Athletics: Windfall speeds miler on his way

A $10,000 sponsorship has kick-started Nick Willis' international athletic career.

The scholarship from the Regency Duty Free Sports Foundation will assist the Hutt Valley 17-year-old - touted as New Zealand's brightest middle-distance prospect since John Walker - on and off the track.

His costs for this week's American High School national championships in New York, where he will run the indoor mile, will be met by organisers, but the foundation will cover expenses.

The heats of the mile are on Thursday and the final two days later.

With US schoolboy sensation Allen Webb not competing, Willis said he had heard he was now being touted as favourite for the indoor mile.

"I wish I could race him, but that's the way it is," Willis said.

While he is keen to use some of the Regency money to cover planned university courses later in the year, Willis may also put some of this unexpected windfall to use competing at the World University Games in China in August.

He also plans to run in the Australian track and field championships later this month, with his main focus the 2002 world junior championships. He hopes to train for a month in Florida in the build-up to those championships.