Otago's Liz Wilson is preparing for a rare opportunity to compete at the world athletics championships in Beijing in August.
The 52-year-old will compete in the 50 years and over 400m, one of two masters events included in the programme.
Wilson is the reigning 400m world champion in the 50-54 years age group, a title she won in Brazil in 2013.
Organisers invited Wilson and seven other masters athletes to compete in Beijing after they ran the 400m in under 62sec last season.
Wilson ran a personal best in December, clocking 61.35sec to comfortably earn an invitation to compete at the Beijing National Stadium, otherwise known as the Bird's Nest.
''It's exciting. Just going to the Olympic venue will be fantastic,'' she said.
''To go as part of the New Zealand team is also pretty exciting. Valerie Adams will be there - it will be cool to be there with them.''
The pre-school teacher and Sport Otago co-ordinator trains eight times a week, and not even Wednesday's deluge stopped her from hitting the track for a training session.
Wilson, who took up athletics nine years ago, is expecting a ''very competitive'' field, which includes a couple of runners who have recently turned 50.
She expects the field to be much the same as the one she will compete against at the world masters games in France, which will be held a couple of weeks earlier.
As well as competing in the 400m in Lyon, Wilson will also run the 100m and 200m, in which she won bronze a couple of years ago in Brazil.
With the world masters games scheduled for August 3-16, Wilson will need to be peaking before the New Zealand season even starts.
Coach Brent Ward said Wilson worked ''extremely'' hard at training and he was confident she would be ready come August.
While Wilson has been invited to attend the world championships with the New Zealand team, she does not qualify for funding.
However, she plans to ask the Bendigo Valley Foundation for help.
Wilson will run the 400m in Beijing on August 29. The other masters event on the programme is the men's 50 years and over 800m.
