Athletics: Miles of nostalgia between innings

More than 40 years ago, American Dyrol Burleson beat Peter Snell and Murray Halberg over a mile at Eden Park.

On Saturday, eight runners will line up in the break between innings at the New Zealand-England one-day cricket international trying to better the 4m 5.6s Burleson ran that afternoon.

On a specially-prepared one-lane track inside the boundary rope, four New Zealanders headed by Wellington's Ben Ruthe, with a 4min 03s personal best, will battle four Australians in the race for a share of the $2300 prizemoney.

The National Bank-sponsored international mile, being run in support of the Peter Snell Institute of Sport, brings athletics back to the ground which hosted the 1950 Empire Games and was later the venue for the highly-successful Agfa International Series.

Queensland's Alastair Stevenson, with a 3min 58s best, will start as favourite in the race, which will be started by Arthur Lydiard and have John Walker's long-time coach Arch Jelley as timekeeper.

The winner will collect $500.Terry Maddaford

The field for the mile, which should start at approximately 5.30pm, is:

New Zealand: Ben Ruthe (Wellington), Stuart Kerr (Auckland), Anthony Concannon (Auckland), Clyde McIntosh (Christchurch). Australia: Alastair Stevenson (Queensland), Clinton Mackevicius (Victoria), Simon Field (Victoria), Sam Fragomini (Queensland).