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The Tokyo Olympics start this week! Early teams competition begins on Wednesday, with the Opening Ceremony to be held on Friday. The Athletics program gets underway on 30th July, with Australia sending a massive team of 64 - our largest ever overseas contingent. This means we'll have even more opportunities to cheer our compatriots on!
The big events of the Olympics will be shown across the various free-to-air channels of 7/Prime, with their online streaming platform 7plus providing another 40 channels-worth of sport, sport and more sport. If you're at a loss in lockdown, you don't even have to wait 'til later this week: there's already a mass of material there with highlights from previous Games, primers on all the sports, athlete interviews and much more. Who needs sleep?!
Speaking of sleep, the best part of the (belated) 2020 Games: they're in a friendly timezone! Sydney is just one hour ahead of Tokyo time.
If you can tear yourself away from the TV, this festival of sport may inspire you to indulge in some physical activity. While the bulk of our membership will be under lockdown for at least the first half of the event, people are allowed to leave their home to exercise (with certain stipulations; check the NSW Government site for details).
Sadly, Beaton Park is currently closed and alternative access to the Kerryn McCann Athletics Centre is not possible. Runners will have to be content with the few remaining grass tracks in the area, or regular sporting fields.
To provide exercise opportunities to essential workers, as well as to better manage the numbers of those out-and-about, both Wollongong and Shellharbour councils are lighting several of their sporting fields from 4:30pm - 9:00pm each evening, subject to weather:
parkrun events in the area are currently not being held. Consequently, Athletics Wollongong's Winter Distance Running Pointscore has been suspended for the time being. In some good news: in light of the fewer opportunites to participate, the Committee has decided to lower the minimum number of attendances required to be eligible for awards/prizes to four. That means that if parkruns weren't to resume prior to our end-of-August competition finish, then we'll still have a winner in each category. All being well though, if restrictions end on July 30th as planned, then that means everyone - even if they're yet to participate in a parkrun event - will still have an opportunity to post a score and win. For more information on the competition, see the following info from the club website.
AW had also planned to do a parkrun 'takeover' on August 6th, providing the officials necessary at the North Wollongong venue. Our Winter Coordinator will be liasing with the local race directors to see if this will still be likely/possible. There may be a late callout for volunteers to assist on the day; more details will be posted to our Facebook group as they become available. It'd be around one hour of encouraging others and spreading the Athletics Wollongong gospel.
Prior to the lockdown, we ran a promo for our junior members to participate in our Winter Pointscore. Those who participated in at least 3 parkruns across May and June went into a random draw for a Beaton Park 25-visit concession track pass. Seattle Bazley was the lucky winner; well done, Seattle!
While we had hoped that the event cancellations and postponements were over, this Winter season has shown us otherwise. The NSW Road Relay Championships - set for earlier this month - were the first to be cancelled, with the Road Walking Championships - to be held alongside - being postponed.
It's the same sad story for the State Cross Country Championships, now delayed even further. While the venue of Tapitallee (North-West Nowra) is outside of the lockdown area, many participants are obviously unable to travel there at this stage. This event is also the selection trial for the NSW team to the National Cross Country Championships. Those titles are scheduled for August 21st in Adelaide, leaving very little opportunity for an alternative date - and for those athletes successful there, to subsequently organise transport and accommodation; if even possible.
In somewhat positive news, the Australian Cross Country Championships are set to be a monumental event, including the National titles for Little Athletics, senior athletics and Masters Athletics. The vision of OneAthletics, bringing all branches of our sport back under the one umbrella, is slowly coming to fruition.
The first practical step of OneAthletics will soon occur at the National level, with a vote for Little A's and 'Big' A's to merge, to be held in October. It'll be State and Territory bodies casting their vote, with ANSW Directors tasked to determine New South Wales' decision. You can be a part of history, as they call for Director nominations ahead of the upcoming ANSW AGM!
More information on the AGM and the procedure to nominate is available here.
The stakes are a little less high - but no less important! - on the Athletics Wollongong Committee. There were some positions left vacant following last month's AGM, but we are happy to announce that some of these have now been filled.
Welcome to the Committee, Peter Gandy. He'll be taking on the Development Officer role, dealing with the links between coaches, officials, admin, and athletes; working to bolster the ranks and improve the experience of all.
Phil Frkovic will also return to the Equipment Officer position, ensuring that we have the right gear in good condition for our meets, as well as reporting on our maintenance responsibilities to Beaton Park management.
Finally, Club President Michael McClelland has elected to also take on the Chief Timekeeper duties, given his likely continuing availability on Wednesdays and the expanded starting/timing system that he's been acquiring. We are extremely keen for more people to learn how to use the system and will be actively seeking eager students once we determine the standard operating procedures. If it all goes to plan: if you can turn on appliances and operate a tablet, you're qualified!
Secretary is still a role that we're desperate to have filled ASAP. Currently the Club President is taking meeting minutes, which impacts his main duty there: keeping everyone on track! The Secretary's workload is likely nothing close to what people may fear. Outside of attending the Committee Meeting itself (about two hours' duration on the second Tuesday of each month), the Secretary has very little extra work to do. As it stands, that work is instead being logged by people already doing more than plenty. Help us spread the load!
Aside from that, we're still looking for the following nice-to-haves: a Publicity Officer, Fundraising & Sponsorships Officer, Grants Officer and Race Secretary (or at least the half of the role that's to do with external events). Unless anyone speaks up as a result of this article, we'll continue that search once our Summer meets resume.
Wednesday, October 6th is the day to mark on your calendar: this is the date Athletics Wollongong returns for Season 2021/22. We'll start with our standard warm-up meet: an introduction to newbies and a reminder to regulars of what our social competition is all about. It's essentially a regular pointscore meet, only without the points and at a slightly slower pace to aid any further explanation and demonstration required.
Pointscore will commence the following week (October 13th) for a total of 20 further rounds. It's much the same schedule as last season, though with some dates and disciplines shifted about. We'll still hold our various 'Special' weeks and the popular AW Gift, 200m Zoom, Turkey Run, 60m Skins, Chocolate Run, Athletes' Choice, etc. will all be making a return. One change is that Australia Day falls on a Wednesday next year, so we'll be going further into March than usual to make up for that missed week.
We're unsure at this stage when registrations will open up, nor do we have any details regarding membership options. Once we do, we'll advertise everything widely. Keep in mind though: our best advertisement is your personal recommendation! As hard as we try to get the word out, it's much more effective for our members to directly tell their circle about us. Let 'em know how awesome Athletics Wollongong is!
The 2021 Australian Masters Games are being held in Perth this October. Earlybird entries close the end of this month. If you were intending on going, please note Athletics Wollongong as your club. To help drum up entries, they're giving away $1500 of sporting equipment to an associated club - and we'd like to win, please!
For more information on the Games, check their website.
A little closer to home for Masters athletes are the NSW Masters Winter Throwing Championships. They'll be in Wollongong once more over the October long weekend (2nd - 4th). As per usual, they wouldn't say no to people helping them out with returning implements, or otherwise assisting. I daresay that our own Adriana will be operating the BBQ and some free food and drink will find its way into your belly as thanks.
To participate in the Champs you need to be a member of NSW Masters. More details on that - and the event itself - is available on their website. Following the success of the virtual competition held alongside the main event last year, they'll be doing the same again this time 'round. Hopefully they have better luck than with their 50th Anniversary Lunch, which has had to be postponed 'til next year.
Retail therapy is an important coping strategy during these times. Feel even better about yourself by shopping at Rebel Sport. Associate your purchase with Athletics Wollongong and we will earn store credit, using it to buy prizes for our members. Everybody wins!
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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