ATHLETICS: He's got legs, and now he's got wheels too

DOUG LAING
Napier runner Jason Stewart has always been confident he has the legs to become Hawke's Bay's first home-grown Commonwealth Games track and field medallist in 24 years.
But, often going it alone in his bid for 800 metres glory, he recognises, now, that even he needs all the help he can get to get over the line, and reach the potential shown consistently over 10 years of national and international competition, at which he should be just starting to reach his prime.
Home three weeks from his latest campaign in Europe, which included a disappointing first round elimination at the World Championships in Helsinki, he has got one "big" boost from a Napier car firm which has, to the legs, added the wheels.
"I was a bit destitute," said the lanky former Napier Boys' High School pupil, relating this week how Wayne Kirk Mitsubishi stepped in to provide a vehicle for his use throughout the buildup to the Games in Melbourne in March.
Now rated in the top 12 contenders, he said: "I had no car, I can't really hold down a fulltime job if I'm going to give it my best shot, and I really didn't know how I was going to get around."
Kirk heard of his plight through staff member Mark Barry, whose own son is also a specialist at the metric half-mile, and, in times where car firms are under a barrage of requests for similar help made an instant and unconditional decision to help the local boy.
"I was impressed by what I was told about how he has done it almost on his own," Mr Kirk said.
"Now, he is a definite prospect, and it is time for the local fraternity to help carry him over the line, with his arms in the air."
Providing Stewart with a vehicle, he said, would take some pressure off the runner in his day-to-day life and enable him to focus on the peak of his career, expected from this summer through to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
It comes with hope, for Stewart's personal best of 1 minutes 46.19 seconds is better than the winning time at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, run by South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.
And his ultimate goal of 1:43, which he still believes is achievable, would hammer the New Zealand record of 1:44.3 run by the great Peter Snell in 1962, take him closer to the Game s record of 1min 43.22sec set by Englishman Steve Cram in 1986.
For Stewart, the all-but certain selection for the Commonwealth Games will complete a series of four events he had targeted earlier in his career.
He was seventh in the World junior championships in Chile in 2000, ran 1min 46.24sec to post New Zealand's only personal-best in track and field at the 2004 Olympics, and ran in the World Championships in August, where he fell victim to a slow pace in his heat and was eliminated.
He was at the time in good shape, and should have been running five seconds faster than the 1min 50sec mark - a notable figure in his career for as a teenager he became the youngest Kiwi to breach the barrier.
Also as a teenager, Stewart had a major victory in the Melbourne stadium being used for the games, an Australian junior title in 2000 to go with a range of New Zealand age group and schools titles, often in record form.
The success of this year's stint Europe was his new PB in Heusen-Zolder, Belgium, in May, and he says: "That goal, 1:43, is probably a lot closer than I give myself credit for. I don't want it to seem like I'm taking it for granted, and Melbourne is going to be difficult."
His selection is, also, yet to be confirmed, but to miss out, with three qualifying times to his credit, he would have to be beaten by at least three other, faster Kiwis in the national championships and trial.
While 1500m specialist Nick Willis has run faster, Stewart's best is at least two seconds faster than any other Kiwi contender.
Stewart has had few injuries, but says they're usually a good sign.
"I have the odd niggle, about once a year, but when you're pushing the boundaries, the body is going to tell you some time."
Racing will be minimal in his new buildup, with his first appearance on the track likely to be at the Sylvia Potts Classic in Hastings in early January.