Top class middle distance running will return to Eden Park for the first time since the early 1960s during Saturday's One-Day International cricket match between the CLEAR Black Caps and England at Eden Park.

The inaugural National Bank International Mile will be run during the break between innings at the match, and will offer a link back to New Zealand athletics' golden era. The race will be started by legendary coach Arthur Lydiard, and the field of eight top Australasian milers will run in the footsteps of former greats such as Peter Snell, Murray Halberg and Bill Baillie, who raced international opposition on Eden Park in the 1960s.

The race is being run to support The Peter Snell Institute of Sport, a charitable trust set up by Peter Snell, New Zealand's Sportsperson of the Twentieth Century, with the mission of supporting the development of champion New Zealand athletes in Olympic sports.

Eden Park was the venue of numerous top class athletic competitions in the 1950s and 1960s. The British Empire Games were staged on the main oval in 1950, as were meetings in the highly successful AGFA sponsored international series of the early 1960s featuring Snell, Halberg and Baillie, competing against world class opposition.

The National Bank International Mile will feature four of New Zealand's top milers against four of their Australian counterparts. The athletes will be aiming to eclipse the Eden Park record of four minutes 5.6 seconds set by Dyrol Burleson (USA) in January 1961. Prize money of $1,000 will also be available to the runners who break the magical four minute barrier.

The Australian contingent includes two sub-four minute milers in Alastair Stevenson of Queensland and Clinton Mackevicius of Victoria. New Zealand's charge will be led by former NZ Junior record holder and rising middle distance star, Ben Ruthe of Wellington.

"This will be an exciting added extra for cricket fans," said Jason Cameron, Auckland Cricket's Marketing and Communications Manager. "Apart from the pure entertainment value of a top-class mile race, we are delighted that we can help support the Peter Snell Institute of Sport."

Robbie Johnston of the Peter Snell Institute of Sport said "The Peter Snell Institute of Sport aims to build Olympic-level excellence in sports where New Zealand already has a significant base of high performance. New Zealand has a wonderful legacy of world-class middle distance runners. We're thrilled that so many of Auckland's sporting public will get the opportunity to see our next generation racing in a top class event."

© Auckland Cricket Association