Sam Ruthe (right) pips Sam Tanner in the 800m at the Potts Classic in Hastings. Photo / Photosport
Teenage middle-distance sensation Sam Ruthe and the experienced Sam Tanner served up the perfect entree to the Pak’nSave Cooks International Classic with a thrilling duel over 800 metres at the Potts Classic in Hastings last weekend.
Less than a 10th of a second separated them at the finish, both recording personal best times with Ruthe holding off Tanner’s challenge on the home straight (1m 45.86s and 1m 45.94s respectively).
Ruthe added another series of age group records as the perfect build-up for this weekend.
Sixty-four years ago, Peter Snell ran a fast 800m a week before his famous world record at Cooks Gardens. That 1962 world record at Cooks Gardens put the iconic track on the World Athletics map which has been recognised by World Athletics Heritage plaques recognising the world record and the venue.
Seventy-nine athletes have run under four minutes for the mile at Cooks Gardens, more than at any other New Zealand venue. How many more can be added this year at the “Home of the mile”?
Tanner and Ruthe have asked for a fast pace of 1m 52s for the opening two laps as both have high personal goals for Saturday.
Tanner would like to beat Nick Willis’ Stadium Record and equal Willis’ five sub four-minute miles at Cooks Gardens while Ruthe has Cam Myers’ (Australia) World Best for a 16-year-old as a target for another impressive addition to his athletics CV.
Ruthe is a young man who understands the history of Cooks Gardens.
“I know Whanganui is a special place for the mile. It’s the fastest mile every year in New Zealand.
“Whanganui was one of my favourite races for me last year when I ran 4:01 … the crowd was so good last year, it really lifts you.”
Ruthe has also great appreciation of his older training mate Tanner.
“I don’t think people realise how good Tanner is. He has been a fulltime pro for four years and he has run 3.49 in Europe which is only half a second off Walker’s record and Walker held the world record.
“The gap between age group runners and fulltime pro runners is quite big. That’s the gap I’m trying to close at the moment and that is that gap that Tanner is trying to make as wide as possible … I want to hold on for the ride for as long as possible.”
All the ingredients are there for a great race as evidenced by last weekend’s 800m. The question is whether Ruthe, the apprentice, can hang on to a world best mile and whether the experienced Tanner can go to the top of the Cooks Gardens Roll of Honour.
Both athletes leave for the United States next week for indoor races.
Whanganui also has a chance to watch world-class sprinter Zoe Hobbs in action.
Hobbs holds the Oceania record and has twice been a World Indoor finalist (fourth and sixth at the last two championships).
She has, over her career, set 28 New Zealand records and won 29 New Zealand championship medals.
Hobbs will step on the Cooks Gardens track for probably the first time since she won a New Zealand Schools senior 100m title, running for New Plymouth Girls’ High School in 2014.
We have a chance to see her in action twice.
She runs in the 60m in the afternoon session at 6.10pm and over 100m at 7.46pm.
Hobbs came tantalisingly close to a World Indoor Championships qualifying mark in Hastings on Saturday, winning the inaugural short track title. She missed the mark by 100ths of a second and had there not been a 1.8 metre/second headwind, would certainly have qualified.
In Whanganui, we have the ability to run in either straight, thus guaranteeing a tailwind. Hobbs will have a second bite of the cherry as a camera will also record the 60m time in the 100m.
New Zealand’s leading male sprinter Tiaan Whelpton will run the same sprint combination on Saturday.
The pre-meet at 4pm not only has Zoe Hobbs in action. There is a quality high jump (World Bronze event) at 5pm with a large and competitive field and the Masters Mile Championship featuring Whanganui’s World Masters record holder Sally Gibbs.
The men’s high jump starts at 7.10pm with a large international field. Olympic champion Hamish Kerr is not jumping this year but will be in attendance. Fellow Olympian Lauren Bruce competes in the hammer, seeking to break her own Stadium Record.
The evening track programme starts at 7.15pm with the 400m hurdles featuring Whanganui’s two 400m hurdle champions, Jono Maples (2025 senior champion) and Damian Hodgson (under-20 champion).
The action-packed track programme concludes with the men’s and women’s New Zealand Mile Championships.