Willis is also the Stadium record holder with 3m 52.75s, set in 2006 only weeks before his Commonwealth gold medal after an epic Cooks Gardens mile race with Australian Craig Mottram.
New Zealand double Olympian Sam Tanner will be looking for his third consecutive Cooks Gardens and New Zealand titles and hopes to add his fifth Cooks Gardens sub-4-minute mile. This would move him clear of the great Sir John Walker to join Willis.
Tanner has stood on the top step of a New Zealand podium 14 times since his first gold in 2017 in the under-18 grade and holds eight New Zealand age group records.
The New Zealand Men’s Mile has drawn 40 entries and each of the three seeded races will be closely fought.
Australian visitor Jack Bruce has run 3m 37.79s for 1500m which is comfortably under a sub-4 equivalent. The field also has Australian Jarryd Clifford who holds the World Para 1500m record (T 12) of 3m 41.34s (just under the sub-4-minute equivalent).
Can Cooks Gardens be home to another world record this Saturday and Clifford become the first para athlete to join the Cooks Gardens Roll of Honour and claim the commemorative cap that goes to athletes achieving the milestone?
There is a whole group of New Zealanders entered who are on the cusp of a breakthrough at a venue that has so often been the start of great middle-distance careers. This group includes 15-year-old Sam Ruthe who has set a series of New Zealand age group records and is seeking higher world-class age group performances.
Seven women have run the female equivalent (4m 36s) and this should be added to, such is the depth of the women’s field.
The stadium record of 4m 30.27s set by Australian Georgia Griffiths in 2023 is under severe threat from Australian Linden Hall who has a mile best of 4m 19s and was ranked 14th in the world last year over 1500m.
Also in the field is American Taylor Werner who has a mile best of 4m 30.57s and is a former Pan American under-20 champion. Hall has Australian company with Izzy Thornton Bott who has a mile best of 4m 32.60s and we also welcome Saki Katagihara from Japan.
Alison Andrews-Paul heads the New Zealand challenge. Andrews-Paul is the current New Zealand women’s 1500m champion and would like to add the 2025 mile title on Saturday. She set her mile best of 4m 37.86s indoors at the Husky Classic in Seattle last February.
The Classic also hosts the New Zealand Masters Mile Championships at 5.05pm in the short pre-meet programme (starting at 4pm). We have 22 entries for the mixed Masters race including our own World Masters record holder (W 60-64) Sally Gibbs who will be seeking to build on her impressive Masters CV.
The main session starts at 7.05pm when it is Whanganui’s chance to welcome back Olympic and World Indoor high jump gold medal winner Hamish Kerr to Cooks Gardens where he has performed so well over recent years. Kerr hopes to improve on his stadium record of 2.28m to kick off his world championship year.
The women’s hammer, which starts at the same time, features New Zealand Olympian Lauren Bruce seeking to better her stadium record. It is also a welcome back to Whanganui’s Lexi Maples, now based in Los Angeles, who will want to build on her impressive stateside progress.
Both events are near spectators, providing a thrilling start to a great two hours of track and field.
The first senior track race is the 400m hurdles at 7.30pm featuring all the top-ranked New Zealand hurdlers with a strong local interest. This will be preceded by the popular “Fastest Kid on the Block” featuring 48 children who qualified through heats to run for their district.
The evening concludes with the men’s mile at 9pm.
