Trans Tasman 21 Athletics Match

Athletic competition between New Zealand and Australia has been re-kindled by Athletics New Zealand with a test match between the Trans Tasman rivals to be staged at Waitakere in February.
The last time the two countries met was at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium in March 2001.
The International Test Match, unveiled by Athletics New Zealand will be known as Trans Tasman 21 Athletics Match (TT21).

The match will provide an exciting representative opportunity for New Zealand’s top young athletes including a group just out of junior ranks who don’t usually get international exposure. The team will be selected from athletes born in 1989 or later.
The match will be held on Saturday 20 February 2010 at the Douglas Track and Field facility in Waitakere, Auckland.

Athletics NZ Sport Manager Brett Addison is pleased to be able to provide this level of competition for our future international representatives.
“This is going to be a good opportunity for our top young athletes to go head to head against Australia. We are really pleased that this initiative has come off,” he said.

Selection will be strongly weighted on performances at the first three of five “Classic” meetings, the Capital Classic on 22 January in Wellington, the Cooks Classic in Wanganui on 26 January, and the Sylvia Potts Classic on 29 January in Hastings.
Recently appointed Rio 2016 Performance Project Manager, Terry Lomax is excited at the prospect of the meeting.
“Athletes in this age grade aren’t often exposed to international competition because of our isolation, but this meeting will be a fantastic opportunity for them to wear the silver fern,” said Lomax.

The TT21 Match will have a large programme of events. An innovative scoring system will be used involving both place points and performance bonus points. It is expected that each team will have approximately 45 athletes.
More detail will follow soon.