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Julian Oakley is aiming to become the latest Kiwi to run a sub-four-minute mile at the fabled Cooks Gardens when he takes to the track for the New Zealand mile championship at the Cooks Classic in Whanganui on Sunday.

The 28-year-old Athletics Tauranga athlete is enjoying a great streak of success on the national stage. Last March he captured the New Zealand 1500m title in Hastings before successfully stepping up in distance to snag the New Zealand 10,000m Challenge title in Wellington in November.

Last weekend in Hastings, Julian produced a tactical masterclass to take out the national 3000m title and next up for the 2018 World Indoor 3000m finalist is an outing over the mile distance in Whanganui.

“It is really cool they’ve revived the New Zealand mile championship last year (after a gap of 52 years),’ says Julian. “There is so much history with the mile in New Zealand, it is a great initiative. Cooks Gardens is steeped in history with the mile and hopefully I’ll get my name on the list of sub-four-minute milers there.”

Julian is undoubtedly riding the crest of a wave and is making up for lost time after spending eight years overseas. A former student at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he was guided by leading Irish coach Ray Treacy who still coaches him today, he enjoyed some success in the US reaching NCAA finals in the mile and 5000m.

After seven years in the US he relocated to Melbourne for a year until the pandemic forced him back to his native Mt Maunganui in late-2020. Delighted to be able to be back in the Bay of Plenty where he is enjoying spending more time with family and friends, he is also making the most of competing regularly on the domestic circuit.

“Having been overseas for so long I missed out on so many domestic races and the chance of winning national titles,” he says. “I’ve managed to win a couple since, which is really cool. It is something I never take for granted.”

Elated to win the national 1500m title in Hastings last March, and to add his name to a rich roll call of past champions, Julian headed to the US last year in pursuit of an Olympic qualification time. He did manage to post a 1500m PB of 3:38.82 in Oregon but fell short of his goals and on his return to New Zealand he took up a full-time job as a retail broker.

“I gave myself the ultimatum at the beginning of 2021 that if I don’t make the Olympic team, it is probably time to put the degree to use,” he explains. “I now have a different set of priorities, although running is still an important part of my life. I think the balance has been good.”

Fitting in his training around work he regularly clocks up an average of around 140km a week and places a greater emphasis on threshold training rather than track-based speed sessions.

Still under the guidance of Treacy the pair have a relationship after a decade together based on trust and he is happy with his training which gives him the best chance of maximising his physical gifts.

With the goal of breaking up a lengthy period of non-competition, Julian opted to step up to the 10,000m distance for the first time and compete at the NZ Challenge event in Wellington last November. Impressing on his debut over the 25-lap distance he won in 29:39.73 and he was pleased with the outcome.

“It was not the best of conditions, but I tried to stay relaxed and I was paced very well by Oli Chignell,” he adds. “Having come from a 1500m/5000m background you can lose focus in those middle laps (of the 10,000m) and when you look up and see you still have 20 laps to run it can be a bit daunting. But I really enjoyed it. It was a bit of fun, something different and I might do another one further down the line.”

Retuning to the track on Jan 15 with a 1500m victory in Tauranga (3:46.13) he then moved on to Potts Classic, where he produced a mature performance to control the race from the front over the last 800m to secure the national 3000m title in 8:00.96.

It was a smart piece of tactical thinking by the former New Zealand World U20 representative and it is strategy he would not be shy of adopting again in future.

“The aim this season is not to be afraid to run from the front,” he explains. “In the past few months I’ve come to back my strength and my fitness. I may not have the same finishing speed that I used to, but to run more aggressively from the front is my goal for the rest of the season.”

Next up is the mile where Julian will start favourite to add another national crown to his growing collection. However, he acknowledges he has an additional motivation to perform well in Whanganui after he failed to finish last year’s mile championship.

“I had a DNF and dropped out with 250m to go,” he explains. “I had a really tough race. I’d maybe been over-doing it in training, doing too much speedwork and not recovering. Physically it was one of my worst races, and it is the only time I’ve dropped out of a race. I hope it never happens again. It can’t get any worse than last year.”

Facing a strong field including Eric Speakman, Matthew Taylor and Oli Chignell he acknowledges claiming the one mile national title will not be easy.

“Every time you enter a national championship, you want to win it,” he says. “But it is always challenging and there will maybe be a few more guys competing in the mile (than competed in the 3000m championship at Potts). I just hope to be in the mix at the weekend. It is cool to be competing here – even if I feel like one of the older guys now that I’m up against guys aged 18 and 19.”

Post-Cooks he plans to run over 1500m at the Capital Classic in Wellington but is fluid with his plans beyond, although a 5000m is on the radar. Yet whatever happens Julian hopes to simply go out and enjoy the experience.

“In the past I’ve maybe put too much pressure on myself chasing times,” he adds. “Now I just go out not too worried about the result. I’m enjoying travelling to different parts of New Zealand I’d otherwise not normally see and I’m really enjoying the camaraderie between the guys on the domestic circuit.”

***The Cooks Classic will be livestreamed on Sunday from 4pm on Sky Sport Next see link here 

Words: Steve Landells