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Presentation Night
Athletics Wollongong's Season 2024/25 Presentation will be held at Wollongong Tennis Club on May 3rd, from 6pm. Come along and celebrate the achievements of your clubmates - and give your clubmates the opportunity to congratulate you on yours.
We will have a short break with a few nibbles during the Presentation to keep energy up and - to assist with catering - RSVPs are now open! Note that only one RSVP is required per family (i.e. if there are multiple club members in your family, just register under the name of one member and indicate how many in total will be in your party).
To RSVP, go to the Event listing on the club website and press the RSVP button.
On the listing you'll also find a document with member names and the awards that they are eligible for. Note that some awards will remain secret until Presentation night. In the lead-up to the event though we will be announcing the nominees for the major trophies: partly to give more members kudos, but also to build the hype!
This is one of the few occasions where ALL of our members - regardless of their individual athletic goals - can come together and celebrate. We strongly encourage everyone to attend who is able to.
If you're keen for a kick-on, we're also booked in at the bistro downstairs afterwards. Join us for a more substantial meal and some relaxed drinks.
Grill'd Wollongong Local Matters
Each month patrons of Grill'd Wollongong determine which of three local organisations will receive $300, with the others to get $100. This April Athletics Wollongong will be one of the candidates. Eat in-store and each burger will earn you a bottlecap token that can be placed in 'our' jar. Order online and you'll receive a follow-up email to nominate your choice. Most votes at the end of the month wins!
To further incentivise burger consumption, some club luminaries will be at Grill'd Wollongong on Wednesday, 23rd April, for a get-together from 6pm. All welcome!
Australian Masters Championships
Our Juniors and Opens have had their National Championships (reported on below), now it's time for our Masters members to take their shot. Thirteen AW members have entered the event, though some are sadly no longer able to attend through injury or illness - our best wishes for a full recovery to those staying home. The remainder of the team will be making their way to Adelaide this Easter weeked. Best of luck! You'll be able to keep abreast with their efforts with a daily thread on the club's Facebook.
Stawell Gift
Also being held this long weekend is the famous Stawell Gift running carnival. This is surely the highest anticipated edition in years, with both Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy among the superstars who will be trying to beat the handicapper and take home the $40,000 first prize. AW's own Mitchell O'Neill is among the foremost chances - per the bookies - following some top performances from him on the professional running circuit, including a win in the Cobden Gift earlier this season.
Grand Slam Track may now have some claim to the 'richest footrace in the world' tagline, but what that doesn't have is 140 years of history. Watch some more of it get made from Easter Saturday on 7Plus!
Athletics Wollongong's Winter Pointscore
There's no excuse to ease up over the off-season with AW's Winter Pointscore beginning in May. As per recent seasons, our program will be held alongside the parkrun series of events. parkruns are free 5km races, held all over the world on Saturday mornings from 8am. Local parkruns are held at North Wollongong, Sandon Point, Killalea, Bowral, Picton, and - NEW! - Helensburgh. You can choose to run at whichever is most convenient to you.
All performances are given an 'Age Graded Percentage'. At least six of these must be attained during the competition window of May through to the end of August to be eligible for awards. Winners are determined by the the highest average score among participants' top-six performances.
To assist with administration of our pointscore, participants should specify 'Athletics Wollongong' as their associated group on their parkrun profile. You can set up your parkrun profile HERE and read more about our Winter Pointscore HERE.
Early notice, but we'll also be doing a 'takeover' of the North Wollongong parkrun - hopefully in September. We'll be providing all officials for one of the runs, partly as a thank you to the community but also as a promo for the upcoming track and field season! More details to come.
NSW Athletics Winter Program
Depending on your club registration category, you may also be eligible to contest the Winter Championship events hosted by NSW Athletics. The calendar has just been announced, with out-of-stadia races starting as soon as next month. Information on the whole of the Winter Calendar is now available on their website.
Some big events will be held locally with the NSW Cross Country Championships returning to Nowra in June, and the Short Course Cross Country Champs returning to Dapto, the month following.
All cross country and walk events have now been added to the online calendar, with entries for each of them opening 3 weeks prior to the date they're being held. The first event to be held will be the St George Classic on May 3rd.
Annual General Meeting
The club's officebearers and support position holders will be elected at AW's AGM on June 10th. It'll be held in the Wollongong Tennis Club boardroom.
We encourage all members to give some thought on how they might be able assist the club and its members next season. Have an obligation-free chat with any current Committee member for more info.
Official Meeting Notice will be sent to all members a month prior.
National Juniors Recap
Twenty-five members of Athletics Wollongong made the long journey to Perth to contest the Australian U13-U18 Track & Field Championships. Their full results are available on the club website, with each and every athlete due a hearty congratulations for a season's effort culminating in NSW representation. We must make special note of those with a podium finish, though, with the club tally comprising of an amazing 4 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze medals:
Well done to all on their inspiring performances. The club hopes to see even more representation next season.
National U20 and Opens Recap
The junior titles were followed by an U20 and Opens Championship that held an unprecedented amount of attention - and a bounty of world-class performances that showed, once again, that Australian Athletics is in the early stages of a golden age.
Ten Athletics Wollongong members were a part of the big show and they were an out-sized presence on the medal dais:
All performances are worthy of congratulations and you can see the full results of our team HERE.
Run Shellharbour
Local running opportunites abound in the off-season. Run Shellharbour was a recent one, with several of our clubmates taking part. Most notably, AW's Olivia Sivills took out the female category of the Half Marathon, also beating home all bar a handful of the blokes. We had some podium finishers in the 10km race as well, with bronze medals going to E.J. McHenry in the 12-14 division, and Matthew Pendleton in the 30-39's.
Next week will be Run Wollongong, held over a range of distances and including the first ever marathon within the city. Then in June it'll be the Wollongong Running Festival. Get your run on!
UniActive Young Athlete Development Program
This is a new opportunity that may be of interest to some of our members. The UniActive Young Athlete Development Program is a 6-week program designed for school-aged athletes (11–15 years old) of all skill levels. This program will focus on strength & conditioning, injury prevention, agility, holistic health, nutrition, and mindset & resilience training, to provide young athletes with the tools they need to excel in both sport and life.
Participants will also receive athlete pathway education and support (including US College Pathways) to help them navigate their sporting journey and develop a growth mindset to achieve long-term success on and off the field.
This program is open to all young athletes who are eager to enhance their skills and unlock their full potential, regardless of their background, experience level, or sport.
There will also be 6 weeks of free access to the UniActive gym for parents of participants, so that they can join in on the action too!
Program Details:
Registration & More Info: https://uowpulse.com/UniActive-6WeekYADP
Coming Dates