News
October 2021 Newsletter
Published Sat 16 Oct 2021
Season 2021/22 Registrations are Open!
It's time to join Athletics Wollongong for another season of the best kind of track and field.
Follow this link to register: https://www.athleticswollongong.org.au/registration/. It includes info on pricing and membership types (we've even knocked $10 off the price of Open, Concession and Community memberships!)
Note:
- If you wish to register as a Dual athlete, you have to join your Little A's Centre first
- If you're eligible for an Active Kids voucher, (i.e. $100 towards sporting club registration costs), it must be entered during registration: it's not possible to apply it afterwards. See more details here: https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/campaign/active-kids
Tell your friends! The best kind of advertising is word-of-mouth. We're looking forward to seeing all of you again shortly.
Beaton Park track to re-open on Tuesday
The track will belatedly open this Tuesday for those who are fully-vaccinated (or under the age of 16 and accompanied by a fully-vaccinated adult member of their household). Status must be shown upon entry during QR check-in and masks worn at all times by those over 12, aside from when swimming in the pool or exercising at the track. You can read more details, including info regarding other activities at the Centre, on their COVID Safety webpage. Note also that travel is currently restricted between Greater Sydney (which includes Wollongong and Shellharbour) and regional areas; check the rules before you make the trip.
Centre hours will initally be limited to:
- Monday - Friday, 5:45am - 7:30pm
- Saturday - Sunday, 6:30am - 6:00pm
(With the pool hours to be limited even further).
Note that if the 7:30pm finish continues to be in place once our meets start (see below) there'll be no dilly-dallying for us! We're usually done competing by then, but also have to account for time needed to pack up. We've made a couple of small changes to some of the early nights' programs to take the pressure off, but anticipate us being pretty strict with the start-time of that final track event.
While group training can recommence, coaches will need to operate under a COVID Safety Plan that has to be approved by the Centre; there's no guarantee of this being achieved by Tuesday. AW's associated coaches have been informed of this need; consult with them regarding your squad's circumstances. Group size will also be limited to 20, which does not just include those participating.
In addition to the rules linked above, Beaton Park management have informed us that:
- For junior squads, there will be a max of one adult per child allowed.
- For athletes over the age of 16, accompanying adults are asked not to enter the facility (unless also participating themselves).
- The track toilets will be open for use.
- There are to be no gatherings allowed outside of the premises.
- The philosophy is very much "Exercise and Go" with training as a social activity to still be a way off yet.
This was referred to as "Step 1" in the email and there will be iterations of these rules over the coming weeks. We'll try our best to communicate them to you, but always defer to the Leisure Centre staff on site and follow their directions.
Athletics Wollongong's Wednesday meets
The aim is to start our Wednesday meets as soon as possible. Unfortunately we are relying on other parties to give us their go-ahead first, so we cannot give a firm date as yet.
Firstly, community sport is able to resume the Monday after the State hits the 80% double-vaccinated target. That's estimated to occur very soon; likely sometime this weekend. If it doesn't occur until Monday however, it might mean that everything is pushed back another week.
We'll also need to receive the go-ahead from Beaton Park Leisure Centre/Wollongong City Council. As they've shown with their timing of opening the track (which was legally able to open as early as last Monday), they are very cautious in their operations. In their defence, they base their decisions on the actual Public Health Order passed, rather than what the State Government has previously announced, as sometimes the two don't align; the Orders/Amendments are generally only made public a day or so prior to them becoming active.
In all likelihood, there will also be a new COVID Safety Plan template for community sport, and the club may have to edit and re-submit ours for approval by management.
Finally, no-one's been at the track for months and we'd like to confirm the club's gear is all still there and operational so that we can run the program that we advertise.
Looking at the upcoming Wednesdays and their likelihood of hosting an AW event:
- 20th October - very unlikely (and if so it'll just be a low-key practice/non-pointscore event, in light of what will be very late notice)
- 27th October - most probably (though this will ultimately depend on Beaton Park's say-so)
- 3rd November - almost definitely
Once our start-date is confirmed, we'll email all members, post on the website, advertise across our social media, etc. (and while we could have summed up this news item with that sentence, we think it's important to keep our members informed of all the goings-on. We're all keen to get back out there, but sometime's it's not a smooth and easy road!)
Athletics NSW announces dates of major events
We received a save-the-date for All Schools earlier this week, but that was just a teaser ahead of all the news that dropped yesterday regarding Championship and High Performance events. Note that these are only a portion of those that may be contested by athletes with Open, Concession or Dual memberships. Still to add to the ANSW calendar are Interclub and Specialist meets - one of the latter perhaps being held on February 2nd which, funnily enough, is a Wednesday night. Hmmm.....
ANSW also warn that they're still working through the logistics of the State Masters Champs, 5000m Champs and the Combined Events; they're definitely being held, just not ripe enough to place on the calendar just yet. Speaking of, here is how it's looking so far:
- 6th November - NSW Schools Nitro (with events for other athletes alongside), SOPAC Warm-up Track
- 13th November - NSW 3000m Championships (and Community 3K's), SOPAC Warm-up Track
- 20th-21st November - NSW Relay Championships, SOPAC
- 27th November - NSW 10000m Championships (and Community 10K's), Bankstown
- 9th-12th December - NSW All Schools Championships, SOPAC
- 18th December - Albie Thomas Mile, Bankstown
- 15th January - The Illawarra Track Challenge, Beaton Park
- 15th January - NSW 10000m Walk Championships, The Ridge
- 21st-23rd January - NSW Country Championships, Maitland
- 12th February - The Illawong Track Challenge, The Ridge
- 18th-20th February - Open & U23 State Championships, SOPAC
- 25th-27th February - NSW Junior State Championships, SOPAC
The ANSW Competition team certainly deserve a lot of congratulations for locking in all the events under the circumstances. It's also very refreshing to see a whole-season calendar, just like the old days! More info, including online entries, will be available soon; keep an eye on the ANSW Competition page for updates.
January 26th: another date to add to the calendar! Cancelled in 2021, the Australia Day Aquathon will be returning to Belmore Basin and surrounds in 2022. The organiser Rob Battocchio is a former club member and he gives Athletics Wollongong a healthy donation for assisting with late entry and athlete check-in. It's a fun and vibrant start to the day and volunteers there will also become eligible for financial assistance from the club. If you're not competing in the event itself, we'll be calling upon you to be among the dozen or so lending a hand there. It's early notice for sure (and we'll wait a bit before we actually chase up names) but it's even further indication of things getting back to normal.
With the release of the above calendar, virtual events may again become a bit of a novelty. There are still a few more being held ahead of the return of in-person sport:
- RunNSW Virtual Sydney Half - Free to participate with registrations closing tomorrow night. Races are held over the 21.1km distance or 5km.
- City2Surf - Run the 14km your way, between this Sunday and next. Costs $20 (child) and $39 (adult) with finisher goodies and plenty of prizes up for grabs.
- RunNSW Virtual Fernleigh 15 - Free to participate with registrations closing Sunday, 7th November. 15km and 3km events are on the cards.
- [mo]re than a run - Join the RunNSW team for free and participate in 10km, 30km or 60km distances on Saturday, 27th of Movember.
Cancellations and Postponements
It seems an age ago now, but since the September newsletter we received news of the cancellation of the Australian All Schools and Nitro Championships. Given the cross-border rules, it was pretty clear early on that it was unlikely to go ahead. Thankfully, however, ANSW never wavered in their commitment to holding our NSW All Schools!
The World Cross Country Championships, which were set to be held in Bathurst next year, have instead been postponed until 2023.
The International Paralympic Committee recently recognised the performance of Athletics Wollongong's Karlee Symonds at the National Championships earlier this year. Karlie received a certificate for achieving a new Open Oceania record for the T11 100m. Congratulations, Karlee! She's now on the 100m record page alongside a whole host of Australian Paralympians, which surely augurs well for her tilt at the Paris Games. Best of luck!
In other 'lympic news, former Athletics Wollongong member Rhys Peters is currently in Canada at a training camp for the Australian bobsleigh team. He was a very handy sprinter in his time with us, taking out the Country 100m title one season, but was also heavily involved in rugby union, including being in the mix for the Aussie 7's team. The last few years has seen him overseas in rugby development roles - and perhaps having actually seen ice and snow before may give him a leg-up on some other candidates! Next year's Beijing Winter Games are probably a little too soon for him, but Rhys will be doing his best to help the team qualify and push his more experienced squadmates to their best possible performances. And while 2026 may be a likelier target, stranger things have happened.... (Like Australia having a bobsleigh team at all!)
Funnily enough, Rhys isn't the club's only bobsleigh connection. Martin Harland was a Masters World Champion discus thrower during his time with Athletics Wollongong, but he competed at the 1988 Calgary Games in both the 2-man and 4-man bobsled. This was the same year that Jamaica contested the event and whose feats inspired the movie Cool Runnings. Australia beat them though; the movie should have been about us instead!
The Illawarra Academy of Sport recently announced their 2021-22 Lonestar squad, which encompasses those participating in track and field. Making the list were the following Athletics Wollongong members; well done!
- Tayissa Buchanan
- Lucas Campbell
- Liam Halloran
- Imogen Harrison
- Holly Sheldrick
- Miller Siasat
- William Willis
Those within the intake area for the South West Sydney Academy of Sport should note that the application period for the similar Wests Future Stars squad, ends on October 31st.
ANSW wrote a profile on Athletics Wollongong following our win of their Club Development Award. If you missed it, you can read it here: https://www.nswathletics.org.au/news/athletics-nsw-club-development-award-winner/. Thank you for all the kind comments we received saying that we were very deserving winners.
Our Masters members can contest the State Masters Championships, but to be eligible for State records and to participate at Nationals (or beyond), they need to purchase an associate membership through NSW Masters. For the month of October, you can save $10 on that cost. To dodge the full $50 fee, you can pay for an associate membership here: http://emlsports.com/registration/nswma-membership-2021-22.
Cheers to those who bought a burger from the Wollongong Grill'd store in September (and particular thanks to the mystery person who donated one to a hungry Club President!). They were able to vote for their favourite cause to receive $300 via the Grill'd Local Matters program, with one of the three options being Athletics Wollongong. We were on a bit of hiding to nothing, coming up against The Smith Family and a toy drive for refugee children, but the good news is: those who didn't win, still receive $100!
The competition is over now, but I'm sure Grill'd would still appreciate seeing your smiling face the next time a burger craving hits. Thank you, Wollongong store!
We've been able to achieve some great things with our sponsors. Just wait until you see what Trueflow Plumbing has been able to help us with for this coming season! Last time I spoke with Russell from Trueflow, he told me how busy he had been. Coincidence? Let's put it to the test! If you've got a business and have a willingness to help an awesome club provide services to some talented and committed athletes, you can help us figure it out. We're more than happy to talk about sponsorship arrangements or provide opportunites for prize giveaways; for science! Contact athleticswollongong@gmail.com, to join our team.
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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