Great field puts the ‘class’ in Classic

• Author: Alec McNab ATHLETICS INSIGHT
• Published date: 26 January 2023
• Publication title: Whanganui Chronicle

It has been good to be able to welcome overseas athletes, although the huge rise in international air travel has affected all of the Classic meets

Five New Zealand Commonwealth Games team athletes will be at Cooks Gardens including gold medal winners Tom Walsh and Hamish Kerr plus Sam Tanner, who finished sixth with a world-class performance in the best and fastest Commonwealth 1500 metre final, Keely O’Hagan (high jump) and hammer thrower Lauren Bruce. The entries are further boosted by 30 members of the touring New Zealand Secondary Schools team with three Whanganui athletes due to start at Cooks Gardens.

The men’s mile, which doubles as the New Zealand Championship, will again bring the curtain down on an action-packed programme. It will be preceded by the women’s mile, which has two outstanding Australians — Sarah Billings and Georgia Griffith — in the field, both looking for fast times. Earlier in the programme, the under-20 milers are in action, competing for New Zealand titles with tasty fields in both bolstered by the strong current crop of outstanding junior athletes, many wearing the New Zealand Schools black singlet.

Tanner, who sits ninth on the Cooks Gardens all-time mile list, would love to elevate himself higher in the rankings of the 71 who have run under 4 minutes at the venue. Tanner will be helped by Australians Callum Davies and Jude Thomas. Fellow Cooks Gardens sub 4-minute miler Eric Speakman will be there to keep the pace up front honest and there is considerable interest in whether rising 800m star James Preston, who convincingly won the Potts Classic 800m in record time, will win his sub 4-minute cap at the end of Saturday’s exciting programme.

Commonwealth Games champion Walsh, New Zealand’s most successful field event athlete in terms of world, Olympic and Commonwealth podium finishes, will be seeking to break the Cooks Gardens stadium record that has eluded him on previous visits. Stadium record holder and Commonwealth Games silver medal winner Jacko Gill is not competing but Gill’s mark of 21.11m is clearly marked on the infield from the drop-in circle in front of the main grandstand. Close and vocal support will surely assist Walsh.

The handicap nature of the 400m has attracted a large entry of 45...