Sam Ruthe, 16, hopes to break a four-minute mile at the Cooks International Classic on Saturday. Photo / Peter Jones
Hopes are high for history to be made at Whanganui’s Cooks Gardens this weekend.
The 2026 Pak’nSave Cooks International Classic on Saturday will include the keenly-anticipated 2026 New Zealand Mile Championships.
The classic starts at 4pm and continues into the evening.
“We would expect and want a large crowd,” competition co-ordinator Alec McNab said.
He knew of people travelling from other regions of New Zealand to watch.
He said Whanganui’s weekly parkrun and River Markets should expect a higher volume of visitors - “interested runners are in town and they like to run themselves”.
The attention this year is three-fold.
It is the event’s first year after being elevated to a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze-level meet - meaning larger prizemoney, greater international pull, and the opportunity for athletes to gain points towards world titles.
“We had the largest crowd of all the classics last year,” McNab said.
With the bronze status, he said they expected the same, if not larger, crowds.
The mile championships were a particular drawcard.
“It’s obviously a big opportunity,” McNab said.
“[The Cooks Classic] is the home of the mile.”
Several high-profile athletes are set to battle it out for records - including 16-year-old Sam Ruthe from Tauranga. Ruthe became the youngest to break a four-minute mile at age 15 last year.
He will race against training partner and two-time Olympian Sam Tanner in the men’s mile. Both hope to break four minutes and receive Cooks Classic caps - awarded to males who run a mile under four minutes and women who run under 4m 36s.
Tanner has gone under four minutes four times at the Cooks Classic and hopes to equal Olympian Nick Willis’ track record of five times.
Olympic sprinter Zoe Hobbs will compete in the women’s 100m and 60m. She is the Oceania indoor record holder for both events and hopes to meet qualifying times for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“She is world-class,” McNab said.
At least 20 athletes from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Samoa and Ireland will compete.
Whanganui hurdlers Jonathan Maples, Damian Hodgson and Nat Kirk will compete in the 400m hurdles, and Maples also in the 60m sprint.
“We’ve actually got a big local interest in the first race of the evening,” McNab said.
Olympic high jump champion Hamish Kerr will attend but will not compete this year.
“He’s going to be talking to youngsters and signing autographs.”
McNab said former Whanganui athlete Tracy Phillips, who won high jump bronze at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, would be a spectator.
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe said with its World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze status, the event was “starting to attract a lot of attention”.
“Hamish Kerr will be speaking there, along with Rod Dixon, and to see the two Sams [Ruthe and Tanner] and Zoe Hobbs compete is going to be incredible.
“That bronze status, along with being designated as the home of the mile, is certainly putting us on the global map.
“It’s a track with strong history and we’ve seen great performances.”
Tripe said he hoped to see some sub-four-minute miles to bring the track’s total tally closer to 100.
Accommodation providers report a busy weekend ahead, not only because of the athletics meet.
Cooks Gardens Motor Lodge owner Russell Gedye said he was booked up for the weekend, although some guests were travelling for the annual Rātana celebrations.
“I would think we probably have some athletics people too,” he said.
“We were booked up last weekend as well for Vintage Weekend. There’s a bit of everything going on at the moment.”
The Avenue Hotel and Aotea Motor Lodge operator Carl Falconer said he also had a lot of bookings from people attending Rātana celebrations with many Cooks Classic participants staying at The Avenue Hotel.
“[Rātana] is attracting a lot of people into the city from Thursday,” Falconer said.
“But we do have a lot of travellers in, and we’re seeing a busy period for our family units at The Avenue.
“People coming for events like Rātana or Boxing Day [Cemetery Circuit races] are here every year - they know where they want to go.”
He said Airbnb was becoming more of an option for larger groups compared to three to five years ago.
Airbnb Whanganui manager Tess Dwyer said her company looked after 40 properties with a total of 100 rooms over the summer, and all were filled this weekend.
A lot of guests were coming to the city for the Cooks Classic, she said.
“It’s always cool to see someone we’ve hosted go to the Commonwealth Games or something, it’s like ‘Wow, we know them’.
“When we have Cooks Classic or Vintage Weekend or the jet sprints, everything is full.
“This time last year, we would have had around 25 [properties]. Even with these additional Airbnbs in January, it’s just chocka.”
Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.