Postle owned an auctioneering business in Memerambi, ran a running-shoe shop,[9] and then traded second-hand goods in Gympie.