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Athetics Wollongong is going to the U20 World Champs!
TWO athletes from AW were announced as part of the Australian team that will contest the World Athletics U20 Championships, to be held in Peru this August.
Delta Amidzovski was the "baby" of the team when this event was last held in 2022, now she's back with a tonne more experience and set to make some waves. She has won selection in both the 100m Hurdles and Long Jump.
Delta's Commonwealth Youth Games teammate Chelsy Wayne will make her debut on a global stage, winning a spot in the hotly contested discus event.
Commiserations to our clubmates who put qualifying performances on the board, but - with team positions extremely limited - were unlucky to miss selection.
Our representatives will prepare locally before convening on the Gold Coast for a training camp later this month. They'll then be leaving for Lima in mid-August for pre-comp prep, with the event itself kicking off on August 27th.
There might be some late nights for supporters, with semis and finals to be held in the early morning, our time. The timetable is available HERE.
Trivia Night Fundraiser - July 20th
While it's a great honour to represent Australia, in this instance it also comes with a big pricetag: a $6000 team levy to participate. To help our clubmates get onto the plane, Athletics Wollongong will be hosting a Trivia Night Fundraiser.
It will be held at Collegians Club in Wollongong on July 20th from 7pm. We encourage people to eat a meal at the club beforehand, as a thank you for them donating the room.
Tickets are available now! They are $20 per person. If you have a team of 8 ready to go, a 'table' ticket is for you. If you'd like us to find a team for you, or need us to locate some extra members to fill your table, then grab as many 'individual' tickets as you need. Finally, even if you can't make the night, there's a ticket for you to purchase if you'd like to make a donation to the cause.
It will be a great night of trivia and fun games with plenty of prizes on offer. Frankly, it's a win-win for everyone and you'd be crazy to miss it!
Get together your family, friends, co-workers, or training partners - buy tickets - and show your support for Chelsy and Delta. They're wonderful representatives of this club and our sport, inspiring our community and very deserving of our help. Let's do this!
Oceania Championships
International competition is already underway with several AW members currently in Fiji at the Oceania Championships. Chelsy Wayne was selected in the Australian U18 team and will contest the discus, while a trio of our 'more experienced' athletes will be participating in the Masters section of the event.
Adriana Van Bockel, Donna Hiscox and Cristine Suffolk will each have a busy week and you can keep track of their efforts either via the Championships' live results page, or from our daily updates on AW's Facebook group.
Cross Country Champs
There are some big Cross Country events coming up that are a little closer to home.
First up are the NSW Cross Country Championships, once again being held at the popular Willandra course (East of Nowra) later this month. If you're keen to have a look at the course before the big day then there is an opportunity next Saturday, with an All Comers event giving competitors a valuable sneak peek.
Closer still will be the NSW Short Course Cross Country Championships, being hosted at West Dapto. Entries will open for that one soon.
With the new partnership between 'Big' and 'Little' athletics, competition will be offered down to the U7 division. While there will be Fun Runs that anyone can enter, to be eligible to contest the Championship events you'll need the right membership type. Any Little A's membership will do, but for Athletics Wollongong an Open, Concession, Junior or Youth registration is required (i.e. those with only a Community membership will need to upgrade).
Let's hope we see plenty of red, white and blue uniforms out there, having fun and doing well.
Athletics Wollongong Winter Distance Pointscore Competition
Our Winter distance running pointscore is underway. See the schedule of events HERE.
The competition is a little different this season, read up on how it works HERE.
The reason for the changes are to encourage two things: a "club" experience for members each Saturday morning with everyone attending the same parkrun; and, greater participation in ANSW Winter Series events.
Life Member Des Comer has completed the most runs so far, while our newest member Bronwyn Batten is also doing well, with all her efforts at better than 70%, using age grading percentages. The highest scoring senior athlete so far is Leith Babian, having completed one run at 78%.
In the Juniors, EJ McHenry is the most prolific AW parkrunner, while Robert Shannon is the highest scoring junior with one run at 77%.
Club Cross Country and BBQ
It'll be a blast from the past on June 29th, when Athletics Wollongong hosts a club cross country event for the first time in a long time. Since our Winter Distance Pointscore Competition recommenced a few years ago, all events since have been parkruns. Long before parkrun was even thought about though, we used to hold our own cross country races - and one of the venues was Cordeaux Dam.
We'll be marking the midway point of this 'off season' with a run at Cordeaux and a free BBQ for members and their supporters. And the best news: it won't be held as early as parkrun usually is!
More information will be posted on the club website and we hope to see you there.
Sydney 10 Results
AW had a small contingent participating at the Sydney 10/NSW Road Championships. While Rebecca Kay finished in 4th position in the 40-44 Women's Division, Olivia Sivills did especially well, taking out the U20 title with a time of 37'53.
ANSW Awards Night
Club Captain Natalie Heywood represented AW for the official presentation of the Gibbs-Loomes Trophy, which we won earlier this year at the NSW Country Championships.
Also winning at the ANSW Awards Night was Delta Amidzovski, who took home the Most Outstanding Junior Female Athlete trophy.
Club Presentation Night Results
Athletics Wollongong's 2023/24 Season Presentation was held on May 4th at Wollongong Tennis Club. It was a pretty great night!
Kicking it off was the presentation of the R. E. Ward Athletic Scholarship. Local and international coach Dr. Graham Ward had passed away and - in lieu of flowers - his family asked people to donate to an athletic scholarship fund at his funeral service. His widow Roseanne subsequently reached out to the club, keen to bestow this collection upon a promising, high-achieving athlete that could make good use of the money. From among the club members that met the brief, she selected Delta Amidzovski as the lucky recipient. Thank you to Roseanne and vale to Graham.
The evening continued with the presentation of awards that were associated with Athletics Wollongong's Summer Season of Wednesday Meets. The categories varied from attendance, to persistence, improvement and achievement.
We then broke for a quick snack, provided by Bistro on Beaton, before resuming with a token of appreciation to those bringing up 5, 10 and 15 years of continuous membership of the club.
The next section of the evening was for performances made largely away from the club's own meets, beginning with recognition of those who participated in the Junior & Open National Championships.
The various Most Outstanding trophies were presented to our worthy winners - from a very tough field of nominees - before we moved onto the final section of awards: those with respect to club culture.
The very last presentation was a token of thanks to Phil Frkovic, who - after many years of service as an athlete, coach and administrator - will be moving out of the region. His speech was a real tearjerker!
All-in-all, it was a wonderful evening and - as people were told of everything that we had to anticipate over the coming months - we look with enthusiasm to our next season: it would do well to match Season 2023/24!
You can see all the awards announced on the night HERE.
Annual General Meeting
As an incorproated body, Athletics Wollongong must hold an Annual General Meeting. This is where financials are presented to members and elections held for Committee Members and support positions for the following year. Our AGM will be held on Tuesday, 9th July from 7pm - ahead of the monthly Committee Meeting - at our regular venue of the Wollongong Tennis Club boardroom.
Official notice of the meeting will be circulated the month prior, where we will tick all the official boxes we need to. In the meantime, we encourage our members to give some thought to volunteering some of their time and helping out the club. Here are some Position Descriptions for roles on the Management Committee and Support Team.
If you have an interest or any questions regarding anything, send an email for a non-binding chat. Note that there's no expectation of you being a business titan or corporate whizkid, just someone who has a few hours per month to help the club give the best possible experience to its members.
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
8th June, Willandra All Comers, Nowra
15th June, Athletics Wollongong Winter Distance Pointscore, Shellharbour
22nd June, NSW Cross Country Championships, Nowra
29th June, Cross Country & BBQ, Cordeaux Dam
6th July, Athletics Wollongong Winter Distance Pointscore, North Wollongong
9th July, Metro Winter Track Series, Beaton Park
9th July, Athletics Wollongong AGM, Wollongong Tennis Club
13th July, NSW Short Course Cross Country Championships, Dapto
20th July, Athletics Wollongong Winter Distance Pointscore, Shellharbour
20th July, Trivia Fundraiser for Chelsy & Delta, Collegians Wollongong
27th July, Athletics Wollongong Winter Distance Pointscore, Sandon Point
3rd August, NSW Road Relay Championships, Bankstown
Contact Details
Email davidrosswollongong@hotmail.com with any athletics news story tips. Send other enquiries to athleticswollongong@gmail.com.
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