KEY POINTS:
Sprint ace James Dolphin is always in a hurry. After a race meeting in Canberra late last month, he flew home expecting to have several days to spend with his wife, June, before the birth of their second son.
But the baby had other ideas.
When Dolphin touched down in Auckland at 2am on Anniversary Day, June told him she was going into labour five days early.
He rushed home and arrived in time to see the birth of little Ari Dolphin, a brother for Joe who was born while his father was competing at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
"At least I made it for the birth of this one," said Dolphin.
Zooming around is part and parcel of his life.
As well as caring for his familyand working full-time as a salesrep for Mizuno, Dolphin is aimingfor a place on the Beijing Olympics team.
Last month, he ran under the 20.59s A-standard selection time with a personal best 20.56s over 200m in Sydney.
But with the selectors indicating an A-standard will not automatically qualify an athlete for the Beijing team, Dolphin needs to prove his case.
His latest chance comes tomorrow at the Black Singlet Invitational meeting, an International Association of Athletic Federations permit event being held at the The Trusts Stadium in Henderson.
"Another A-standard would be great," said Dolphin, a quarter-finalist at last year's world championship.
"And I'd also like to keep my undefeated record in Australia and New Zealand this season."
The field lining up at Waitakere will have other ideas.
Looking to beat Dolphin will be young Aucklander Jeffrey Thumath who put himself within striking distance of an Olympic qualifying time with a 20.77s run in Wellington last week.
Dolphin says he is relishing the competition this season, which he believes is pushing him to run faster.
After Tuesday night, he will fly to Australia for another IAAF meeting in Melbourne on Thursday, then line up in the Australian championships later in the month.
Several Australians are also likely to race him in the New Zealand championships in Auckland in late March, before he heads to Europe in June to peak towards the August Olympics.
Another New Zealand athlete aiming to use Tuesday's meeting to impress the selectors is javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar.
The 26-year-old also bettered the A-standard last month, throwing a personal best 83.23m in Canberra.
He went close to another A standard throw last weekend, hurling the javelin out to 81.25m at a meeting in Hamilton, just 55cm shy of the mark.
On Tuesday night he will need to beat Australians Jarrod Bannister, who has a best of 83.70m, and Josh Robinson, as well as American Mike Hazel.
Shotput world champion Valerie Vili will be looking for anotherseries of top throws, while discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina will revive her rivalry with Australian Dani Samuels who stole the bronze from Faumuina at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
The programme begins at 4.30 pm with the javelin, though most events start at 6 pm.
