The 30-year-old Taieri sprinter is giving up athletics after the national track and field championships starting at the Caledonian Ground this morning.
He will line up in the senior men's 100m heats at 10.45am today, and all going well, will race for a medal in the penultimate race of the day, at 5.15pm.
While Innes finished fifth in the 100m (11.17sec) at the Auckland Track Challenge last week, his medal chances in Dunedin have been boosted by the absence of three of the country's top sprinters.
Joseph Millar, who boasts the third-fastest time (10.32sec) by a New Zealander, has been released by Athletics NZ to compete in the Melbourne World Challenge, while James Mortimer (wedding) and title holder Kodi Harman (injured) are also missing.
"When I saw that field, I was like, ‘Oh well, just make a final and see what happens,','' Innes said.
"But with those guys not here, all of a sudden it's pretty even. It would be pretty awesome to try and get a medal, or by some miracle, if I could win it to finish off - it would be perfect.''
However, fellow Otago runner Daniel O'Shea, Aucklander Matthew Wyatt and Waikato-Bay of Plenty sprinter Michael Goldie still bring plenty of quality to the field.
If Innes "pulls up all right'' after the 100m, he also intends to run in a 4x100m relay team tomorrow and the senior men's 200m on Sunday.
Today will be the first time Innes, who has lived in Melbourne the past four years, has competed at the Caledonian Ground since the 2009-10 season.
The strength and conditioning coach at the Victorian Institute of Sport left Dunedin in 2010, when he moved to Europe for a couple of years.
Despite being dogged with injuries - an Achilles injury limited him to one race over a three-year period - the former Otago 400m record holder has continued to compete.
"I've mainly been running professional races in Victoria,'' he said.
"So handicapped races for money. I've also popped in and done a few amateur races in Perth, Victoria and Auckland.''
Innes finished fifth in the 100m (10.99sec) at the Western Australian championships earlier this month, before his fifth place in Auckland last week.
But Innes said it was time to pull the pin on athletics, and he could not think of a better way to go out than to finish with the national championships at home.
The timing of the event also suited a visit home for a friend's wedding and his sister in law Kath Radford's engagement party.
Innes is married to former Taieri hurdler Gemma Innes [nee Radford], who won silver in the 400m hurdles at the 2010 national championships.
He has fond memories of growing up in Dunedin and competing against Olympic and Commonwealth Games sprinter Chris Donaldson.
Sprints coach Brent Ward coached Donaldson, Innes, Andrew Moore, Dallas Roberts and Lachie McLachlan in the early 2000s, resulting in high quality sprinting at the Caledonian Ground every week.
"We had a pretty good squad then,'' he said.
"Some of those weekly meets were being won in 21sec low for a 200m or 10.50sec for a 100m. It was really good.''
Innes plans to catch up with Ward and a couple of athletes - Jerram Huston and Marshall Hall - he used to compete with in Dunedin during the weekend.
