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AW's Wednesday Meets
It's only just over a month until Athletics Wollongong's Summer Series of weekly Wednesday meets return!
The season calendar has been confirmed and is now available on the club website (Competition page).
2024/25 will commence with a Meet 'N' Greet and Intro to Events on September 25th. New to the club or sport? Come along for a rundown on how to conduct/participate safely in each discipline, learn how our club meets are run, and how to get the most out of your membership. You'll also be able to purchase a club uniform (if you need one) and say g'day to your committee and some of your clubmates.
Progressing from our intro of the previous week, the following two Wednesdays will give participants a red-hot go at a subset of events. Come & Try #1 on October 2nd will focus on Sprints and Throws, while Come & Try #2 will focus on Jumps and Distance runs. At the conclusion of these 'school holiday specials', new members will feel like experienced pros. Returning members are welcome also, of course!
With our newfound knowledge, the season then begins in earnest, with our Pointscore competition commencing on October 16th. There are 20 rounds, with these repeating so that you can track your improvement, while also featuring some special events to keep things fresh.
All in all, it's shaping up to be an exciting season and we can't wait to see you at Beaton Park from 5:30pm each week.
2024/25 Membership Categories
To be eligible for pointscore awards, win prizes and break club records at our Wednesday meets you'll need to register with Athletics Wollongong. Membership Categories for Season 2024/25 will remain the same as last season. Those on offer will be:
'Active and Creative Kids' vouchers are also able to be used at the time of registration by those eligible.
A Trialling Membership is available: for $15 you'll be able to participate in one AW meet, with that fee coming off your registration if you subsequently upgrade to Community, or a higher level.
Existing Members
Last season's memberships were for a duration of 365 days from the date of purchase. To align both Little A's NSW and Athletics NSW going forward though, we will be returning to season-long memberships for 2024/25. There will be a crossover period where people will be able to participate in the 2024/25 season with their existing membership - up until it elapses. When it runs out, you will need to purchase a new Season 2024/25 membership to continue your participation. Registrations for 2024/25 will be performed via the Athletics Wollongong website (Registration page).
For the two different systems to work together this season, Athletics NSW have migrated existing Athletics Wollongong memberships to ANSW's own "club". If you are an existing member and try to log in to Athletics Wollongong's webpage right now, it will say that you don't have a current membership. If you log into Athletics NSW's webpage however, you will see on your Membership Card that your status is '365 Day' and your club is 'Athletics NSW'. Unfortunately it doesn't list the date your membership expires - only the date your record was migrated (16th July). We've been told that members will receive email alerts when their membership is about to run out; otherwise we can provide this information.
Second claim
The information initially released in this section has been superceded by that in the Multi-Club Membership Policy. For further details on this policy regarding members being able to join multiple clubs (e.g. 1 Little A's Centre and 1 Senior Athletics Club - like Athletics Wollongong), please read the news article HERE.
Family Discount
Are there three or more in your family to register with Athletics Wollongong? You're eligible for a family discount! You will get $10 off the price of each membership.
Only full, competitive memberships are included in the offer (i.e. neither Trialling nor free/Volunteer memberships are counted). You also must all register at the same time: after you enter the details for your first family member's registration, you will be presented the options of "Proceed to checkout" and "Register another member"; select the latter to continue adding the remaining athletes.
Note that the discount is applied at the time of payment, i.e. it's not a reimbursement. Once you're done, if the total is not what you expect, then please let us know so that we may investigate before any payment is made.
Olympics & Paralympics
What an incredible few weeks we saw in Paris! One of the highlights was local superstar Jessica Hull winning a silver medal in the 1500m, but the whole team did us proud. If you missed any of the action, you can always do a re-watch on 9Now. Session replays are available, as well as event highlights and Medal Moments.
And if the Olympics hasn't got you excited for the new season of track and field, well....maybe the Paralympics will do it! They'll be kicking of on August 28th.
U20 Worlds Championships
Some of the Paris Olympians will be making their way to Peru to contest the World Athletics U20 Championships. There they'll meet Athletics Wollongong's own representatives, Delta Amidzovski and Chelsy Wayne. They are part of the large Australian team who will be doing their best to emulate the heroics of their senior counterparts.
Delta will be first to take the stage in the Long Jump qualification, from 7:15pm (our time) on Tuesday, August 27th. She'll be hoping to make the final which we can watch from 3:20am on August 29th. Then she'll be back for the 100m Hurdles heats, being held at 7:25pm that night - with semis and finals hopefully to follow.
Chelsy will get her campaign underway in the discus qualifiers the evening of August 27th - we just need to see which pool she'll contest for the start time. The final will be held in the early hours of Thursday morning (August 29th).
Details on how to watch are HERE.
World Masters Championships
Already in the green 'n' gold and doing battle overseas are a contigent of Athletics Wollongong masters: Adriana Van Bockel, Donna Hiscox, Rebekah Power and Justin Miller. They are contesting the World Masters Athletics Championships, being held in Gothenburg, Sweden.
More than 8000 athletes are participating, so every event is being fiercely contested. That's over 4 times as many competitors that were a part of the track and field program in Paris!
Those numbers serve to highlight what a tremendous effort it is to medal at this event - and Rebekah Power has only gone and done it TWICE.
She won silver in the W45-49 100m with a time of 12.86s and backed it up with a bronze in the 200m, with a time of 26.27s. Still to come is her 400m.
Best of luck to the team in their remaining events. You can keep an eye on their performances over on Facebook.
Australian Cross Country Championships
Four Athletics Wollongong reps will be wearing the NSW team colours at the Australian Cross Country Championships in Tasmania. Liam Chetcuti (U11 2km), Xavier Wilson(U13 Para Ambulant 2km), Robert Shannon (U17 6km) and Joe Hinds (U20 8km) will go up hill and down dale this August 31st. Go team!
Australian Marathon Championships
Also in the sky blue of NSW, Emma O’Sullivan will be contesting the Australian Marathon Championships. This sold-out event must surely be one of the most scenic courses in the world: crossing the Harbour Bridge and finishing at the Opera House forecourt - along with plenty of other Sydney landmarks in between! Best of luck, Em!
Athletics Wollongong Winter Distance Pointscore
Our parkrun-based Winter competition has been run and won. The Open category winner was Bronwyn Batten (73.94%), while our Junior winner was E.J. McHenry (60.86%). Thanks to those who participated in this series of runs: we hope it made staying active during these Winter months a little easier. There'll be a short presentation to our winners prior to the commencement of our first Summer Season pointscore meet on October 16th.
Illawarra Academy of Sports
Plenty of AW members have had something to do with the Illawarra Academy of Sport over the years - and now there's the opportunity for a new class.
Nominations are closing soon for scholarships to the BluescopeWIN Future Stars Program. Find more details and apply HERE.
There's also an Indigenous Talent ID Day being held on 27th August at the uni. Details and registration is HERE.
Tennis Club Membership
Our neighbours in the Beaton Park sporting precinct, Wollongong Tennis Club, are a sponsor of Athletics Wollongong. One leg of our deal is that we are reimbursed a percentage of purchases made across the bar and bistro by Tennis Club members who have noted an affiliation with AW.
We strongly encourage our members to also join - and patronise - the Tennis Club. WIth a one year membership there costing only $10 ($5 for student or pensioners), you'll be saving in no time.
Membership forms are HERE and can be submitted anytime at the Tennis Club bar, or their reception during office hours. Remember to note 'Athletics Wollongong' in the Sponsorship Group section.
Coming Dates