In the heart of the North Shore’s commercial sprawl a dedicated group of rather swift young athletes are blazing quite a trail under the watchful eye of a coach who not so long ago was striding it out in their running shoes.

Zoe Hobbs is very much leading the charge, but right on the footsteps of New Zealand’s hottest property in sprinting are a group of Auckland-based speedsters carving their own niche in their sport. There’s Portia Bing, the experienced 400m hurdler who’s figured out a few things about the one-lap event, and is about to join Hobbs (conditionally) at both the upcoming world championships in Oregon and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Also there at their AUT Millennium training base, keeping pace with the experienced duo is 200m ace Georgia Hulls, 100m specialist Livvy Wilson and 21-year-old 400m wiz Isabel Neal, as well as national under-20 100/200 champ Zachary Saunders (who will line up for Jersey at the Birmingham Games), Jordan Bolland and budding 200m exponent Hamish Gill. It’s some squad, all being put through their places under the watchful eye of former top sprinter/hurdler James Mortimer who morphed from a 15-year career as an elite athlete into a coach with the knack for making his charges run fast.

The group is at the vanguard of what could be termed a sprinting revolution in New Zealand. Christchurch has its own crack squad, headed by young 100m prospect Tiaan Whelpton and top females Rosie Elliot and Anna Percy, and there is also the exciting Eddie Osei-Nketia who trains out of Canberra these days but is conditionally heading to his second world championships in Eugene (July 15-24).