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Christchurch athlete Christopher Dryden has been selected to represent New Zealand at the World Half Marathon Championships and has to pay his own way.
A runner selected for the world half-marathon championships in Latvia has called on Athletics New Zealand to give some funding support to developing athletes representing their country.
Canterbury runner Christopher Dryden, who trains up to 160km a week and works part-time as a security guard, has resorted to a Give a Little page to realise his dream of representing New Zealand for the first time as a senior athlete.
“Asking for help is a little bit embarrassing, but if I want to go, it requires that support,” he said.
If he didn’t reach the $6,500 funding target, he wouldn’t go, he said.
Athletics NZ out of stadia co-ordinator John Bowden said the organisation was funded by High Performance Sport NZ to send track and field teams to pinnacle events such as the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, World Championships, World Para Championships, Commonwealth Games and World U20 Championships.
It also selected teams annually to compete in a range of other international events, where there was an expectation such trips were self-funded by the athlete.
Dryden was selected to represent New Zealand in the half-marathon in Latvia after dipping under the qualifying time of 65 minutes at the Gold Coast Half Marathon.
The cost of airfares, accommodation, living costs and team uniform would be $6,500, and he didn’t have the money himself. The team uniform was about $500 alone, he said.
Only his running shorts and singlet were being funded by Athletics New Zealand.
He knew the world championship event was self funded when he applied for selection. And he understood Athletics New Zealand couldn’t fund the entire trip.
But he believed the organisation could pay for more than shorts and a singlet.
“If something should be paid for it’s the [whole] team uniform. You are running for New Zealand, wearing the fern,” Dryden said.
“Being fully self funded makes it hard for people who don’t have the money.”
The former New Zealand junior representative said world events were important for developing athletes such as himself.
It was his first time selected to represent his country as a senior athlete, and it was a stepping stone for bigger things in future.
Running at the world championships would give him the opportunity to compete against world-class athletes, and he hoped it would set him up for a quality marathon in future.
Dryden said he saw the marathon distance as his best chance of representing New Zealand in a Commonwealth or Olympic Games.
“It’s an experience I need,” he said of the world champs half-marathon event.
Bowden said the Athletics New Zealand selection policy published in April for the World Road Running Championships [which Dryden was attending] clearly stated it was an athlete-funded event at no cost to Athletics NZ.
“It also gives an estimate cost, which athletes should consider when applying. The actual cost for competitors has come out at the same as the estimate.”
The organisation continued to work on generating fresh funding streams to support as many athletes as possible to compete in New Zealand teams, Bowden said.
“We back Christopher’s decision to open a Give a Little Page and sincerely hope he takes to the start line for his country at the World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia on October 1.”
Bowden confirmed the competition singlet and shorts/briefs were provided to all selected athletes free of charge.
The compulsory kit items were offered at a significantly reduced cost, he said.
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