It’s a moment etched into rugby league folklore — the 1992 match race between Martin ‘Chariots’ Offiah and Lee Oudenryn.
The English flyer was widely considered the fastest rugby league player going around, touring Australia with the Great Britain Lions in a team captained by Tigers superstar Ellery Hanley.
During that tour, the Lions faced the Eels at Parramatta Stadium, with Offiah and Oudenryn taking part in a 100 metre race.
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Offiah was backed by many to win the race with ease, but Oudenryn flew out of the gates and bested his fellow winger after only five games in first grade.
However, sitting down with Yvonne Sampson on Fox League’s Face to Face, Offiah made sure rugby league fans didn’t forget his first match race.
That footrace took place in 1988 during the earlier Lions tour, with Offiah beating Dale Shearer and John Ferguson at Wentworth Park, while Greg Alexander also pulled out.
“You’re the first person in Australia to talk to me about that race, no one ever mentions that race because of the other one,” Offiah explained in the interview airing on Tuesday at 7.30.
“I will say to people, ‘You know I beat Dale Shearer?’”
But instead, fans only remember the Oudenryn moment.
Now Offiah wanted to set the record straight, declaring he had no idea if his Lions teammates had put money on his opponent to win the race after it became an urban myth.
“In my eyes, he got the jump on me and then I was trying to come back at him,” Offiah said.
“There was no lanes, it was just a free-for-all so he smartly tried to come across me. I said I lost that race fair and square.
“There was lots of talk I blew the race… If they did (bet on Oudenryn), they didn’t tell me about it.”
By 1992, Offiah had played for both Eastern Suburbs and St George in the Winfield Cup, scoring 20 tries in his 27 appearances.
“Nick Politis got me out there, and I famously wore my white boots… which was a bit of a no no,” Offiah said.
“I scored with my first touch… we beat Wests in my first game at the Sydney Football Stadium.
“I only had a short career playing for Australia, one half season playing for Easts, a half season playing for St George.”
He returned to Easts in 1993 and only managed a single game, dislocating his shoulder in a game against Penrith.
However, that try-scoring record was minnowed by his English career, playing 384 games and crossing the try line 420 times across stints with Widnes, Wigan, London and Salford.
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