The race for a piece of New Zealand athletics history is heating up as bidders vie for selected pieces of Christchurch's earthquake-damaged QEII athletics track.
The track was irreparably damaged in last year's deadly earthquake and Christchurch City Council has donated more than 100 pieces to the New Zealand Spinal Trust.
The trust has packaged them up as pieces of memorabilia for a fundraising online auction.
Four pieces have been specially mounted: the spot where Dick Tayler famously fell after winning the 10,000 metre race at the 1974 Commonwealth Games, the 10,000m race's start mark, the 1500m start mark from the race where John Walker and Tanzanian Filbert Bayi battled for the title and the track's mile race start mark.
Each comes with photographs and signatures of those involved in the races.
However, the pieces are not the original as the track has been resurfaced a number of times since 1974, something the Spinal Trust freely admits.
The significance of the QEII's mile mark is also symbolic, as Sir John became the first sub 3min50sec miler in 1975 in Sweden.
"This represents the memories of not only Sir John Walker and how he smashed Bayi's world record in the mile the following year, but also the wonderful QEII Stadium," the trust said in response to queries.
However, the mile marker piece had attracted the highest bid by Wednesday, of $2000, while bids for the rest stood at between $400 and $655.
The auction closes on Friday.
The track's entire finishing line - recovered intact - will be presented to the city of Christchurch.
Demolition of most of the QEII Park Recreation and Sport Centre is to begin soon and will take about 18 weeks.
NZN
