Gold medallist returns to NZ to prepare for 2012 Olympics

Whangarei's all-weather athletics track was put to the test by Olympic middle distance runner Nick Willis yesterday.

A gold medallist for New Zealand in the 1500m event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Willis went on to win a silver medal in the same event at the Beijing Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

With just eight months to go until the London Olympics, Willis is on training programme that will see him reach his peak performance at just the right time. Based in Michigan, US for the past ten years, Willis and his wife Sierra arrived in New Zealand last week and will stay until March.

After spending a couple of days in Auckland with family, the Willis' headed up to the Bay of Islands for a couple of days sightseeing before calling in to Whangarei to test the city's new all-weather track.

Whangarei athletics coach Ian Babe said it was not every day that he gets a call from an Olympic runner wanting to use the track, so he was more than happy to open the gate for him.

Willis was enjoying a bit of down time before committing to some serious training in Lower Hutt next week.

"I never am a big believer in being 100 per cent tunnel vision year round, you've got to have phases where you knuckle down, so this week was a bit of a low period where I still get my training in every day but I'm also out at the beach and sight-seeing."

The Willis' were visiting the Bay of Islands for the first time and particularly enjoyed running along the track between Waitangi and Haruru Falls.

"I've never been north of Whangarei before and the only time I've been here in this town before was when I was six-years-old and they had the Colgate Games here.

"It was flooded the whole weekend and I remember we would slide from about 15m out from the finish line on our stomachs."

Whangarei's track facility has improved markedly since he last saw it, said Mr Willis. He ran eight laps around the track at 90 per cent effort - just enough to get his heart rate up.

He will be training and competing in New Zealand until March before heading to Melbourne for the 2012 IAAF World Challenge and back to the US to train for the Olympics.