Cantabrian Petty will be eyeing her sixth consecutive title. She clocked 2min 03.72sec last year, eclipsing the mark of 2:04.08 former Olympian Sylvia Potts had set.
The late Allan Potts was there to see Petty achieve that feat, watching her from his wheelchair and receiving a hug from Petty.
Dubbed the godfather of Bay athletics, he died in May, losing his battle with bone cancer, a year before his 80th birthday.
Son and organiser Richard Potts has renamed the 16th classic to include Allan's name in the event to be staged today at the Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park.
It will be a testing 27C for athletes with sea breezes probably offering some respite.
The red-ribbon competition for three to 14-year-olds starts at midday and finishes at 4.30pm.
The seniors begin their campaign from 5.30pm with a Clash of the Codes 4 x 100m men and women's relays punctuating the men's 800m Allan Potts Classic and the women's equivalent.
Despite the presence of pedigree athletes such as world shotput record holder (20.70m) Jacko Gill, of Auckland, and world junior pole vaulter Eliza McCartney (bronze), also of Auckland, it'll be difficult to go past the glamour women's 800m event.
How intense it'll be is perhaps best evident in Petty and 800m national record holder Nikki Hamblin (1:59.66), of Auckland, not responding to messages left on their cellphones for interviews.
Camp, on the other hand, has nothing to lose as she hopes to qualify for the Rio Olympics next year.
Besides, a victory or bold statement on the track here today would be an ideal buzz before she marries her fiance, Tom Marshall, next Saturday at Kuaotunu beach, in the coastal village on the Coromandel Peninsula.
Marshall is a 1500m runner from Cardiff, Wales, where Camp is based to obtain sports massage qualifications after graduating from University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in May last year with a sports science degree.
Camp started her running career as a 400m specialist but in her third year switched to 800m.
"I was a bit slow and this [800m] suits me better," says the runner who gravitated between 800m and 1500m as well as to gauge her strengths.
It goes without saying that "it hurts pretty bad all the time" in the middle distances.
"This [800m] has more room for tactics whereas in the 400 you're running for yourself.
"In the 800 you can rely on the field a little and run off the other girls," she explains, revealing she ran in the 200m and 400m events in the classic in 2010.
"I remember watching Angie for a while," says Camp who is good friends with Petty, spending time with her at the Glasgow Games where the latter gave her some tips, to some extent negating the frustration of going there as a reserve runner.
"I know Nikki, too," she says of England-born Hamblin, 26, who arrived in New Zealand in 2006 before becoming a citizen three years later.
Hamblin, who holds the Kiwi 1500m record of 4:04.82 set in Barcelona, is a silver medallist in 800m and 1500m from the 2010 Delhi games.
Steve Willis, the New Zealand distance coach and brother of Nick, the 1500m 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medallist, coaches Hamblin.
"Last year Nikki had 2:03 so I'll be right on her tail," she says, mindful Petty is clocking "two flat".
So what will it take to break that dominance?
"You have to do a lot of work but also believe in your strength and trust your training."
In many respects, Camp is a rookie in the distance with only one proper season (last season) of about eight runs to her credit.
"I'm really excited to be up against Angie and Nikki," she says.
Her experience includes winning a heat in an invitational meeting at Stanford University, California.
"It was pretty intense there. I definitely prefer to be with good girls who can push me a little and be smarter."
Welshman James Thie, of Cardiff, coaches Camp.
"He's an extremely interesting coach," she says of Thie who is a former runner and has no qualms about joining into training sessions to impart knowledge to the field of athletes.
While keen to nip at the heels of Petty and Hamblin, Camp is conscious of occasionally glancing over her shoulder at young rivals, such as Holly Manning, of Napier.
The Napier Girls High School graduate is bound for Stonybrook University, near New York, where Hawke's Bay runner Eric Speakman recently created history in cross-country.
Manning, 18, who leaves for the US on a $50,000 scholarship in August, is the national under-20 record holder in 800m, clocking 2:09.2 to be favourites to take the cash prize for the best Bay runner in the distance today.
"I first heard of Holly when there was a mention of her studying in the US," Camp says, revealing Manning had added her to her Facebook.
Manning came third in the inaugural Bob Spence 1500m race in Wellington last weekend, clocking 4:41.60 behind Tina Harris (4:39.28) and winner Hamblin who won by the length of the straight (4:18.32).
Camp knows all about the exuberance of youth, a feisty 10-year-old who enjoyed crosscountry.
"I am the only one in the family who runs, which is a bit odd."
Crosscountry soon gave way to track when she got a decent adrenalin fix from doing speed work.
Today's gold-coin donations from entries will be split between Hawke's Bay Cancer Society and Cranford Hospice where Allan Potts spent his last few weeks.
TIMETABLE
12pm-4.30pm: 3 to 14-year-olds.
5.50: 100m 11yr -14yr girls' hcp
5.30: Hammer men/women.
5.52: 100m 11yr - 14yr boys' handicap long jump m/w.
5.55: 100m women A then B then C races pole vault m/w.
6.10: 100m men A then B race 6.30 shotput m/w.
6.20: 1500m u/20 women.
6.30: 400m women A then B race.
6.35: 400m men A then B race.
6.45: Clash of Codes 4x100m.
6.50: Allan Potts 800m men.
6.55: 800m 10yr -14ys boys' handicap.
7.05: 1500m u/20 men.
7.10: 2x100m relay women.
7.15: 2x100m relay men.
7.20: 800m 10yr -14yrs girls' handicap.
7.30: Sylvia Potts 800m women.
KEY ATHLETES
Angie Petty (nee Smit): Canterbury, 800m.
Nikki Hamblin: Auckland, 800m.
Corrin Demeo: Melbourne, 800m.
Holly Manning: Napier, 800m.
Jacko Gill: Auckland shotput.
Eliza McCartney: Auckland, pole vaulter.
Brad Mathas: Canterbury, 800m.
Georgia Hull: Hastings, 100m, 200m.
Shannon Gearey: Hastings, 400m, 800m pacemaker.
George Beamish: HB/Wanganui, 1500m.
Xavier Smith: Australia, 1500m.
Officals: Hastings Athletic club, chairwoman Sharee Jones, officials Barry and Anne Jones (not related) Andersen family Murray Jo Louise Tracy Gavin, Bruce Smith, Hastings and Napier Harriers and athletic officials. Potts trustees Neville Smith, Mike Kaye, and Richard Potts plus other officials and families.
Key sponsors: Sileni Estates (Sir Graeme Avery), Andrew Spence Pharmacy, Hawke's Bay Orthodontics, John Oxenham.
