"Hey New Zealand, check Canada out!"

Last week on a windy day in Toronto, two handsome Canadians qualified to run the marathon at the Olympic Games in London next year. Around the same time in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam, the 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medalist in the marathon, Michael Shelley of Australia, proved once again that he is fast becoming Australia’s best marathoner by clocking a personal best time of 2:11.23 – another Olympic qualifier.  Australia could still very well have three men in the marathon in London, with Jeff Hunt and Lee Troop just two of the men who have proven they can run the time.

New Zealand is similar to Australia and Canada in many ways. We are all part of the Anglo-Saxon historical experience – arguably making us genetically alike, while each governing body of athletics shares similarities. Most notably a system characterized by government funding based upon medals at major championships. Yet New Zealand will have no men on the start line in London for the marathon, the same situation as Beijing in 2008, and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. By next year it will be almost a decade of decline for male marathoning in New Zealand, an event that we like to think resonates with the toughness and work ethic of kiwis.

Apart from Mike Aish running 2:13.20 to win the Arizona marathon in 2008, no kiwi has run under the IAAF A-standard of 2:15.00 since Dale Warrander and Jonathan Wyatt qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games. Aish might as well have run 2:30 to win the race that day because Athletics New Zealand (ANZ) pretended it never happened anyway. Moreover, despite the IAAF standard being set at 2:15, ANZ have continued to set the bar higher and higher each year, despite no one achieving the previous standards. Like Nic Bideau recently said, “I don’t see why we need to place the bar higher than the IAAF set it at. We don’t make our tracks longer down here do we? If we want to encourage people to put their lives on hold to pursue this sport we should be selecting them if we can.”

So does New Zealand have what it takes to match Canada and Australia and produce some decent marathoners? Remembering that we are excluding those athletes that ANZ doesn’t like, then absolutely. Lets use Canadian Reid Coolsaet as the model for success.

I know Reid; I have trained with his group and have seen what they do. They don’t have massive contracts (although if it hadn’t been for the wind Reid could very well have been $36,000 better off), world-class facilities, or even good weather. What they do have is an amazing work ethic, an ability to grow awesome moustaches, and a fantastic coach that has created a model for distance running success that is very much outside the governing bodies bright ideas. Overall, Canada has a pretty similar set-up in terms of governing-body infrastructure to NZ, although they actually have harder standards. What Canada has is a group like Speed River Track Club set up independently of the governing body – headed by an enigmatic coach and supported by private sponsors, most notably New Balance. The closest thing to this in NZ is Paul Hamblyn’s Stride Academy, although that is at present a university-level program.

There is plenty of funding for New Zealand’s top-level athletes. Kim Smith and Nick Willis have no trouble paying the bills and receive a significant amount of money every year from ANZ (and of course from Reebok). Yet how do the rest of the country’s athletes get there? If a group like Speed River Track Club popped up, ANZ would undoubtedly want their name and all over it, but would never take the ‘risk’ of putting it together themselves. Yet the quintessential product of this model - Reid Coolsaet, is going to be an Olympian. He ran 2:10 on a windy day by going out with balls as big as a hockey goalie. He is a superstar. He also ran 14:12 for 5,000m at the age of 23. Would ANZ believe like his coach Dave Scott-Thomas did that he could one day be an Olympian? No. In fact, based on ANZ’s ‘indicators of potential’ to compete at the 2016 Games, Reid would had to have run 13:29 at 23 to receive any kind of support in his endeavors.

Because of the government funding structure, ANZ is like the current global economy - all the wealth is in the hands of a few. In regards to funding, it is far better for ANZ to have Nick Willis’ silver medal when they go hat in hand to the government than three men on the line in the 10,000m and the marathon. But is it better for the sport? It all depends what your definition of “better” is. The trickle down effect of half a dozen guys who have run an A or B standard, been to a major championships and are living and training in NZ is arguably far better for the future of the sport. They might not be medalists, but they ran the IAAF time and they competed. It’s not nostalgia – it happens. As a 19-year-old I was (and still am) far more inspired by athletes like Paul Hamblyn who showed that regular guys can do it too, not just the guys who ran 4:00min miles in high school. What’s funny (or shit, I suppose) is that Paul didn’t actually get ANZ support until after his Commonwealth Games 4^th place, not before. He got there by his own means and with the support of his coach Chris Pilone.

I’m not saying that every man and his dog who has run 30:00 for 10k in their 20’s is good enough to be an Olympian – far from it. What I am saying is that potential is measured by more than just the numbers. The current system provides support almost purely on talent, leaving untold numbers of potential stars swept under the rug. Many will (and have) head to the United States, only to come home and realize that there is stuff-all infrastructure to become a decent athlete and throw it in. At present, my generation has a better chance of making it to the Olympic Games by marrying a Canadian and jumping in with the New Balance-Speed River group in Guelph. Hey Sheila Reid – are you keen?

New Zealanders are as tough and talented as Canadians, and far better looking. There has to be a Reid Coolsaet floating around in NZ. I have seen dozens of gingers on the streets of Wellington; surely one of them could run a 2:10 marathon. What we need is a figure like Dave Scott-Thomas: someone outside of the system who actually understands development and is prepared to create his own team and pathway to success. So far two men have qualified for the Canadian Olympic team in the marathon, (Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis) and both of them are part of Dave’s team in Guelph.

We shouldn’t leave it up to our Commonwealth cousins of Canada and Australia to have successful marathoners. New Zealand can be just as good, it just needs a shake-up. 


Daniel Wallis for The Runner's Tribe