Athletics New Zealand chief executive Cam Mitchell is pleased the sport has been able to capitalise on years of hard work, and recent success has provided significant exposure.
But that started with the people who were the backbone of the sport.
‘‘It starts at that grassroots level and, you know, the work that everybody does at club to centre to Athletics New Zealand level,’’ Mitchell said.
‘‘The thing that impresses me a lot ... is the people.
‘‘From an athletics perspective, we’ve got a really good community behind us.
‘‘I’m pleased for those people that have played supporting roles to now feel like they’re part of something that is having an impact within wide society within New Zealand.’’
Athletics NZ’s high performance programme, supported by High Performance Sport NZ, is a ‘‘real strength’’ and Mitchell is rapt to see athletes excelling across multiple disciplines.
‘‘The para space is a really important part of what we do and a strong kind of element of our success as well to be a fully inclusive sport.’’
Tapping into a new generation of fans came down to a combination of areas.
Athletics NZ has a clear marketing strategy, including packaging the national championships differently in recent years to allow the ‘‘everyday sports fan’’ to engage with the sport.
‘‘When we did well in Paris, the Olympics and Paralympics, and picked up 30% of the country’s medals, we were ready to go with this national workforce so we’re able to leverage that.’’
The phenomenon surrounding teenager runner Sam Ruthe had awakened a broader demographic.
‘‘You’ve got teenage kids that are going ‘wow, he can do it, I can do it’.
‘‘You’ve got young children going ‘that’s amazing’ and then you’ve obviously got this general public that have taken an interest.
‘‘It’s kind of reignited that middle-distance culture that we had so strongly back in the ’80s.
‘‘I kind of say this jokingly, but last year, when Sam ran his under-16 mile world record, we spent $2000 to have one fixed camera down there.
‘‘It was probably the best $2000 we spent, because it meant that we had ... about 100,000 people watching it, so we created instant reach and interest and that’s been built into this as well.’’
Mitchell wanted the sport to keep delivering strong experiences, get more people involved — whether that was as athletes, coaches, officials or volunteers — and find new ways to eliminate the barriers to revenue to invest in development.
‘‘It’s creating more magical moments.’’
