It's Time to Get It Done, New Zealand!

At last weekend's Boston Indoor Games, 2008 Olympic 1500 Silver Medalist Nick Willis looked oh-so-smooth in winning the mile in 3:55.26. For those keeping score at home, that's the fastest indoor mile time in the world this season. In that same race, another New Zealander, Tom Osborne, finished 10th in 4:07.44. And in January, yet another Kiwi, Adrian Blincoe, ran a 3:58.53 at the New Balance Games in New York.

So what, you ask.

Well you might not care, but I have been troubled for some time by the fact that New Zealand -- a country with a long and proud history of great middle distance runners (Jack Lovelock, Murray Halberg, Peter Snell, John Walker) -- has a sad and feeble national record in the 4 x 800m. How feeble you ask? The Kiwi NR, set almost forty years ago, stands at 7:27.2 (hand-timed) -- an average of 1:51.8 per runner. That's half a lap behind the world record (Team Kenya's 7:02.43), and only slightly better than the U.S. High School record (7:32.89).

Now I know what you're going to say. It's a different era in sports, and it's hard to get a bunch of professional runners together for what would essentially be an exhibition. It's not like in the old days where New Zealand stars like Snell and Halberg would run 4 x 1 mile relays against the likes of the U.S. and Ireland, setting world records in the process. That kind of event seems hopelessly quaint now, doesn't it?

(For the record, New Zealand's NR in the 4x1500 featuring Olympic gold medalist Walker, is 35 years old, but still mighty impressive at 14:50.2, or 3:42.6 per runner.)

But 7:27? C'mon, now, that's just too soft not to have a go.

It's already just a little curious that NZ's national mark in the 800, 1:44.3, still belongs to Snell some forty-eight years after he set the record. Where's the improvement?

But never mind that. The time is ripe for a 21st-century Kiwi team to add their names to the record book. I figure Willis can go 1:46 with a running start, and Blincoe would be no worse than 1:48. After that, there are several choices for third and fourth men. Osborne would have no problem splitting 1:52 or better. How about Jason Woolhouse (3:42 1500 last summer) or Richard Olsen (1:52.28 this winter) or Simon Rogers (2:28.22 1000 this winter), or Malcolm Hicks or Hamish Carson, or Villanova's Carl McKenzie?

So let's get it done, New Zealand. It's time to put up a mark that we'll be talking about thirty years from now.