Tom Walsh, former world champion, two-times Olympic bronze medal winner and New Zealand champion for 12 consecutive years, is one of four Tokyo New Zealand Olympians already confirmed for the Pak'nSave Cooks Classic on Sunday, January 30.
After many problems and delays in the initial planning, the Classic is shapingup to be an action-packed night of track and field athletics. During the past months there were so many "false starts" that, had the Classic been a sprint, there would have been a disqualification.
The pandemic led to uncertainty about whether the event could be held and what Covid regulations would be in place. There were inevitable delays in approval from Oceania and Athletics New Zealand and even securing the venue on the chosen date became a problem. Negotiation allowed the event to proceed on Sunday the 30th, a day later than the original date with a wedding being held at the venue on Saturday.
The easy thing would have been to cancel in 2022, which has been the fate of so many other events. The decision was to continue under strict and safe Covid protocols and we have been rewarded with a growing list of strong competitors.
Tom Walsh is without doubt New Zealand's greatest-ever male field event athlete. He holds the Oceania and New Zealand National Record (22.90m) when he finished third in the World Championships in Doha in 2019 after an epic struggle that saw 1cm separating the three medal winners. He also holds the New Zealand All Comers and Resident record with his 22.67. Walsh has won a total of 17 New Zealand medals including gold in the Shot for 12 consecutive years.
Walsh is the current Commonwealth Games champion, has won two World Indoor titles, an outdoor title backed up with an Indoor bronze in 2014, a Commonwealth silver in the same year and two consecutive Olympic bronze medals, in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo last year. He is a worthy double-winner of the Halberg Sportsman of the Year and Supreme winner in 2018.
Walsh, however, does not hold the Cooks Gardens Record. That record went to fellow Olympic finalist and former World Youth and Junior Champion Jacko Gill at last year's Cooks Classic with an impressive 21.11 performance. We are still hopeful that Gill will be at Cooks to reprise the close battle on the same date last year. It is also proposed to put in a drop-in circle in front of the main stand at Cooks Gardens to give the event the prominence it deserves. The circle will be faster and not tucked away at the Bell Tower corner of the stadium - the action will be centre stage.
I will feature the other major events and leading athletes in this column over the next fortnight. Olympian Sam Tanner will be defending his mile title on the track and fellow Olympians Lauren Bruce and Hamish Kerr return hoping to break their own respective hammer and high jump stadium records and pocket the cash bonus that goes with this.
With the cancellation of New Zealand Schools Championships and the under-18 grade at last year's Athletic New Zealand Track and Field Championships, last weekend's North Island Colgate Games was the largest track and field event since the 2021 Colgate Games. It was good to see the determination to hold a safe event rewarded with over 1000 young athletes happy to be back in action well supported by proud and relieved parents. There were as ever many impressive performances throughout the weekend even on a windy Sunday that saw damage to shelter gazebos.
I made the journey south to Wellington, offering my help as an official and also in the hope of recruiting more officials to assist at the Cooks Classic. I lost count how many athletes flew by me over two days as a line umpire. The second part of the mission was successful with much-appreciated additions to our officials roster for the Cooks Classic. It is a work in progress but with 30 already listed to date, we are making good progress.
It was good also to see some of our young athletes succeed over the weekend. Cruz Malo returned to the podium with a third place in the Grade 11 200m following his fourth in the 100m. Brian Wilson won the para 200m and was second in the shot discus and 100m. Nate Burke set a PB in finishing 10th in the 400m and in the 800m finishing ninth. It was encouraging to see Juliet McKinlay (Palmerston North) finish fourth in her Grade 13 80m hurdles and second in the long jump. McKinlay joins Whanganui Collegiate this year.
