Kiwi runner Nick Willis hopes to add to an already impressive trophy cabinet at a Christchurch athletics meeting this week, but his biggest prize is in the mail.

The Olympic and Commonwealth Games medallist is in Christchurch for an international track and field event at Queen Elizabeth II Park on Thursday.

Willis said he was excited to be competing in a Christchurch event.

"It's great to have international-quality races back in New Zealand," he said. "Once I got to this level, I really wanted the opportunity to do it in front of my home fans."

Willis did not compete in the Christchurch event last year after a hip injury ruled him out of most of the 2009 season.

His recovery was boosted by news that his 2008 1500-metres Olympic bronze medal was being upgraded to silver after Beijing winner Rashid Ramzi failed a drugs test.

Willis said the silver medal was "in the mail as we speak".

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The event’s star is undoubtedly Olympic 1500m silver medallist Nick Willis, who has publicly stated his goal in Delhi this year is to not only defend his Commonwealth 1500m crown, but to emulate the legendary Peter Snell and add the 800m crown as well.  [Snell won the imperial equivalents, the half-mile and mile, at the Empire Games in Perth in 1962].

Aiming to throw a spanner in the works at Willis’ home track meet will be top Australians Jeff Riseley and Jeremy Roff, who unexpectedly claimed the scalps of Willis and Kenya’s Olympic gold medallist Asbel Kiprop in the 1500m race at the Melbourne Grand Prix 10 days ago.  Willis said when he flew into Christchurch today “That was a bit of a shock – I’ll definitely be out for some revenge on Thursday”. With Irish 800-1500 champion David Campbell, 4-times Australian champion Nick Bromley, and Canadian Geoff Harris also in the field, there are six athletes with personal bests of 1min47sec or faster – the strongest field since Auckland 1990, when British middle distance legend Sebastian Coe, in the twilight of his career, finished 6^th in 1min47.24s. 

Meet Director Craig Motley said “This is a phenomenal field to come together for a meet of this scale, and we are expecting to see some pretty fast times”.  Willis and Riseley in particular should be very evenly matched – their personal bests are just 6/100ths of a second different from each other, and both are just over a second outside Peter Snell’s New Zealand record, set when he smashed the world record at Lancaster Park in 1962. 

Also competing in the discus event at the meet will be former world champion and twice Commonwealth champion Beatrice Faumuina, against the current world champion Dani Samuels.

Tickets are on sale at QEII Stadium now, and at the gate on the night. Adults are $12, children 12 & under $6, and under-5's are free.  Premium allocated Gold Seating is $20.  The international section of the programme starts at 6.30pm - go to www.internationaltrackmeet.co.nz for more details.

2009 NBx-mas Cracker - Christchurch, December 19th 

Mens 5,000m

Steadily cementing itself as one of the premier distance races on the New Zealand domestic calendar, the NBx-mas Cracker 5,000m looks to be another step up in quality and depth in 2009. With athletes not just from the South Island, but nation wide embracing the opportunity for a concerted early season hit out, and with 25 athletes in the A race alone, finding someone to share the work/pace with should not be a problem and hopes are high for a slew of PB’s.

Leading the charge  for the win and NBx 5,000m immortality will be recently crowned NZ 10km Road Champ Kim Hogarth from Nelson. Hogarth just kept improving all the way through the winter and looks well on track to recapture his PB form of 13:44. Make no mistake, if Hogarth hits the front, it’s a long way around him! The other big winner coming off the winter season is New Zealand Senior Men’s Cross Country Champion Andrew Davidson. Doctor Davidson, the defending champ, has a history of running well at this event and after a quiet couple of months will be looking to test his fitness. He has a PB of 14:17 for the distance and that should easily be reduced. These two will be ably pushed by Rees Buck of Wellington. Plagued by injury over recent seasons, Buck is never far away from top shape (PB 13:49) when there is a World XC to be qualified for, and the 2010 World XC trial is looming large. Recent outings for Buck include an impressive routing of the cream of the North Islands road runners at Hamilton’s Round the Bridges , and 2^nd place at the Goat off road race.

Two relatively unknown quantities in the race will be Richard Olsen (PB 14:34) and Brett Tingay (debut), both better known as 1500m runners, and who have a knack of finishing within a heart beat of one another. Tingay is coming off his best winter ever and a bronze at the New Zealand Road Champs and routinely runs near his best straight off the bat. Last year that was a gun to tape 8:13 3km, and with his added strength who knows what that could be this year? Olsen will be toeing the line fresh (or otherwise) from a 3 week training stint at the lowest altitude camp in the world, Hanmer Springs. Like Tingay, Olsen is not afraid to get his season started with a bang and both of these guys finishing speed will cause some stress in the lead pack if they are around in the latter laps.

Others to feature could include world class Duathlete turned runner Mark Bailey who has a strong PB of 14:14 set in this event 3 years ago and Macklin Chaffee from the USA with a recent PB of 14m28s. Top juniors Alex Parlane, Eric Speakman and Harry Dixon, and a couple of crowd pullers Stefan Smith and Malcolm Hicks may also feature. International entries (and possible dark horses) include the Chaffee cousins from the US, Cary and Macklin, and the big Swede Mikael Andersson.

Mixed/Women’s B 5,000m

The IAAF rule change in 2009 allowing qualifying performances in mixed gender races sets this years B grade race up nicely,  Nick Merrett and Zach Butler will back up from the Secondary Schools Champs and look to be the early favourites, along with another promising junior Simon Gannaway. These three will all have their work cut out staying ahead of the leading ladies.

With the two top women, Fiona Crombie and Nikki McFadzien, returning from last years race and looking every bit as fit, this could be a real cracker of a race. Crombie has been the top performing NZ female domestically this winter with wins in NZ Cross Country Champs, New Zealand Roads, and Southland Half Marathon and will be very tough to beat for even the men in the B race.

McFadzien ran a great 16:43 last year, stamping her ticket to World Cross Country Champs, and will no doubt have her eye on a similar outcome this year, with half an eye on the World Junior Qualifier of 16:30.  Rounding out the woman’s field is NZ age group record holder in the 2km Steeplechase Sarah McSweeney.

Luke Hurring

 2010 International Track Meet

Track and Field at its best in New Zealand.

2010 Promo video compiled from Sky TV coverage highlights from the inaugural 2009 ITM where Monique Williams claimed the NZ Resident Women's 200m record, David Ambler eclipsed Jamacian Don Quarrie's Men's 100m stadium record set at the 1974 Commonwealth Games and lowered his U/19 NZ record while Australian Ryan Gregson reclaimed his Australian U/19 3000m record.

Make sure you are there on the 18th March 2010.

www.internationaltrackmeet.co.nz

Where there's a Willis there's a way to hold a meet

NEW ZEALAND'S biggest track meeting in more than a decade is back on the calendar for 2010, with Olympic bronze medallist Nick Willis again involved in attracting world-class overseas athletes to compete in this country.

Christchurch's International Track Meet last March drew more than 3000 spectators to QEII Stadium - the best turnout for an athletics event in New Zealand in nearly 20 years.
Willis was pivotal in securing several top Americans and while he withdrew, injured, days before the event, he still fronted to sign autographs.
The meet broke even, prompting organiser Leyton Tremain to confirm yesterday that it would be held again in 2010 at the same venue on Thursday, March 18-10 days before the national athletics championships, also at QEII Stadium.
Last year, 23 athletes from five countries came here, including several top Australians and leading British middle- distance runner Andy Baddeley, and Tremain expects an increased overseas field next year, based on feedback from top Melbourne-based Kiwi 10km specialist Jason Woolhouse.

"Rumours and word of mouth is that there is a lot of interest," says Tremain, who will begin approaching athletes this week.
"People have been asking what our plans are . . . and we hope that the meeting will be bigger and better. Some of those Australian guys who didn't travel and were reserving judgement in year one are now keen to come over."

Tremain says several athletes used last year's meet as a springboard to more success. Jeff Riseley, who ran a personal best at the meet, went on to run a 3min 51sec mile in Europe while Collis Birmingham, second in the mile, later broke the Australian 10km record.
But Tremain says the purpose of the meet is to create strong fields for emerging Kiwi athletes to test themselves against and he plans to tailor- make races to suit runners such as Kiwi 200m runner Monique Williams. He says he won't expand the programme but is targeting much deeper fields.

"We've proven New Zealand can be competitive with the rest of the world," he says.
"Maybe people thought the world had moved on and we could no longer compete, but we have proven we can and we will target those events where we are competitive."

But he knows the crowd will be attracted by New Zealand's elite athletes - Willis, Valerie Vili and Kimberley Smith. Tremain says he has already talked to Vili's coach, Kirsten Hellier, and she is keen to compete but will have been involved in the world indoor championships a week earlier.
Willis is also unconfirmed. He will be returning to Wellington over the holiday season to help his brother Stephen launch a running tours venture, but the wedding of his best friend, top Canadian runner Nate Brannen, may clash with the Christchurch event.
Even if he doesn't compete, Willis will have a role.

"Nick is very passionate about the meet, and he understands the importance of it for the sport," says Tremain. "He doesn't look at it as a race for himself but as an instrumental development tool for Kiwi athletes."

Meanwhile, the New Zealand xterra (off-road triathlon) championships are in Rotorua next Saturday, with Steven O'Callaghan and Kyle MacDonald and Ady Ngawati and Lara Phillips in the women's, both pros and age-group athletes qualify for the world trail running championships in Hawaii in December.

Steve Kilgallon - Sunday Star-Times