Athletics: Relay squad on track for Melbourne

Athletics New Zealand's (ANZ) goal of becoming a genuine relay threat on the world stage took a stride forward in the anonymous surroundings adjacent to the 2000 Olympics venue on Saturday.

The New Zealand men's 4x100m relay team became the latest athletes to eclipse the qualifying mark for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games at the New South Wales state relay championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre, the Olympic warm-up track.

Dallas Roberts, David Falealili, James Dolphin and double Olympian Chris Donaldson barely raised a murmur when they recorded a slick time of 38.99 seconds to win the senior final.

But ANZ high performance director Eric Hollingsworth believes the time has the New Zealanders on track for the Games final in Melbourne -- and ultimately a place amongst the elite at Olympic level.

"They're looking like a finalist at the Commonwealth Games and from then on we can put in some long-term strategic goals to get this crop of sprinters into a 4x100 final at the Olympics," Hollingsworth said after the squad qualified with at least three meets to spare.

"That time (on Saturday) at this time of the year showed if they keep coming down another couple of tenths (of a second) we'll have a world class relay team."

The run slipped comfortably under the Games qualifying mark of 39.30sec and easily bettered the old New Zealand record of 39.42sec set in 1997.

Hollingsworth said the quartet had vindicated ANZ's policy of concentrating on the relay rather than grooming athletes for the individual 100m, a vision the Englishman developed after arriving from Australia's Victorian Institute of Sport in June.

"Realistically the 100m in the Commonwealth Games is probably the strongest track and field event," he said.

"You'll have three from England, Jamaica, Trinidad ... the standard is very fast.

"In the past New Zealand athletes have concentrated on their individual aspirations when maybe they have not been realistic.

"We had a heart to heart with the sprinters and told them to focus on the relay -- that was their best way to represent New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games.

"They were told clearly the relay comes first and anyone (100m sprinter) who wants to step outside of that wouldn't be supported.

"The relay has had real focus and determination about it and to their credit they produced the goods."

The four who set the new record to book a berth in Melbourne will not be able to rest on their laurels, with the national championships in Christchurch in late January determining the composition up of the six-man Games squad.

"They still have to prove they are the best guys to take away in March, spots are still up for grabs," said Hollingsworth, who has a group of sprinters waiting in the wings.

Matt Brown and Donald MacDonald were the reserves yesterday while James Mortimer, Todd Mansfield, Nick Madgewick, Andrew Moore, Craig Bearda and Carl van der Speck are still in contention.

The successful foursome -- and reserves -- only made the cut for Sydney after winning a hotly-contested runoff last Tuesday.

The national championships in Christchurch are the last domestic opportunity while those who miss out narrowly there have one last shot at the Australian championships in Sydney on February 2-5.

ANZ is expected to name a team of about 30 on February 7 subject to New Zealand Olympic Committee approval.

New Zealand's world mountain running champion Kate McIlroy still needs a massive improvement to make the track team in the 5000m after clocking 16min 01sec in Melbourne last night, well outside the required mark of 15min 25sec.

Decathlete Peter Cox missed out at the other end of the spectrum, his 7475 points haul in a qualifying event in Dunedin just 25 short of the standard required.

- NZPA