But the national track and field championships might be the last time Rebekah Greene wears Otago colours for a while.
The 27-year-old middle distance runner is heading to Melbourne in three weeks.
She was only planning to be gone a few years, but she hoped to "give running a bit more of a go".
So when she lines up in the 800m and 1500m in Hastings today and tomorrow, there may be some extra feeling in her races.
She was heading into the championships coming off her best season in years.
Greene is the country’s No1 ranked 800m runner this year, while also posting her first 1500m personal best in eight years — which she ran at the University of Florida in the United States.
It was all shaping very well.
Then came the most recent Covid-19 outbreak, heightened alert levels and a postponed championships.
Despite that, she felt she had adjusted well and was feeling good heading into the event.
"It’s been quite nice to have a few weeks off racing.
"I’ve done time trials and things.
"But it has been racing for six to eight weeks in the lead up with no breaks.
"So it was actually quite nice to have those weeks of training and not having to taper all the time."
One of her key competitors will be Canterbury’s Katherine Camp, with whom she also does some training.
Meanwhile Olympic 5000m runner Camille Buscomb has also shown her class over the shorter distances as well this summer and will be tough to beat.
However, Greene has been in the mix all season and she entered with high hopes.
"That’d be awesome," she said, when asked if two gold medals was her goal.
"I train with Katherine so you always want her to run well as well.
"If it’s good weather and conditions are good I’d love to get an 800m PB.
"But then again it’s a championship, so it’s all about placings.
"So just trying to race smartly and trying to put myself in the best position to place as well as I can is the goal."
From there she will head to Melbourne on April 13 and run at the Australian national championships two days later.
She would link with the Fast 8 track club, which had a number of top runners including Australian women’s 1500m record holder Linden Hall.
Being around that quality of female runner she hoped would help her take the step she needed to reach the world’s pinnacle events.
