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Thomas Cowan and James Ford proved the future of middle-distance running in New Zealand is in good hands after both dipped below the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships Performance Standard of 1:49.50 at the Daikin Night of 5s last month. We find out more about the teenage duo’s athletics development and their hopes for the future.

Thomas Cowan

For the 18-year-old North Harbour Bays athlete to achieve the World Athletics U20 Championships Performance Standard alongside James Ford at the Daikin Night of 5s proved the perfect scenario.

Thomas dismantled his former PB by almost a second-and-a-half at AUT Millennium to take victory in 1:49.14 – by 0.22 from Ford – and bank a spot which – subject to selection – could earn him a spot on the New Zealand team for the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru in August. 

“It was great to get the standard, a bit surreal really,” says Thomas, who completed Year 13 at Westlake Boys High School at the end of last year.  “To be able to share that moment with James, who also achieved the standard, was special.”

Raised on Auckland’s North Shore and as a son to three-time former national 400m champion and three-time New Zealand World Championships 4x400m representative Nick Cowan, Thomas was perhaps always destined to run. However, his father encouraged him to try as many sports as possible.

“He (Nick) never pushed me into track and field,” he says. “For many years I played football, I did tennis, lots of other sports. Of course, now I do athletics my dad – as well as my mum, Jo Harlick, who was a physio for New Zealand at the Athens Olympics, have a positive influence. To have that support and team environment around me is really good.”

Thomas ran casually at primary school but started to pursue athletics more seriously at high school. He finished a noteworthy fifth in the junior boys’ 800m at the 2020 New Zealand Secondary Schools Track, Field and Road Championships in Tauranga – a performance which focused his attention more on running.

Shortly after he connected with his current coach, the Palmerston North-based George McConachy, the man who had formerly coached Thomas’ father, and the combination has worked well as year-on-year Thomas has made giant strides in his athletics career.

Receiving the training programme from George with father, Nick, overseeing training sessions, Thomas regularly connects with his coach and greatly values the input.

“He is good at setting up the programme and explaining to me how things work,” says Thomas of George. “He knows what needs to be done and when I need to do it. He knows when to pull back, when to push and when to rest. He has good experience as a coach.”

Last season Thomas rose to a new level. He claimed a senior boys’ 800m silver medal at the 2022 New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships in Inglewood and earned the same colour medal in the U20 race at the Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships in Wellington – finishing behind James on both occasions.

“Overall, I was really happy with last season,” he says. “It was good to pick up some medals at national events and it was good for my confidence. It was also enjoyable to compete in races with the likes of James Preston, which made the races fast. That’s what I love about the sport, to run fast and to be able to learn and grow.”

During the winter months he focused on cross country racing, which helped develop his “strength and mental toughness” and a huge new 800m PB of more than a second-and-half with a 1:50.61 clocking in Auckland in early November offered a clear indication as to his current shape. So was he surprised by that level of performance?

“I was a little bit surprised. I knew I was in PB shape to run 1:52 or 1:51, but I didn’t think I could run 1:50 out the gate,” he says.

At the 50^th Jubilee New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships in Christchurch, Thomas once again had to play second fiddle to James as the Kings College student took out top spot in a slow run final. The Westlake Boys High student earned yet another national silver medal, but he was satisfied with his efforts.

“James ran tactically a very good race to win,” he says. “I was reasonably happy with silver. I wanted to win, but at the same token James ran well and it was good to be in the race, I learned a lot from it.”

One week later at the Daikin Night of 5s the goals shifted from medals to times. Both James and Thomas had the World Athletics U20 Championships performance standard time as a goal and thanks in part to the excellent pacing of New Zealand senior men’s 400m champion Lex Revell-Lewis, who took them through the first 600m in 1:20, both 18-year-old athletes achieved their objective.

“It was great to have Lex pace us,” says Thomas. “I knew we were running fast, but I didn’t know how fast and coming down the home straight I wasn’t quite sure what range we were running. We were both really happy to get the standard and push each other to the limit.”

With the likes of 2023 World Athletics Championships representatives James Preston and Brad Mathas (800m) and Sam Tanner (1500m) flying the flag for Kiwi middle-distance running Thomas is not short of inspiration and he hopes to continue to deliver throughout the remainder of the domestic track and field season leading, potentially, onto a spot on the team for Lima, Peru in August and those World Athletics U20 Championships.

However, one thing is certain he does not regret his decision to focus on athletics – a sport which has given him so much.

“Since I started running with my mates in year nine it has connected me with so many different people. I really enjoy that, and that’s why I want to continue to pursue it as a sport.”

James Ford

Few athletes have made quite the same impact in the domestic age groups in recent times as James Ford. A 400m and 800m double winner in the senior boys’ division at each of the past two editions of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Track, Field and Road Championships. Meanwhile, just for good measure he also claimed the unusual double (well, not so unusual for James) in the U20 grade at the 2023 Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships in Wellington.

After also last month banking the performance standard for the World Athletics U20 Championships it would appear there is no stopping the Aucklander from achieving his goals in a sport he has long excelled.

“It is exciting (to get the performance standard), especially after a huge weekend at secondary schools champs (when he completed that 400m and 800m double). I’m just hoping I can get another quick race like that, when I feel a bit fresher to see what I can do.”

Raised in Devonport on the North Shore, James attended Devonport Primary School – the same school coincidentally as Thomas – and took up track and field at the age of six with Takapuna Athletics. The son of Robbie Ford, a former 100m and 400m medallist at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships he comes from strong running genes and initially enjoyed some success as a 100m and 200m sprinter. Yet it was only after switching to King’s College as a year nine student and coming under the guidance of Perry Cunningham, did he find his true calling.

“I was always the top three at sprints at Auckland Championships but until year nine I was more focused on rugby,” says James. “But since I started to take athletics a lot more seriously at high school and began training under Perry it has gone well. He has helped me get faster and has steered me in the right direction. It is motivating to be around people with the same goals, like James Harding and Zane Powell (his former training partners who both won national middle-distance age-group titles) and now I train with the younger boys they keep me honest.”

In 2019 he secured a junior boys’ 800m silver medal at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships in Wellington before twelve months later at the next edition in Tauranga upgrading to gold. By the end of the calendar year in 2020 the talented athlete had whittled his PB down to 1:53.22.

In a Covid ravaged 2021 he banked the North Island 800m crown and continued his streak of success when winning the U18 800m and 1500m double (yes, another double) at the 2022 Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships in Hastings.

Yet since last season he has largely dropped the metric mile to focus more on the 400m and now regular competes over one lap and the 800m. The question is why did he make the switch in emphasis?

“I started out as a sprinter but after arriving at King’s (College) I regularly ran the 800m and 1500m, I think more because that is what James and Zane were running. We always focused on the 1500m (as my secondary event) but I always had good natural speed, so I am probably a bit stronger at the 400m. Since giving the 400m more of a crack, I’ve been getting better and better times.”

He has secured a series of doubles for fun after hoovered up national title after national title. Last season he whittled his 400m PB down to 47.94 and 800m best to 1:50.22 and although elated with his season he missed out on one major goal.

“I was really happy how secondary schools and national club champs went but I was really hoping to break 1:50 (for the 800m) last season,” he explains. “I got pretty close, so in that sense it was bittersweet.”

During the winter months of 2023 after two seasons away from rugby he returned to the sport as a winger for the first XV at King’s College which required a demanding training schedule for the versatile teenager. Combining six rugby sessions with three to four running sessions was not easy but he feels the extra gym work has paid dividends.

“The gym work I did through the winter has really helped me. It was not easy to do two hours of rugby training and come home in the dark and do hill sprints, but I think it has all paid off now.”

After finally waving goodbye to rugby at the end of the season his focus is now 100 per cent on athletics where he continues to train essentially as a middle-distance runner, despite his regular outings over 400m.

After securing double gold in Christchurch at the 50^th Jubilee edition of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships he moved on to AUT Millennium where his ambition was to bank that World U20 performance standard. Describing the pacing of Lex Revell-Lewis as “perfect” he headed for home in front only for Thomas Cowan to finish the stronger of the pair and secure the race win.

As for the sub-1:49.50 he craved – he was initially unsure whether he had achieved the target time.

“As I approached the line, I heard the commentator say 1:47, 1:48 and 1:49. I thought it was going to be close but so when I heard the time, I was happy.”

For the remainder of the domestic season, he is looking to achieve the World U20 performance standard for the 400m – which stands at 47.50 – and “to go one or two seconds quicker in the 800m would be nice.” The Australian Championships in Adelaide in April is another target before he looks to head Stateside to take up a four-year scholarship at the University of Virginia in August.

Yet the primary goal for 2024 is the World U20 Championships in Lima where, should he win selection, he will be seeking a good performance. Yet should he also secure a spot in the 400m would he opt to target both?

“I’ll still be focused on the 800m and only if the 400m follows the 800m would I consider competing in both events,” he says.