Olympian hoped to kick off track

Wairarapa's all-weather athletics track at the Colin Pugh Sportsbowl, Masterton, is to be christened on January 12 and high hopes are held that Olympian Nick Willis will be on hand for the historic first track meeting.

Athletics Wellington have organised an inaugural meeting for the just-finished track and Masterton man Mark Harris, who has been involved with the track project throughout and is on-the-ground organiser for the first meet, said it is hoped Willis will pacemake for the 1500m A race and B race events.

He said the meeting would be a free-entry event for anyone who wanted to come along and see the track in action for themselves but athletes taking part have to be registered with Athletics New Zealand.

The meeting will run from 1.30pm until 4pm, being the culmination of a five-and-a-half year project and, Mr Harris said, the start of a new era for track athletics in the region.

It is planned to stage races over 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m and possibly 3000m and 5000m events.

There will also be triple jump, high jump, shop-put and javelin contests and a 3000m walk.

Mr Harris said the A race over 1500m - Willis' specialist distance - was being aimed as a race that would attract an exclusive field in the hope of posting a fast time.

The inaugural meeting will not double as the track's official opening, though.

Mr Harris said that will come later. Whereas the prospect of beginning athletic events on January 12 was "quite cool", things would be even better when the hammer cage and discus cages were ready, he said.

This week volunteers have been constructing the hammer cage, which is in itself no mean feat. The volunteers had to dig 17 holes over a metre deep and 50cm wide in extremely stoney ground to put down the foundation for the cage.