Athletics: Potts of gold | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

It was mid-afternoon of January 24, 1974, as Christchurch went through the motions of the opening ceremony of the 10th British Commonwealth Games.

Amid the fanfare of Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, inspecting a guard of honour, a rousing haka and the marching parade of the athletes from 38 nations, New Zealand middle-distance runner Sylvia Potts entered the arena with the Queen's Baton and a packed purpose-built QEII Park erupted into cheers.

Three-year-old Richard Potts, in the company of a relative not far from the park, was totally oblivious of to the ritual his mother was engaging in when she handed over the baton to the Duke as a cue to read the Queen's message.

"I can't remember her running as such either at that time but later it was a childhood full of athletics and travelling," the now 39-year-old son says, recalling playing in dirt tracks and sandpits as his mother and father/coach Allan Potts ventured to far-flung venues of every major athletics meeting around the country.

Tragically, Sylvia Potts died of cancer on August 31, 1999, but since then a lot more younger athletes in the country have graced racing tracks in the Bay to hone their running skills, thanks to the annual Sylvia Potts Classic.

Tomorrow, the Hawke's Bay Regional Sports park, in Hastings, will stage the classic from 5.3pm-7.30pm.

A contingent of 13 Australian athletes also arrived yesterday to spice up the meeting boasting around 100 competitors.

Richard Potts says the Aussies are top junior performers.

The 800m classic event will feature last year's winner, Angela Smit, of Christchurch, who clocked 2min 8.10sec but recorded a faster time (2:3.87 in Canada) in July than Sylvia Potts' 2:04 set in 1978.

"We have a bonus training grant of $400 that'll be added to the $300 for the winner if someone breaks time," says Potts, revealing 1500m NZ recordholder Hannah Newbould, also of Christchurch, is stepping down to compete in the 800m event which includes Sydneysider Jenny Blundell, 16, the Aussie under-20 champion.

In the 400m females' race, Iona College pupil Sarah Flynn, the New Zealand Secondary Schools' senior grade runner-up (58min 61sec), will be up against Australian Chloe Jamieson (56:98).

In the men's high jump, Ben Harrison, of Hastings club, has a personal best of two metres and will up against an Aussie pair of Brandon Starc (2.19m) and fellow Australian Morgan Ward. Wellingtonian Billy Crayford's PB is 2.14m.

The men's 1500m event also offers a training bonus with Aussie U20 800m champion Alex Rowe, 18, with a PB of 1:47.56 in 800m.

"Anyone in the under-20s who breaks my New Zealand Secondary Schools record of 3min 46.9sec will have a $400 bonus," he says, adding the same applies to his senior record of 3:38.25 where two sponsors have pledged $600 to bump the total prizemoney to $1000.

Hamish Carson, of Wellington, is the 1500m national champion and will give Rowe a good go.

Keri Tongalea, Tom Walsh and Shaka Sola are discus contenders while Australians Damien Birkinhead and Luke Cann are among the shotput hopefuls.

Australians Kim Mulhall (shotput) and Danni McConnell (discus throw) are the women's contenders.

Australia's Brooke Stratton, sixth at last year's world junior championship, in Canada, has PB of 6.30m in the long jump.

Richard Potts, who has a brother, Nicholas, 30, of Hastings, started "knuckling down and training" when he was a fifth-former and also helped his parents at meetings.

Australia's Singapore Youth Olympics champion 110m hurdler and sprinter Nicholas Howe, 17, and Michelle Jenneke, 17, a sprint hurdles silver medallist, will compete in the 100m hurdles.

A 1968 Mexico Olympic Games athlete, Sylvia went on to manage the Kiwi athletics team to the Auckland Games in 1990 when Richard was competing as an 18-year-old in the 5000m event.

He went on to represent the country in the 1500m event in the 1994 Victoria games, Canada, where he made the cut to the semifinals.

"Dad was my assistant coach in Victoria," he says of the 76-year-old Hastings club stalwart who still coaches teenagers.

Sylvia Potts, who was inducted in the "Wall of Fame" at the university's School of Physical Education in April 2008 for her contribution to the discipline following her graduation from the school, went down in athletics history for a heartbreaking fall just metres short of the tape in the 1500m finals of the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

Sprinting to a narrow lead in the home straight, she was in front two metres from the finish when her legs gave way from sheer exhaustion.

She fell and lost a certain gold medal.

Says Richard: "The only time we talked about it [the fall] was when the Minties advertisement came on the TV.

"It wasn't that she was embarrassed or anything but more that she got famous for what she didn't do rather than what she did do."

The Potts couple was awarded the Order of New Zealand for Merit and in 2005 Allan was named Watties Sporting Volunteer of the Year.

They were a recognition that marked one of the greatest husband-and-wife partnerships in the history of New Zealand athletics.

Builder Richard Potts, who laughs at suggestions he may be taking the reins from his father, says the money from the sponsors and entry fees will go towards Hawke's Bay cancer Society.

"Mum died of cancer so and the society was there in her time of need and will also use some of the money to help athletes, just like we helped Laura Nagel [of Taradale but now studying overseas] last year.

"I know dad's getting older but he's still got lots to give back to the sport," says Richard, adding he coaches only one athlete, Neville Smith, of Hastings, the senior national steeplechase champion.

Richard is married to Tania and they have two sons, Cameron, 7, Thomas, 3.

He Tania and Smith won the Triple Peaks in 2008.

Richard Potts says entry to tonight's meeting will be a gold coin donation.

It is part of a series that covers seven of the country's key track-and-field meetings during the season.