The tradition of John Walker outstanding record over the mile will be relived in the annual John Walker night of miles at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland on Saturday evening.

Established in 1987 to provide the competition for New Zealand's top junior runners to achieve fast times, the feature event the John Walker junior mile has annually attracted the top runners from throughout the country.

The promising Dallas Bowden from Nelson has accepted entry into the event and provided the early pace is on target he should go close to breaking the New Zealand junior mile record of 4m 1.14s. Included in the field are Rabah Bashir and Michael Whitehead.

The inaugural junior mile in 1987 was won by Derek White of Waikato in 4m 8.08s. The John Walker junior mile record of 4m 5.01s was set by Richard Potts in 1990.

Katie Wright and Kelsi Patterson should battle out the women's mile. There is also a men's mile featuring Aunese Curreen of Samoa.

National champion Valerie Vili will be having final competition this season in the shot put.

Vili extended her best shot put the season out to 18.98m, at the Auckland Centre meeting at Sovereign Stadium last Saturday.

Also taking part in the shot put are Bertrand Vili of New Caledonia and the New Zealand champion Patrick Hellier. Bertrand Vili and Hellier will compete in the discus as well.

National champions Stuart Farquhar and Keshia Grant will be competing in the javelin throw.

The Auckland junior boys and girls 1500m championships will start the evening's programme at 5pm. These races will be followed by the Auckland senior 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay championships.

At the conclusion of the meeting at 8pm, John Walker will be honoured by the Auckland Regional Council with the naming and official opening of the 'John Walker Lounge' a new club room and function facility overlooking the athletics arena at the Mt Smart Stadium number two ground. Walker will unveil a plaque, commemorating the occasion, which will be affixed to the outside of the building.