Organisers of the annual International Track Meet being staged at QEII Stadium in Christchurch on Feb 26th announced today that the event will be enhanced by world renowned coach Ron Warhurst, who will conduct a coaching clinic in Christchurch the following day.
Warhurst is probably best known to New Zealanders as the coach of New Zealand's fastest ever 1500m runner, Olympic silver medallist and Commonwealth gold and bronze medallist Nick Willis. However Warhurst is a legend in track & field circles in the USA, where Willis is now based, training many top Americans and Canadians including the USA's fastest ever miler Alan Webb, Boston Marathon winners Greg Meyer (1983, 2hr09) and Lisa Weidenbach (1985, 2hr33), 2006 Commonwealth 1500m silver medallist (behind Willis) Nate Brannen, and three-time US Indoor Champion Rob Myers, who also ran in the International Track Meet in Christchurch in 2009.
Warhurst will come to Christchurch to offer tips on predominantly marathon running, where he has coaching credentials with both men and women at the very top of the sport internationally. As well as Meyer and Weidenbach, he has also coached 1986 US champion Bill Donakowski (2hr10) and 1981 Detroit Marathon winner Mike McGuire. Meyer also won the Detroit and Chicago Marathons, and set world records on the road for 15km and 10mile. Weidenbach also won the Chicago Marathon twice (1988-89, best time 2hr28), the Hokkaido Marathon in Japan, and the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis.
While in Christchurch, Warhurst will be looking forward to watching New Zealand's premier track meet as it continues to grow in its third year. In particular he will watch Willis, arguably his most successful pupil, racing against a field of top Australian and American athletes who will all be looking to post a qualifying time for the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, in August.
Tickets to the Ron Warhurst coaching seminar will be available through the International Track Meet website www.internationaltrackmeet.co.nz.
Warhurst has recently retired as head cross-country coach after 35 years and head track coach from 2000-2008 at the University of Michigan – an esteemed institution which has produced 65 Olympic gold medals, and 135 Olympic medals in total, 16 of which were earned by one man alone – swimming superstar Michael Phelps.
