Athletics: Roadshow offers Games chances

By MURRAY McKINNON

Athletes looking to qualify for the Manchester Commonwealth Games will have plenty of opportunities during the next month to stake a claim for a place in the team.

Athletics New Zealand has put together six meetings to be known as the Bartercard Athletics Grand Prix Series.

The series starts in Dunedin on Saturday, followed by the Cooks Garden Classic in Wanganui on January 19, the Taranaki twilight meeting at the new all-weather track at Inglewood on January 21, the Sylvia Potts Classic in Hastings on January 26, the NorthSport Classic at North Harbour on February 2, and the Porritt Classic in Hamilton on February 6.

A further meeting had been scheduled for Christchurch on January 16, but was cancelled because rain delayed the completion of the new all-weather track.

During the series, athletes will be awarded points based on their performances, and the winners at the end will share in a pool of around $24,000.

Chantal Brunner, of Auckland, will be aiming for her third Commonwealth Games selection. She has finished sixth in the long jump at the last two, and faces

a selection standard of 6.50m.

"My first jump this season, off a full-length run-up, was 6.03m," she said. "It is early in the season, but I should be able to add 30cm or 40cm to that in my next jump."

Gus Nketia, a star of the 1994 Games in Victoria, Canada, where he set a New Zealand 100m record of 10.11s, showed he had recovered from the injury that hit him at the end of last season with a first-up 100m this season of 10.74s.

"I had three months off to get right, so 10.74s is a good start," Nketia said. It is unlikely that his arch rival, Chris Donaldson, will be in action during the Grand Prix series. Donaldson has taken some time to recover from a tendon injury that forced him out of the Sydney Olympics.

Competition for the North Harbour-based Nketia will come from Otago's Dallas Roberts.

Field event throwing will be a feature of the Dunedin meeting. Christchurch hammer thrower Tasha Williams is likely to get excellent competition from Australia's Bronwyn Eagles.

The 21-year-old from Sydney has a best of 70.19m and won the bronze medal at last year's world championships in Canada.

The country's leading javelin throwers - including four-times national champion Diggory Brooke from Bays, former champion Stuart Farquhar from Hamilton and Otago's Blair Stewart - will also be in action in Dunedin.

On the track, Josh Martin from Otago, second in last year's national 400m championship, will race Australian Casey Vincent, a Sydney Olympic semifinalist over 400m.

The 3000m in Dunedin will double as the national championship. Phil Costley, of Christchurch, is favoured to win the men's title, and Otago's Shireen Crumpton and Sarah Christie from Wellington are expected to battle out the women's event.

The feature of the Inglewood meeting is the national 10,000m championship.

Three Australians have been confirmed to race against world championship representative John Henwood, of Wellington. The standard for Manchester is 28m 09s.

Wellington's Melissa Moon, the world mountain running champion, will be defending her women's 10,000m title.

The mile will again be the focal point at Wanganui. Last year's sensation, Nick Willis, from Lower Hutt, will be keen to break four minutes for the distance for the first time.

Willis and his older brother, Steve, already a sub-four-minute miler, will also try to become the first brothers to break the four-minute barrier in the same race.

Rebecca Wardell from Canterbury and Bays' Jane Arnott are set for a possible clash at Inglewood over 400m, and have another chance to qualify for a Games time at North Shore.

Beatrice Faumuina, who has already qualified for Manchester, will compete in the discus throw at Wanganui, Inglewood, North Shore and Hamilton. World youth shotput champion Valerie Adams will compete in her specialty event at Wanganui, North Shore and Hamilton.

Women's pole vaulting will be a key field event at the North Shore meeting, where Jenni Dryburgh is expected to clear the Games qualifying height of 4.10m. Melina Hamilton will also be pushing for a Games berth.

Glenn Howard will seek a qualifying high jump of 2.24m at the North Shore event.

Andrea Miller, of Counties, is on the comeback trail and could claim a Games 100m hurdles time of 13.35s in Hamilton.