ARIA-winning duo Peking Duk will be driving a “party atmosphere” as Australian pole vault legend Steve Hooker returns to athletics for a national record attempt in Melbourne on Saturday, almost 10 years on from announcing his retirement.
Nine years after rounding out a career headlined by Olympic and World Championship gold medals, Hooker will join three mates on the “Smile Relay” team in a bid to break the Australian 4x400m record for men aged between 40 and 44.
Hooker, Brendan Cole, Hugh van Cuylenburg and Simon Glendenning haven’t only combined forces in a bid to shatter the record, but in an effort to raise $100,000 for the Community Spirit Foundation, a charity committed to helping remote First Nations people through education.
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The “Smile Relay” record attempt is also aiming to inspire men in their 40s to smile more by finding a purpose, connecting to those around them and prioritising moments in their everyday lives.
Hooker and his mates will zip around the Lakeside Stadium track at the iconic Zatopek:10 athletics meet, at which Swiss sportswear brand On will be hosting the last On Track Nights event of 2023, taking its festival vibes to Melbourne.
“We’re hoping to have a good crack at running a record, but for us, we feel like we’ve already had a successful mission because we’ve connected as a bunch of mates and we’ve had this as a purpose and it’s kept us moving over the last year and we’ve done a good job of raising some funds for the Community Spirit Foundation, which is our charity partner,” Hooker told Wide World of Sports.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to competition with a team.
“The thing that I always loved about athletics, particularly in my early days, was competing for Box Hill Athletics Club, and a lot of the emphasis there was competing for your team, scoring points for your team. So I would pole vault, but I would also long jump and run a relay, run a sprint, sometimes throw a shot put on any given day just to score points for the club.
“So for me to re-connect with the community element of athletics is really fun and exciting, and to do it with three good friends of mine is truly exciting. I don’t think I’d have it in me to go out and just do a competition myself, but doing it in a team is really inspiring. I’m really excited for it.”
Hooker’s mate Cole was a member of the 4x400m Australian men’s relay team that won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
“I’m particularly excited for the experience that Simon and Hugh will have,” Hooker said.
“They both took up running in their late 30s and for them to be able to jump on the track and have a real crack at a national record in front of what will be an amazing crowd will be an unbelievable experience for them. I’m excited to be a part of helping facilitate that for those guys.”
Named in honour of Czech running legend Emil Zatopek, who famously won gold in the men’s 5000m, 10,000m and marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Zatopek:10 launched in 1961, in the era of Australian running champion Ron Clarke.
The event is home to the Australian 10,000m Championships, which on Saturday will see Olympian Jack Rayner shoot for his third title in succession in the men’s race.
Peking Duk, DJ sets, food trucks and over-the-track bridges will light up Albert Park’s Lakeside Stadium.
“It sounds like it’s going to be amazing, it sounds like it’s going to be a great set-up,” Hooker said.
“I’ve been to a lot of competitions that are like that in Europe, particularly pole vault-only meets in Germany. We used to call it the ‘sausage tour’. You’d go and compete … and they’d have beer tents alongside the runway, the crowd would be three or four metres away from you, they’d have music pumping every time someone jumped and it would just create an incredible atmosphere. The crowd loves it, the competitors love it and the results come out of that, as well; you’d end up jumping really high. Sometimes it’s not the best set-up in terms of the equipment, but the atmosphere just makes such a big difference.
“I believe that’s the sort of set-up that they’re going for here at Zatopek. You’re going to see the crowd right up next to the fence, the music’s going to be pumping, it’s going to have a party atmosphere and it’s going to bring out the best in the performance of the athletes.
“Then what happens is momentum builds off that, so year on year people want to come back, both spectators and athletes, and you start to build something and it can grow over time.”
Tickets can be purchased here. Enter the code “theimperfects” at the top of the tickets listing to have $5 of the proceeds donated to the Community Spirit Foundation.