Young Guns Line Up For Queen Street Golden Mile

Young Guns Line Up For Queen Street Golden Mile

Tuesday 5 March, 2013: Top US Collegiate athlete Miles Batty and emerging Australian middle distance runner Brett Robinson have been confirmed for the elite men’s field to contest the Queen Street Golden Mile in Auckland on Easter Monday.

Batty, a graduate from Brigham Young University in Utah, ran 3m 54.54s at the Millrose Games in New York last February to break the American Indoor Collegiate record by almost half a second. Winner of the NCAA 1500m in 2011 when he was voted the collegiate track athlete of the year, Batty has a best time of 3m 36.25s for the 1500m.

Robinson, still only 21, made the IAAF World Junior Athletic Championship 1500m final in 2010 and has a best time for the 1500m of 3m 38.9s and for the mile of 4m 02s. He has also made the Australian team for the World Cross Country Championships in Poland.

The two ‘Young Guns’ join the female trio of Lucy van Dalen (New Zealand), Zoe Buckman (Australia) and Susan Kuijken (Netherlands) as the confirmed starters for the elite miles down Queen Street on April 1.

Last held in 1983, the return of the Queen Street Golden Mile is a John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation (FYFOD) initiative. The aim is to provide athletes young and old the chance to run in the footsteps of champions and, at the same time, generate some revenue to support the work of the Foundation. More details are at www.queenstreetmile.co.nz

FYFOD Chief Executive Craig Pollock says that while the elite fields “represent athletes of outstanding quality, and we expect to announce further international athletes for the men’s mile, the afternoon is more about encouraging as many people as possible to take part.

“Unlike previous Queen Street miles which had a heavy focus on elite athletes, this year we will have more than 16 races over a four-hour period on Easter Monday.”

Races planned for the day include under 16, under 19, over 20 and veteran men’s and women’s miles, plus a citizen’s mile for non-registered athletes, a corporate team’s event, and the Clash of the Codes.

Mr Pollock says the ‘Auckland Citizens Mile’, open to anyone over the age of 16, is a great opportunity to “run down Queen Street for the first time without fear of prosecution, cheered on by thousands of supporters lining both sides of the street.” All finishers will be presented with a certificate recording their officially registered time.

“We expect there will be many who’ve trained hard for ‘Round the Bays’ who would welcome the chance to stretch their legs down Queen Street over a mile. And all for a good cause, to support the work of Sir John’s FIND YOUR FIELD OF DREAMS Foundation in the community.”

The Queen Street Mile has the support of Mayor Len Brown as well as Auckland Council, Athletics Auckland and the NZ Olympic Committee.

All the races will start at the Queen St/Mayoral Drive intersection with athletes racing to the bottom of Queen Street, across Customs and Quay Streets, finishing on Queen’s Wharf.

ends

© Scoop Media