Athletics: Donaldson trims down in relay quest

Dunedin sprinter Chris Donaldson (Hill City) had to change his shape to get back into athletics after his Winter Olympics bid failed.

"I had to put on weight and build up muscle to get into the bobsleigh team," Donaldson told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

Donaldson (34) increased his weight by 5kg to 89kg for the bobsleigh experiment but it made him too heavy to compete on the athletics track.

His dream of Winter Olympic medals crashed when United Kingdom-based driver Alan Henderson was injured.

"We didn't have another driver," Donaldson said.

"It takes years to get a licence to drive a bobsleigh and Alan was the only one at that level."

The New Zealand team ran out of funding and disbanded.

"It would have been great if it had come off," Donaldson said.

"It was close."

He enjoyed the challenge.

"It was terrifying tearing down the slopes at breakneck speed. But it was fun."

When Donaldson got over this disappointment he looked ahead and has now set his heart on being part of the New Zealand sprint relay team at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games.

The first task was to reduce his weight by about 5kg to his best sprinting weight of between 83kg and 85kg.

His next goal is to make the New Zealand team again and erase the disappointment of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006.

Donaldson was at the centre of heartache for New Zealand when the baton was dropped when the 4x100m men's relay team looked poised for a medal as it approached the final baton change.

"We had to race at the edge and push ourselves to the limits to be in medal contention," Donaldson said.

"It is always high risk.

"The relay is still a major part of my running. We've got such talent here and we could do something special."

Donaldson, a fitness trainer for the New Zealand Academy of Sport in Dunedin, wants to be part of the six-man New Zealand sprint relay team.

Intense lobbying by Dunedin sprint coach Brent Ward persuaded Athletics New Zealand that relay teams should be sent to the Commonwealth Games.

Athletics New Zealand project manager Terry Lomax is arranging a series of meetings for the New Zealand men's team to get a qualifying mark.

The qualifying standard for New Delhi is 39.40sec.

It was 39sec flat for Melbourne in 2006.

The other contenders for a place in the team are David Ambler (Canterbury), Joseph Millar (Waikato) and Aucklanders Carl van der Speck, James Dolphin, Clayton Mbofana, Isaac Tatoa, Jeffrey Thumath, Joseph Millar, Craig Bearda, Matt Brown, and Ben Potter.

The New Zealand national record of 10.11sec was run by Gus Nketia (Auckland) in 1994.

Donaldson set the resident record of 10.27sec in 1999.

Donaldson knows that it is unlikely that any New Zealand sprinter will reach the qualifying standard to compete in the individual 100m (qualifying standard 10.18sec) or 200m (20.50sec).

"But we have dedicated guys and as a team we could match the best in the relays," he said, Donaldson is now the old man of New Zealand sprinting but he is confident he can still make the top four for the Commonwealth Games.

"My goal this season is to become part of that team," he said.

"It would be cream on the cake to be in that team and win a medal."

He was 32 when he upset the pundits and won his fifth national 100m title at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland last year to become the oldest winner of the title.

Donaldson is one of three athletes who have won five New Zealand senior men's 100yd or 100m titles.

The others are George Smith (Auckland) 1898-1904, and Gus Nketia (Auckland) 1991-96. The most titles were won by 1956 Olympian Morrie Rae (Auckland), who won six between 1954 and 1959.

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The contenders for NZ relay team
David Ambler (Canterbury), Chris Donaldson (Otago), Joseph Millar (Waikato) and Aucklanders Carl van der Speck, James Dolphin, Clayton Mbofana, Isaac Tatoa, Jeffrey Thumath, Craig Bearda, Matt Brown, and Ben Potter.

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