Hawke's Bay runner guns for Games time in Europe

Hawke's Bay could have two runners in the same 5000m event at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham if all goes well for Napier athlete Eric Speakman. Photo / Getty Images

Hawke's Bay could have two runners in the same 5000 metres event at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham if all goes well for Napier athlete Eric Speakman on a do-or-die mission in Europe next month.

The selection of 31-year-old Speakman, winner of 10 national senior titles from 800m to 10kms, is conditional on proving he's recovered sufficiently from a foot injury which has kept him off the race track since February.

To do it he's off on what is essentially a self-funded mission to Europe with a target of running the 5000m in under 13 minutes and 30 seconds - by June 22.

The winner of the 2017 senior 1500m, Speakman also holds podium placings in 10 New Zealand senior championships from 800m to 10,000m. He is out to join Geordie Beamish, 25, who has been named in the Athletics New Zealand team for the 5000m at both the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, US, on July 15-24 and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, on July 28 to August 8.

Having also done five years in the US, from 2010 to 2015, Speakman is now a fulltime teacher at Hutt Valley High School, and on Tuesday was still plotting the course of the next 29 days. He'll effectively retrace some of the steps he took last year when, again bouncing back from injury, he was forced into an ultimately unsuccessful last-ditch bid for selection for the Tokyo Olympics.

Having run a personal best of 13:22:08 in the US on May 15 last year he headed for Europe with - again - a June 22 deadline, but had to concede defeat after a 14:11:01 run in Nice, France, conceding later he "blew out" after possibly going after the pacemaker too early.

In his second year teaching in Wellington, where he moved to be closer to high performance coach Steve Willis, his mentor since late 2015, Speakman's injury this year ruined a programme which was to have included the New Zealand championships in Hastings in March, the Night of 5s in Auckland and racing in Australia.

But his eye remains on the goals he's had since he first started about 25 years ago at the Napier Harrier Club, of which he remains a member.

With successive injuries over the years, Speakman's been credited with supreme displays of guts in the past, and hopes he can put that behind him over the next 12 weeks, Birmingham included.

He's bypassing the Oceania Games to get the best racing possible, and said: "It's going well. I'm doing the full mileage, not up to full speed, but progressing daily. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity."

The Commonwealth Games squad, named last Thursday, was missing Havelock North sprinter Georgia Hulls, who is however conditionally selected for the World Championships, depending on her 200m world ranking as at June 26.