Fans of Olympic Games 1500m bronze medallist Nick Willis will get a rare opportunity to see him race on home soil when takes on the mile at an international athletics meeting in Christchurch in March.
Promoters are expecting an international world class field for the race including Britain'sAndrew Baddeley who was the world's fastest miler this year.
Baddeley won the Mayoral Mile Race in Wanganui last year when he defeated Gareth Hyett, New Zealand's 13th fastest all-time miler.
He clocked the world's best mile this year when he won the Dream Mile in 3m 49.38s at the Oslo Golden League meeting in Norway.
Baddeley was ninth in the Beijing Olympics 1500m and ninth at the 2007 world championships in front of Willis.
Willis claimed John Walker's national 1500m record of 3m 32.4s set in Oslo in 1975, when he ran 3m 32.38s in 2005. He has since lowered it to 3m32.17s, set in 2006.
Willis, now based in the United States, has a personal best of 3m 50.66s in the mile, set this year.
Walker's national mile record of 3m 49.08s was set in Oslo in 1982.
His resident and allcomers national record - the best time set on New Zealand soil - is 3m 50.60s set in Auckland in 1981.
