Australia Day

As noted on the club competition calendar, there will be no Athletics Wollongong meet on Wednesday, January 26th.  There will be a club activity early that day however, with AW helping out at the Australia Day Aquathon. 

We'll largely be providing athlete check-in services there and we're just one or two volunteers short of the number necessary; please contact us if you're able to help.  Asides from a fun day out, helping the community engage in a healthy activity, the club receives a donation from the organisers for our services.  Volunteers, in turn, will also become eligible to receive financial assistance from the club when participating at Nationals, for example.

If you want to help but can't make this date, note that there'll be a similar opportunity at Splash Wollongong on March 6th (which we'll start taking names for from next month).
 

Bunnings BBQ

Athletics Wollongong usually run a BBQ at the North Wollongong Bunnings earlier on in the season, but that wasn't possible given the circumstances.  Instead, we'll be manning the hotplate on Saturday, February 19th.  If your talents lie in the culinary arts you might like to join us for a quick, two-hour shift.  Starting from 8:30am and going through 'til 4:30pm; we'll require at least 4 people per block.  Similarly to the Aquathon, helpers will become eligible for financial assistance.  Several "serial volunteers" have already indicated that they're unavailable that day, so don't be shy in showing your interest, by emailing us.

Grill'd Wollongong

Finally on the fundraising front, we're lucky to once again have a "jar" at Grill'd Wollongong this month.  Purchase a burger in January and you earn a token you can use to "vote" for who wins a monthly prize.  In-store, you place a physical token in the 'Athletics Wollongong' jar; on-line, you receive an email after ordering which you use to vote via a link.  The winning cause gets $300, the two "losers" get $100.  If you're looking for an excuse to have a healthy and delicious burger, here's your chance!  Tell your friends and family.

NSW Country Champs

The NSW Country Championships are breaking new ground, travelling to Maitland for the very first time next weekend.  This is the best event on the Athletics NSW calendar, being the largest one open to athletes of all ages.  If you're travelling to Maitland, keep an eye out for the Athletics Wollongong banner; it'll be nice if we were all sitting by it together.  The club also has a couple of pop-up gazebos; if anyone has the boot-space to take them up on our behalf, let us know.  Club reps will also try and organise a group dinner on one of the nights if there's interest among attendees.  Best of luck to everyone!

ACT Championships

If you're new to the club, you may be unaware that you also have the opportunity to participate in the ACT Championships.  Even though you can't win a title, you can still win medals based on your finishing position (there will just also be an ACT athlete getting the same colour medal as yours).  These Championships have become increasingly popular over the years with the 2022 editions set for the following dates:

• U20 and Opens: 28th - 30th Jan (along with supporting individual events for U14-18s and Masters)
• U14 - U18s: 18th - 20th Feb

Note that you will need either a Dual, Concession or Open membership to be eligible to participate. 

Australian Track & Field Championships

Sydney was announced as the host of the 2022 National Champs, being held at SOPAC from 26th March until 3rd April.  Qualification standards, along with information on what constitutes a valid performance, are noted on the Athletics Australia website. 

Note that there are also requirements to be selected as part of the NSW team.  The main requirement is that you must participate at the relevant State Championships for your age.  The pressure is off for some of our members though, having already qualified for Nationals by virtue of a top-3 finish at All Schools, late last year.

The entry portal for the NSW team is anticipated to open next month.

200M ZOOM

An even "bigger" event than the National Championships, is the 200m Zoom.  Unlike our regular races on a Wednesday night, heats are seeded by participants' times - and it has prizemoney.  While on one hand it's a showcase for sprinting excellence, with cash being awarded to the fastest male and female competitors, it also recognises that success, hard work and determination are very personalised - and not always indicated by who crosses a finish line first.  Consequently, we give everyone a chance to win something and have lucky lane draw prizes: you just have to go in it, to win it.  For the last couple of seasons we have run this event internally; in 2022 we are trialing a step into the wider athletic world...

For Athletics Wollongong members, there will be little change: Wednesday, February 2nd will have an AW pointscore meet at Beaton Park consisting of a variety of runs, jumps and throws.  As per previous 200m Zooms, participants will also be eligible for cash prizes (and we'll have a BBQ).

New this year:

• entry to the track will be FREE (we will be hiring the track exclusively and access will be via the driveway gate). 
• you will have to enter the sprint events online, nominating your anticipated times (this is to assist us so that runners in each heat are of a similar standard).  The closing date is 10am, 31st January (entries are open now!)
• AW members will need to use the discount code sent via the January AWesome Tales club newsletter, otherwise you will be charged $10 to enter (plus processing fees; please do not circulate the code to those ineligible to use it).  Miss the closing of entries and you'll still be welcome to participate on the night, but you won't be in a seeded heat and will be ineligible for any prizes.
• The sprint events, including the 200m Zoom, will be open to athletes from other ANSW-affiliated clubs
• Courtesy of our sponsor Process Integrations, $100 will go to the fastest male and female athletes in the 200m Zoom.  There will also be $50 lucky lane draws for participants in the male and female divisions
• The AW Life Member Fund will be putting up additional prizemoney: $50 to the fastest male/female Athletics Wollongong members over the 200m; along with extra lucky lane draws, also exclusive to AW members.  One of us could go home with $200!

It's a great deal for members (free track entry plus a chance to win money and other prizes just by participating) so we hope to see some good club support.  Opening it up to others gives greater competition, as well as showcasing how awesome our club is to a wider audience. 

Combined Events State Championships results

The Combined Events State Championships - comprising pentathlon, heptathlon and decathlon - were held last weekend in the ACT.  At our club meets, Athletics Wollongong encourages everybody to go in every event, so we often have good representation at these Championships. 

Numbers were a little down this year, but Caroline Ellis tried her best to make up the shortfall: competing in both the Masters Pentathlon and Heptathlon!  After 9 events on the first day, she had to return for the final 3 of the heptathlon on the second.  Hard yakka!  It was mission accomplished however, with Caroline taking out the 45-49s categories in both events.  Matching her pentathlon gold were both Anthony Howlett (50-54) and Christine Shaw (60-64).

Thomas Noakes contested the U20 decathlon and made it a golden sweep for our AW contenders.  His task was made all the tougher when they were running so late on Day 1 they held over the final event until the next morning: he had to run hurdles straight after a 400m! 

Some individual events were also held, with our throwers Chelsy Wayne, Karen Clarke and William Willis all doing well.  Delta Amidzovski had another great result in the Long Jump, this time jumping 5.99m - once again just short of the World U20 Championships qualifying mark of 6.12m.

Illawarra Track Challenge Results

Thirty Athletics Wollongong members entered last Saturday's Illawarra Track Challenge.  Unfortunately several of them wouldn't make it to the start line, with the event being cancelled partway through on account of a fierce storm.  The 60m and Mile State Championships, which were scheduled to be part of the event, weren't held and while there will be a replacement date in the future, it is yet to be announced.  As is the case for external events open to AW members, you can see the results of our clubmates listed on the club website.

Christmas Special Results

It seems a lifetime ago, but we're yet to report in AWesome Tales the results of our Christmas Special.  The big race on the night was the Athletics Wollongong Gift, a handicapped 100m race with cash up for grabs, courtesy of our sponsor Trueflow Plumbing.  It was a blanket finish, with the first 6 across the line in the final, all within 0.1 seconds!  Taking out first prize was Mikaela Markovski, just edging ahead of Caroline Ellis.  It was just as close for third, with Dylan Martin a nose in front of an unlucky Kaylee Reid-O'Brien.

It wasn't quite as close in the 800m Chocolate Run, with the prize - once again - encouraging some to superhuman efforts!  Running a huge PB and taking the win was Sophie Howarth, with Andy McHenry next across the line.

We'll have some more fun and rewarding handicapped events at our End Of Season Special, which is set for March 16th.

NSW Merit Team

Announced late last year was the NSW Merit Team following the All Schools Championships.  In a typical year, these competitors would have gone on to contest the Australian All Schools.  Congrats to our AW clubmates who made the cut:

• Ashleigh Goncalves - U18 400m
• Charlize Colwell - U15 Para 800m
• Chelsy Wayne - U16 Discus
• Delta Amidzovski - U16 100m, 90m Hurdles, 200m Hurdles, Long Jump
• Holly Rea - U16 100m, 200m
• Jude Basnet - U18 Hammer
• Kailee Moore - U18 100m Hurdles
• Keegan Whitten - U16 High Jump
• Mackay Jones - U16 Pole Vault
• Naomi Gibson - U16 Pole Vault
• Olivia Sivills - U18 2000m Steeplechase
• Tayissa Buchanan - U16 800m
• William Willis - U16 Discus

Academy Honour

Thomas Noakes was a big winner at the South West Sydney Academy of Sports annual presentation, taking home both the Athlete of the Year title and the Chairperson's Award.  Well done, Thomas!

Coming Dates

• 21st - 23rd January - NSW Country Championships, Maitland
• 22nd January - Bankstown Milers II, Bankstown
• 26th January - Australia Day Aquathon, Wollongong Harbour
• 30th January - Elzy Wellings 1000, Sylvania
• 2nd February - Athletics Wollongong's 200m Zoom, Beaton Park
• 5th February - Bankstown Milers III, Bankstown
• 5th February - Campbelltown Sprints, Campbelltown
• 12th February - NSW 5000m Championships, SOPAC
• 12th February - Illawong Track Challenge, The Ridge
• 18th - 20th February - NSW Open & U23 Championships, SOPAC
• 25th - 27th February - NSW Junior Championships, SOPAC
• 11th - 13th March - NSW Masters Championships, SOPAC Warmup

Contact Details

Email davidrosswollongong@hotmail.com with athletics news to include in our regular Illawarra Mercury column.  Send other enquiries to athleticswollongong@gmail.com.  

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