Athletics: New year brings full January calendar of major events

Sam Tanner running at Cooks Gardens in 2020. Photo / Bevan Conley

Four hours into the new year, 38 runners and 10 volunteers lined up for an extra Whanganui Riverbank parkrun welcoming 2023. Some 60 runners had farewelled 2022 the previous day.

As the world has cautiously eased out of the pandemic and its regulations, parkrun has seen significant worldwide growth with many thousands participating in many countries. It has come a long way since the first run in the UK back in 2004 attracting 13 runners. With the arrival of summer, numbers on our riverbank run have been steadily growing, including an increasing number of visitors from New Zealand and further afield.

A large group of officials, both local and from beyond Whanganui, will also have an early start to the year as the annual North Island Colgate Games will be at Cooks Gardens through this weekend (Friday to Sunday). The three-day meeting along with last month’s New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships are the largest track and field meetings in New Zealand. There are 1050 entries — a dozen or so more than at NZ School Championships in Inglewood.

It is pleasing to see significant growth in the number of Whanganui athletes who have entered. The family nature of the event is illustrated by the fact there are six sets of siblings in the 26 Whanganui athletes, including three from the Brasting family.

The large number of athletes, families and volunteers means a very full city this weekend with corresponding economic benefits. Finding the many volunteers for any large event is a challenge, especially during holiday time, additional help would be very welcome.

Officials have only a short turnaround until the start of Club Nights on Tuesday, January 17, and the 2023 Pak’nSave Cooks Classic 10 days later (Saturday, January 28) followed by the return of the Snell’s Mile Challenge a day later (January 29). As the year starts, entries have doubled from the same date last year,

The Cooks Classic, well rated by World Athletics last year, is a New Zealand premier meeting and a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event. The Classic last January had Covid protocols in place and was conducted without spectators. There were seven stadium rRecords broken and many of the stars in action that night returned with medals from the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham in August.

There is added world recognition with the presentation over that weekend of a World Heritage landmark plaque to “Cooks Gardens — Home of the Mile” and also a legend Award — Sir Peter Snell —– Mile World record 3:54.4 (27/11962)

The New Zealand Mile Championships again features on the programme with not only the men’s but also the women’s mile and the under-20 men and women’s championships.

The men’s field already has four sub 4 [minute] milers entered (two New Zealanders and two Australians) and is headed by Sam Tanner who ran so superbly in finishing sixth at the Commonwealth Games and like the five ahead in Birmingham broke the Games record set back in 1974 with a then world record by the great Filbert Bayi.

The women’s mile also has Australians Sarah Billings and Georgia Griffith on the start list with the cream of New Zealand runners alongside other hopefuls striving to win a coveted commemorative cap. It is hoped that Brad Mathas in Melbourne will return to become the first Whanganui-born athlete to run under 4 minutes at Cooks Gardens

The depth of middle-distance runners at the recent New Zealand Schools suggests the under-20 races will be competitive and many are in the 42-strong New Zealand Schools Tour Team to the Classic Meets including four Whanganui athletes.

The big men are back in town and with the drop-in shot circle in place to allow an even better view of the action. Commonwealth Games gold medal winner and prolific global medal winner Tom Walsh has confirmed his entry. Organisers hope Commonwealth Games silver medal winner Jacko Gil will compete to retain his stadium record set in 2020 when he defeated Walsh at Cooks Gardens.

Hamish Kerr, who took the Commonwealth gold medal in the high jump and bronze at the World Indoors, will be back in action and hopes to set his fourth consecutive stadium record. We look forward to a full stadium. Tickets are available online at www.eventfinda.co.nz and at the gates where eftpos is available

The Sir Peter Snell Challenge following the Cooks Classic allows people of all ages a chance to run/walk a mile at the same venue on which Sir Peter Snell broke the world record. Entrants will participate in age and gender sections and all will receive a souvenir medal and commemorative certificate, there are spot prizes including a Trek Mountain bike supplied by Velo Ronnie Bicycle Store.

An exciting year at Cooks Gardens with a busy start.