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AGM Results and Committee Vacancies
The Annual General Meeting was held on May 8th, with a new Athletics Wollongong Committee being elected for Season 2021/22. While we farewelled a good number of contributors from last season, we did see the return of some Life Members to managing roles, namely Barry McClelland and Peter Kidd, along with 'new face' Tara Cassisy. Some fine folk also stepped forward in the days following the meeting for positions that were left vacant: Phil Frkovic (Equipment Officer) and Peter Gandy (Development Officer).
Speaking of vacancies, there are still some positions that remain unfilled. Please give some thought to contributing a small amount of your time. Without others stepping forward, either the work will not be performed (and our members could have a sub-optimal experience with the club) else it will fall upon others already on the committee, contributing to burnout and increasing turnover in critical positions.
Roles still vacant are:
A last thank you to those who have helped run the club the previous year/s but have chosen to step down ahead of 2021/22: Deanna Gorham, Donna Hiscox, Merrin Tozer and Michelle Halloran.
...and a welcome to the incoming Committee! You can see them all listed in this News posting.
If you are a member of Athletics Wollongong and were unable to attend the AGM, you can request a copy of the Annual Report via athleticswollongong@gmail.com.
Australian Representatives Rosie Tozer and Tierney Dunne
What a tremendous experience for our clubmates Rosie and Tierney, competing as part of the Australian U20 team. As previously reported, Australia chose not to go to Kenya for the World Junior Championships, with some warranted concerns regarding health and safety. The team instead lined up against the New Zealand U20s on the Gold Coast, along with Australian and other Oceania athletes aiming for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
There were two Invitational meets held, along with an in-camp experience, that has no doubt given our AW pair a hunger for even further representative honours. Well done! Check the Results page for how they fared.
Tierney and Rosie are some of the newest entries on our Honour Roll. To give even further credit to those gaining national and international recognition while representing our club, we will now be noting their names in perpetuity on the AW website. Alongside the existing Club Records and Perpetual Trophy Award Winners items, we now also note Australian Representatives, State Representatives, and Continuous Membership Awards.
While our records are relatively accurate for recent seasons, they get a little patchier the further we go back. We will be slowly adding names and years from historic online sources, but if you review the list and notice some names missing, we'd be very happy to hear it; please write to athleticswollongong@gmail.com.
It's no secret that we had a few issues with our timing/starting system last season. We had a goal of building upon the existing items so that it's more reliable ahead of our meets commencing later this year. We are now a huge step closer to that target with an extremely welcome donation received from Trueflow Plumbing of $1200! Headed by our clubmate Russell Rann, Trueflow also sponsored last year's Athletics Wollongong Gift.
A great way to say thanks is: if you, or someone you know, is in the market for plumbing services, get in contact with Trueflow on 0412 224 987. Check their website for the kind of jobs that they can help you with: https://trueflowplumbing.com.au/.
We are well into our 2021 Athletics Wollongong winter parkrun pointscore. Contest at least six parkruns between May and August and you will be eligible for prizes. Details on how it all works are HERE, note that you'll have to specify 'Athletics Wollongong' in your profile for your performances to be recorded (or send details to our Winter Season Coordinator, Ron Perry via athleticswollongong@gmail.com)
To date, Life Member Des Comer hasn't missed a Saturday, having completed 7 parkruns at Sandon Point, Avondale College and Penrith Lakes. The best individual result so far though is by Ros Perry, who ran a 71.76% age-graded performance recently at North Wollongong; proof that all the training she did in preparation for the Wollongong Running Festival's Half Marathon has payed off. Can she keep the top spot? There's still a long way to go... In the juniors, Axel Comer still has the highest result with a 71.26% followed by Liam Halloran with a 62.88%.
We're looking to encourage participation by our Junior members in this series and are putting up a prize to nudge them into giving the series a go: a 25-visit Beaton Park Track Concession Pass! Just have participated in 3 parkruns by the end of June.
A reminder that Athletics Wollongong will be "taking over" North Wollongong parkrun on August 7th. Both as a thank you to our local parkruns and also to promote our upcoming track and field season, we'll be supplying all the necessary volunteers on this date. 10-11 people will be needed and you can see the roles available (with some descriptions) here. No experience is necessary as on-the-day training will be provided and it's all been made as easy as possible. For those parkrunners hoping to keep a participation streak alive there's even a Tail Walker volunteer role that gives you a run credit. Those contesting our Winter pointscore can also have their volunteering credited as an attendance, if they're otherwise struggling to get in the six runs needed to qualify, ahead of the end-of-August closing.
It's a perfect occasion for experienced parkrunners to give back, or for newbies to make their debut with lots of friendly AW faces about (just bring along a friend/parent to volunteer also!). If you can assist, please email athleticswollongong@gmail.com.
A thank you to those who assisted with the move from our temporary storage location to our home back under the grandstand. The shipping containers have now been removed from the track, with some remedial work to the grounds there soon to follow.
Now that the grandstand refurbishment has been completed, Beaton Park have set their view on the track area itself. We're anticipating some work to occur on the infield, improving grass growth, soon after the completion of the school carnivals. Track cleaning and line re-marking will also be undertaken, with a view to have as little impact on athletics club operations as possible, but expected to occur over a 2-week period. There will also be some patching of the synthetic surface in high-traffic/damaged areas.
The crushed granite surrounding the high jump area closest to the finish line is also intended to be replaced; either by synthetic turf or a softfall alternative. The mats here are brand new ones, fresh this week. Try them out!
Our track and field season is a little ways off, but give some thought about what you'll be wearing this Summer. We've fielded a request from someone seeking a short-sleeved competition t-shirt. Given that we need to make a minimum order number, we're keen to hear of interest from any other parties. Let us know: athleticswollongong@gmail.com.
A HUGE thank you to those who have been supplying Dave Ross with material for his column, now appearing fortnightly in the Illawarra Mercury. It's hard yakka at the best of times, but can be a real struggle during our comparatively lean Winter months. Please don't be shy regarding your athletics news and results. While he has a few sources who may forward on info regarding others' performances, broadly speaking: don't presume Dave knows your news or has a photo of you; send him the goods: davidrosswollongong@hotmail.com. Note also that he has no sway on editorial decisions, so don't be quick to blame him for whatever does/n't appear in print.
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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