Athletics: Davies stepping up

Former One Tree Point runner Mary Davies has continued her drive to the Rio Olympics after being named in New Zealand's world championship team.

The 30-year-old, who now lives and trains out of Houston, Texas, has been named alongside Kiwi shot put legend Valerie Adams, Nick Willis and Quentin Rew in the squad which will compete in Moscow in August.

Davies' selection late last month is a long way from her humble beginnings, pounding the pavement of Ruakaka as fitness for her hockey team.

It was then that Davies was spotted as a promising athlete by legendary Northland athletics coach Ian Babe.

"When she came through the door I said "yep she looks like a runner"," remembers Babe.

"[From there], we sat down and planned with what she'd like to do.

"In the initial stages I said to her the best thing to do is to learn how to train and hide in the tea tree for four or five months."

From there Davies went to Auckland to compete in a road race and shocked everyone by winning her age group, following it up with a third placing at the New Zealand 10km championships.

While Davies didn't compete at the London Olympics, it was on the cards. She took time out from training as she started a family with her Brazilian husband.

Davies said the focus now is building towards the Rio Olympics, having now ticked the box of the first stepping stone towards it - qualify for world championships.

"The goal is Rio 2016," Davies said.

"I'd like to get my marathon and half marathon times down, so long as I'm enjoying it I'll keep going.

"The training has been going pretty well, I've been enjoying it because I'm enjoying how it's been going so far," laughed Davies.

Babe added her selection into the New Zealand team was reward for her hard work and dedication to training.

"We're pretty chuffed about that [being selected]. To see her named first off the rank with those world-class names, she's announced herself on the world stage now."

Babe and Davies have an interesting training set-up which requires a large degree of self-motivation and trust. Babe will send Davies training programmes and she will chip away at them and send results back to Babe for him to analyse.

However, the distance between athlete and coach doesn't worry Davies as she has so much respect for the stalwart.

"He's a great guy, for the whole of Northland Athletics. I think when I first met him I was very shy, but back then I was extremely shy, and at first who he intimated me.

"But, he has so much knowledge and his knowledge of events helps him train me well. His knowledge of water running has been invaluable in preventing injuries."

If you would like to follow Davies' progress go to: http://runkiakaha.blogspot.co.nz