MAITLAND flyer Trish Greaves is confident the Commonwealth Games is within reach and she has an ally in Australian athletics glamour girl Tamsyn Lewis.
In front of a healthy Glendale crowd of 1500 on Saturday night, Greaves pushed Lewis in the women's 400 metres at the Hunter Track Classic before the triple Olympian powered home in a time of 52.86 seconds.
Greaves, 30, carried great expectations in the main event at the first major athletics meeting in the Hunter since the A-series grand prix in 2002.
She shook off concerns about a tight hamstring and took the lead in the opening 200m, forcing Lewis to pin her back down the home straight.
Greaves finished second in 54.20 seconds, her fastest run of the season.
"I saw a few of the big names in the race and I thought I'm going to have to go out hard and hold and come home with whatever I have and I was happy with my performance," she said.
"I had bit of a funny hammy all week but I didn't want to miss my home event, because there had been so much build-up for it all week and I really wanted to be part of it."
After pushing Lewis all the way, Greaves said she was confident of qualifying for the 4x400m relay team for the Commonwealth Games.
"If I can get to 53 [seconds] flat, I'm going to go close to a relay position and that's what I'm after, so I think that's possible," she said.
Lewis agreed. "She's a brilliant athlete, Trish and I've always said she's one of our most capable 400 girls and one of the nicest girls I've met on the track, too," Lewis said.
"Fingers crossed, she'll make the relay team, because she's a Newcastle girl."
Lewis, who lives in Melbourne, has a close affinity with Newcastle.
Her mother, Commonwealth Games high-jump finalist Caroline Wright, grew up at New Lambton Heights but that was only part of the reason she decided to compete at the Hunter Track Classic.
"I'm a big believer in supporting the domestic calendar and one of the other reasons is [organiser] Scott Westcott, who I've known for years, called me up, which the other meet hadn't done, so I said yes."
Lewis is yet to qualify for New Delhi, which will be the 31-year-old's last Commonwealth Games.
"At this stage I've got to run under 51.9 [seconds] to get in the team and win nationals, which I'm very capable of doing if I'm doing those times now," she said.
"I'm aiming a bit more at the 400m hurdles. I've spent many years doing the eights and fours and I think I've got a lot of talent over the hurdles, but I haven't seen what I can do yet and I'm a big believer in you retire and you let it all go but you've left no stone unturned and you've tried your hardest."
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