The rest is part of the history with Willis achieving his fifth Cooks Gardens mark, Hamish Carson his second and Eric Speakman his first sub four minute mile.
Craig Huffner (Australia) and Julian Matthews came tantalisingly close.
The calm conditions at the start were in sharp contrast to the pressures behind the scenes.
Electronic failures including the microphones and the trackside clock, issues with the camera pre-meet, trouble with a hurdle event and confusion over relay declarations all contributed to these pressures.
Thankfully the mile lived up to its pre-meet expectation.
In the warm conditions there were a number of outstanding performances which have helped reshaped the current New Zealand rankings.
Much has already been covered in the Wanganui Chronicle's excellent coverage.
The Classic series brings together the Potts Classic, The Cooks Classic and today's Capital Classic in Wellington.
There has been considerable work in co-ordinating the events held at each venue, making touring to all three meets an attractive opportunity.
Common entry procedures and rules have all combined to see an almost 15 per cent increase in competitors.
This will be further developed for next year and already plans are in place for an enhanced series based on lessons learned over this year.
I was particularly impressed with the close finishes in many sprint races, with the closest of all in the 2x100m relay.
The novel relay event is wonderful preparation for the development of the full 4x100m national teams.
The series has been instrumental in bringing the senior squad together for the tour and we hope this can be continued next year.
At the same time, meet organisers will tighten up team declaration timings to insure that there are no delays at the start in future years.
National coach Kerry Hill must be especially pleased with the under 20 women's group.
Lucy Sheat (Malborough) having qualified for the 100m at World Juniors with her win in Hastings last week, added a victory over 200m at Cooks Gardens.
Fellow 100m qualifier Georgia Hulls (Hastings) also backed up with a good 200m in Whanganui and with other top juniors Zoe Hobbs (Taranaki) and Olivia Eaton (Egmont) also in the mix, there is a relay group with high potential.
Two local sprinters continue to develop well.
The 12-year-old Genna Maples won the under 20's 100m and was a narrow second in the 200m with an impressive 26.42s into a head wind.
Harry Symes finished second in both his sprint outings and combined well with Collegiate team mate Sam Merson in the 2x100m.
Both should progress rapidly as the school year unfolds.
The next major event at Cooks Gardens is the New Zealand Combined Events Championships on February 20-21.
This will bring the strong group of all-round athletes together in exciting action.
There will again be a luck draw of travel provided by Harvey World Travel for spectators.
The more of the events they are present for, the greater the chance to win the draw at the conclusion of the two days of competition.
On the local scene, we expect a pickup of pace on Club Nights with the first day of the Manawatu/Whanganui Championships scheduled for February 9 at Cooks Gardens.
