On March 28 2010 the world's finest middle and long distance runners will gather in Poland to compete at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
Palmerston North runner Olivia Burne will be there to represent NZ in the Junior women's 6km event; but first she needs to raise $5,000.
The 18 year old, former Palmerston North Girls High student has started an online fundraising page with Sport Manawatu to help raise funds for her trip.
Burne says the $5,000 will help pay for her flights, accommodation, food and management at the competition.
"I am really excited about the chance to attend. This is the most important competition in international cross country and it's difficult to even get a top 10 placing. It's a fantastic chance to get your name out there in the international arena and it means I'll be racing against Olympians which makes it incredibly hard but very exciting," says Burne.
Sport Manawatu's participation manager, Rachel Cheer, says she would like to encourage the community to get behind Olivia and help her reach the world stage in cross country running.
"We started the online fundraising scheme with this purpose in mind," says Miss Cheer, "it's fantastic that we have such promising athletes in the Manawatu, like Olivia, and we really want to help her get recognised at an international level."
To support Olivia please visit http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/OliviaBurne/.
The Sport Manawatu Online Fundraising Scheme is available to international athletes. Sport Manawatu helps promote the efforts of the athlete and all funds raised, less administration costs, are transferred to the athlete. Application forms for the fundraising scheme are available from sportmanawatu.org.nz.
