Sponsors
There were some incredible performances at the World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon. World Records fell in the men's pole vault, and also the women's 100m and 400m Hurdles.
Our Australian representatives were in the thick of things, with three medals going the way of the green and gold: Kelsey-Lee Barber defended her javelin title, Eleanor Patterson took out the high jump, and Nina Kennedy won bronze in the pole vault.
Our local girls did well too, with Sarah Carli making it to the 400m Hurdles semis and Jessica Hull going all the way to the 1500m final (before having to withdraw from the 5000m with COVID).
All in all, it was an inspiring event that surely has everyone excited for our own upcoming season of track and field.
...but before that, we were off to Birmingham! If there's been one positive after years of C-word disruptions, it's been this packed international sporting calendar. It was only a week's break from Worlds before the Australian athletics team were once again in action at the Commonwealth Games.
10 gold, 10 silver and 4 bronze medals were the team tally - a total only bested by our swimmers. Aussie success was evident all over the track and the field: though the highlight was surely Ollie Hoare's win in the men's 1500m!
They truly did seem to be The Friendly Games and we hope that we will be cheering on some of our own clubmates at the next edition, to be held throughout Victoria in 2026.
Our club did have representation at the World Athletics U20 Championships, held earlier this month in Colombia. AW's Delta Amidzovski was the youngest member of the Australian team and she contested the 100m Hurdles there.
Unfortunately it wasn't a dream result, clipping hurdle #2 and barrelling through hurdle #3, but Delta showed great courage and composure to finish the race. Moreso, she showed great maturity in the aftermath, looking upon it as a learning experience and leaving with a determination to continue competing against the best competitors in the world in the future.
Given her young age, Delta will remain eligible for the next World U20 Championships, set for Lima, Peru in 2024.
Another AW member shortly to be in the green and gold is Sam Zustovich, who was announced as a member of the 12-strong Australian team for the Lifesaving World Championships.
There's a sizeable contingent of Athletics Wollongong sprinters who spend their summer switching between the sand and the synthetic. While Sam had an injury-affected 21/22 season on the track, he went to stellar heights on the beach - winning the National Open beach flags title.
Now he'll be jetting off to Italy, contesting the World Championships this September 21st to October 2nd. Best of luck!
We can look with great anticipation to the upcoming local athletics season with ANSW releasing their calendar. The Pre-Christmas schedule is a packed one, starting October 8th and filling each weekend thereafter. The Treloar Shield is back, with a 6-round series culminating in a - new! - grand final. The Relay Championships will again be held at Campbelltown and, while they're not on until November 19th & 20th, you can start canvassing your clubmates for their interest now!
The Post-Christmas schedule is restricted to Championship events thus far, with all the old favourites back again: Combined Events, Illawarra Track Challenge, Country, and the various State Champs. Still to come are the specialist series meets, like High Velocity and Milers: though one may wonder where they're all going to fit!
You can see the first draft version of the ANSW calendar here: https://www.nswathletics.org.au/news/athletics-nsw-releases-first-version-of-summer-2022-23-calendar/.
Athletics Wollongong's Summer Series of weekly Wednesday meets will commence on October 12th. The local season will be pretty similar to previous year's, with a few tweaks following member suggestions. What won't change are the vibes: it'll still be the happiest, most supportive and chillest athletic competition on Earth!
In exciting news, we're also endeavouring to coordinate a return of the Region Championships. The timing will be such that it will be the culmination of the competitive season for our social athletes, and (hopefully) a final tune-up for those members heading to Nationals. More to come on that as the season approaches.
Winter Distance Running Pointscore
You needn't wait 'til October to participate in an AW competition though: our Winter Distance Running Pointscore competition window continues until the end of this month. If you're yet to participate you won't have time enough to qualify for an award, but why let that stop you?
All you need to do is contest any parkrun, held at a number of venues throughout the area - and beyond! - from 8am each Saturday. Either have your (free) parkrun member record aligned to Athletics Wollongong, or alert us via email of your participation.
School athletics carnival season rolls on and we thank those sharing their results in the Athletics Wollongong Facebook group.
Last weekend saw the debut running of the LANSW State Primary Schools Carnival. Harry Keats was a big winner, taking out his favoured 400m and 800m events in the 13 years division, but perhaps also suprising with additional wins in the 100m and 200m. Chelsea Nicol matched his golden effort in the 13 Girls 400m, while also collecting a bronze in the 800m. AW's other event champ was Cheyannah Hall, who took out the 13 Girls High Jump. Ruby Kerr (100m & 200m) and Imogene Anderson (Shot Put & 1200m Walk) also each brought home a brace of bronze in the 13 years.
Secondary school students will get their turn when the NSW All Schools Championships will be held late next month. Entries are open now and will close on September 9th.
All Schools Cross Country
Harry Keats continued his winning ways, taking out the 12/13 Primary Boys All Schools title. Joining him atop the podium was Charlize Colwell, who took out the 14/15 Secondary Para Girls. Well done!
ANSW are yet to promote an exact date that our registrations will open for Season 2022/23. This makes some sense when you consider that the 2022 Winter Season is still underway: the National Cross Country Championships aren't on until later this month, with the Sydney Half to then follow. Mid-to-late September is as much as we have been told at this stage, with no word regarding any changes to membership types or pricing.
The only change we do know - and which they have been surprisingly quiet about - is that Dual membership will now be extended to those in the U10 and U11 age groups; previously, it was strictly for U12-U17 Little A's members.
As per recent years, a Dual membership requires a Little A's registration first, before going to a senior club's portal to register and selecting 'Dual' from the available membership options. This provides the benefits of a Concession membership with Athletics Wollongong, for only a fraction of the cost.
Little Athletics registrations opened earlier this month, with an Athletics Wollongong member in the forefront of their promotions. Delta Amidzovski was one of only two members of the Australian World U20s team who were still eligible to join Little A's this coming season. Posing alongside younger athletes in her team uniform, she demonstrated a potential to which they could aspire.
Paralympics Australia Multi-Sport Get Involved event
Athletics Wollongong is lucky to have a strong contingent of para members. To further promote track and field as a participation option to those for whom the Paralympics could be an eventual goal, the club will be present at a Get Involved event. To be held at the UOW Sports Hub on August 27th (12:30pm - 3:00pm), we'll be ready to field questions from any interested parties. Other sporting reps will be in attendance, along with guidance regarding classification, and a few Paralympic stars. It sounds like a fun day!
Wollongong City Council have circulated the final plans for Phase 1 of the Tennis court upgrades. The main change that we will see is that there will be a new parking area, presently occupied by the courts nearest to the track. Eventually, according to the Beaton Park Master Plan, this parking area will be the site of a Multi-Sports Hall. We have been told that access to the Leisure Centre will remain unaffected for the duration of this project.
Construction will begin some time soon after the Road Cycling Championships. There will be many road closures during this event (18th-25th September), including to Foley Street, upon which lies the main driveway entry to Beaton Park. To access the Centre during race hours, you'll need to get to Gwynneville via Memorial Drive/the university and then enter the site by the Gipps Road driveway. For those on the inside of the City Circuit loop, you'll likely have to make your way there by foot.
Athletics Wollongong are happy to add some further coaches to those listed on the club website:
See the website for the contact details of all our club-aligned coaches. If you're unsure who to approach first, you're welcome to email athleticswollongong@gmail.com for advice.
You can help the club whenever you make a purchase at rebel Sport. Just drop our name at the checkout and the club could receive 2% of your purchase price to buy prizes or equipment for our members. Note that we don't receive a record of what those purchases are, nor who has done the purchasing: no shaming of shopaholics!
Note also that we need to have $2000 of purchases associated with the club within a year before we see any funds. That's not encouragement to spend up big though: just an explanation of the store's policy.
Coming Dates
Contact Details
Email davidrosswollongong@hotmail.com with athletics news to include in our regular Illawarra Mercury column. Send other enquiries to athleticswollongong@gmail.com.
See our Facebook and Instagram for more timely alerts, news and fun.