Athletes chase a triple crown in Rotorua

Sam Tanner of New Zealand
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Two Olympians will go head to head in a unique triple event in Rotorua this weekend as a part of the Rotorua Marathon festival.

While a few thousand people will be lining up for the iconic marathon, middle distance ace Sam Tanner, Olympic triathlon bronze medalist Hayden Wilde will be involved in a road mile, a car park building climb and a 5km race along the Rotorua airport runway.

National champion and fellow international Julian Oakley, who also trains with Tanner and Wilde, is also be in the field.

Friday’s road mile will be one of the first in the country since the likes of the Queen Street Mile’s of the 70’s and 80’s.

Tanner’s times in both the 1500m and mile have him ranked just behind the likes of Nick Willis and Sir John Walker on the all-time lists.

The 22 year old is looking for the the uniqueness of running the road mile alongside his two training partners.

Sam Tanner and Hayden Wilde
Photo: Alisha Lovrich

“We were talking about this at track this week that we’re businessmen with suits on when it comes to training, but when it comes to racing the suits come off and the gloves come out and we start going at it.

“They’re probably in my territory more on the Friday (the road mile) and then I’m probably going to be scratching for my life on the Sunday doing the 5k.”

At last year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games Tanner ran 3:31.34 to climb to number two on the all-time New Zealand 1500m list.

In Saturday’s RampRun in the Rotorua city car park building, competitors race to the top of the three-storey car park before returning to the foot of the building and repeating three more times.

While he was reluctant to talk much about his chances in that, Tanner says it’s an interesting concept that he hopes those not involved in the marathon might like to do.

The climax of the triple competition is Sunday’s 5km race along Rotorua Airport’s runway finishing alongside the departure terminal.

That’s where Wilde and Oakley should come into their own.

Wilde is a three-time former New Zealand 5000m champion, while Oakley is the current New Zealand 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m champion.

“It’s going to be the hard one for me,” said Tanner.

“It’ll be a good opportunity to test out the fitness actually, but for me 5k on the track is hard enough, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Tanner will head to Europe in June to prepare for the World Championships in Budapest in August.

Meanwhile in the 59th edition of the Rotorua Marathon 26-year-old Rotorua builder Michael Voss will attempt to win a fourth successive men’s win.

Alice Mason is also hoping to create her slice of history by winning a record-equalling fourth Rotorua Marathon women’s title.

The 35-year-old Tauranga-based athlete, who claimed a hat-trick of titles from 2018-20, is seeking to match the achievements of Jillian Costley, who won this race on four occasions between 1986 and 1992.

Alice, however, knows it will be no straight forward task as she only gave birth to her first child, James, nine months ago, and has made a gradual return to training.