No Permit Meeting in 2010

New Zealand will not be hosting an International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) permit meeting this athletic season.

This has been brought about through a change in the IAAF’s competition structure for 2010.

A new one-day competition will commence next year headed by the IAAF Diamond League and the second tier IAAF World Challenge series. The IAAF World Athletics Final will not be repeated. The removal of this event from the calendar means that athletes will no longer be seeking qualifying points at Area Permit Meetings.

The decision by Athletics New Zealand not to proceed with a meeting in 2010 was also driven by the high cost of staging a permit meeting which is no longer justified and the difficulty there would be in attracting top athletes.

Athletics New Zealand's Sport Manager Brett Addison believes that New Zealand’s leading athletes will still have good competition this season.

"It is sad that we will not be hosting an IAAF meeting in New Zealand this season, as the meeting at Waitakere has seen some good competition over the past two years,” said Addison.

“We have replaced the permit meeting with an International Test Match and have an exciting line-up of events that will provide good competition for a range of athletes heading towards the World Indoor Champs, World Junior Champs, Singapore Youth Olympics and the New Delhi Commonwealth Games," he added.

The TT21 Test Match between New Zealand and Australia, announced yesterday, will replace the Area Permit meeting and will be held at the same venue, Douglas Track & Field in Waitakere, West Auckland, on Saturday 20 February.