2025/26 Registrations Open August 1st

Memberships for Season 2025/26 will be available for purchase from August 1st. 

Note that if you hold a 2024/25 membership, it will only remain valid until August 31st - it will no longer last for 365 days from the date of purchase, as was the case for returning members last season.  If you wish to continue participating in track and field from September - either with Athletics Wollongong or in any other NSW Athletics-affiliated club/competition - then you'll need to sign up for the new season.

To join us for 2025/26, simply go to the Registration page on the club website (www.athleticswollongong.org.au).

Though you won't be able to join until August 1st, you can already see the cost of each available membership type there.  Great news: there's no increase to the prices of last season!

While there won't be quite as many surprises as there were last season, a few things still remain up in the air.  We anticipate everything becoming clearer as the August 1st opening date approaches.  In any case, there's no great rush, as a 2025/26 membership won't become active until September 1st, with Athletics Wollongong's activities not starting until later that month.

AW's 2025/26 Summer Season of Weekly Wednesday Meets

One of the most appealing aspects of Athletics Wollongong is the friendly, social atmosphere of our meets held at Beaton Park. These are on Wednesdays from 5:30pm during the track and field season. To help prospective members get a feel for what club membership offers, we’re confirming the key dates for 2025/26:

• September 24th - Info Night
• October 1st - Come & Try #1 (Sprints and Throws)
• October 8th - Come & Try #2 (Distance and Jumps)
• October 15th - Pointscore commences
• December 17th - Christmas Special
• January 7th - Pointscore resumes
• March 10th - End of Season Special

Those checking the calendar can see that 'pointscore' will consist of ten meets scheduled on either side of the Christmas/New Year break.  Each half of the season will consist of two rotations of a four-round program that covers all the events, along with two 'specials' to keep things interesting.  All up: twenty pointscore meets, two warm-up nights, and an info evening for newbies to come and figure it all out beforehand.  Returning members will note that it's the same format as was used last season. 

More detailed info will be available in the coming weeks, including the events to be held each round, along with the schedule of distance races.  We hope you're as excited as we are!

AGM Outcome and Vacancies

To help us deliver a cracking Season 2025/26 to our club members, we're going to need a crack Committee.  Athletics Wollongong's Annual General Meeting was recently held and it included the election of members to the Committee for next season.  You can read about the results of the meeting in this news article.  The article also highlights where we have some vacancies.

We are very keen to have a chat with anyone who holds an interest in the following open positions.  Note that we don't need you to have amazing qualifications, we're just after people that want to work towards the best possible outcomes for the club and its members.  

• Secretary - you'll need to be able to attend most monthly Committee meetings, held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 7pm 'til 8:30pm or so at the Tennis Club.  The main duties are to send the agenda out beforehand and then the meeting minutes afterwards.  
• Publicity Officer - promote the club and the feats of its members; particularly to external entities.
• Development Officer - the required duty is to ensure an accurate record is kept of coach affiliations and qualifications.  Apart from that: encourage the development of coaches, officials, helpers, and so on.
• Wednesday Competition Organiser - put the equipment out on a Wednesday with the assistance of any helpers.  Consequently, the applicant/s will need to be a frequent Wednesday attendee who's able to get there from about 4:30pm.  Ideally, this person, or someone they're job sharing with, can also ensure that all the gear gets put away at the end of the night.

As is clear, a club without the above roles being performed will be a lesser one for it. 

Some of the tasks within the roles are nice-to-haves, but others are definite must-dos.  Without people in these roles, those already on the Committee will have to spread themselves even thinner to ensure that the must-do's happen.  

If you have some time to donate, please consider lending your club some assistance.

External Competition

In addition to Athletics Wollongong's local meets, there are a wide range of competitive opportunities available elsewhere in 2025/26.  An athlete's eligibility for these largely depends upon their membership class.  While a Community membership permits participation in club-level events only, Junior, Open or Concession memberships can grant access to interclub, Zone, Region, State and National-level events - potentially even beyond!

Though detailed info remains sparse, the dates of the major NSW Championship events for the upcoming season have been released.  That will be be useful for planning, as perhaps will be this list of entry fees.

Still to come are the interclub events, typically held in the Sydney metro area, but with occasional outings to Wollongong, the Central Coast or the Hunter.  This includes the team pointscore-based Treloar Shield, standalone Illawarra Track Challenge, and the series of High Velocity, All Comers, and Milers meets.  Keep an eye on the NSW Athletics Events Calendar, where info will be posted regarding these events - and many more besides - closer to the season proper.

United National Pathways

In continuation of the developing links between Little Athletics and Athletics Australia, it was recently announced that each organisation's respective National/Junior Championships will be held side-by-side this season.  This is great news for families who may have had to make two, separate interstate trips in the past.  It's also a welcome demonstration of a whole-of-sport approach to developing athletes in this country.  More information is available in this news post, including that this season's Aussie junior titles will be held in Brisbane in mid-April. 

The Open event seems to be a little more up in the air, with Australian Athletics reportedly still 'exploring options to optimise the 2026 Open National Championships in the lead up to the 2026 Commonwealth Games'.  

For those who have these Championships as a target, the qualifying standards are now available for both Able-bodied and Para athletes.  Note that performances are only eligible at certain events; sadly those on a Wednesday night will not count.  The eligibility status of each competition will be noted in its entry on the Event Calendar.  Note that there are other requirements for State team selection; for an idea of what's necessary, you can see last season's information here.

NSW Masters

Athletics Wollongong is blessed to have a vibrant and enthusiastic group of Masters participating under our banner at all levels of track and field competition.  While an AW membership gets you pretty far, if you're over 30 and endeavour to participate in National, Area or World Championships, then you also need to join NSW Masters.

Consequently, our two organisations share many members and we can only anticipate these bonds growing stronger in the future, with AW's own Donna Hiscox recently being elected president of the NSW Masters Athletics Association.  Congratulations, Donna!

World & National Records

Though the feat happened back in April, the 45-49 Mixed 4x400m World Record has now been ratified.  On the team: Athletics Wollongong's own Rebekah Power.  This performance occured during the National Championships, where Rebekah contested 5 other events: medalling in each.  Imagine what she and the team could do fresh!

Anthony Howlett has also received recognition for several of his performances at the World Masters Indoor Championships earlier this year.  He has now claimed the 55-59 Men's Australian and NSW Record in the Triple Jump, along with NSW Records in the High Jump and 1000 metres. 

Delta Amidzovski: World Traveller

AW's Delta Amidzovski has been globetrotting in her off-season, or perhaps more accurately: 'globehurdling' and 'globe longjumping'!

Her overseas sojourn began with the Taiwan Open, where she finished in 5th in the 100m Hurdles, before taking out the Long Jump.  Delta has since competed in Sweden, Italy and Switzerland.

Next stop is the World Universities Games in Germany, where she'll be donning the green and gold of the Australian team.  Best of luck, Delta!

Australian Half Marathon Championships

Speaking of representative honours, AW's Olivia Sivills was selected as part of the NSW team to contest the Australian Half Marathon Championships on the Gold Coast.  Unfortunately, during the lead-up she fractured her foot and was unable to make it to the starting line. 

Better news at this event for members Em O'Sullivan and Andrew MacPherson though: Em was 2nd in the 50-54 Female category, whereas Andrew finished 9th in the 50-54 Male's.

NSW Cross Country Championships  

11 AW members participated at the NSW Cross Country Championships in Tapitallee last month.  Winning medals were:

• Andrew MacPherson (55-59; 3rd)
• Cristine Suffolk (55-59; 1st)
• Emma O'Sullivan (50-54; 1st), and
• Xavier Wilson (AW: 13's & 14's Para; 1st)

At the Short Course Cross Country Championships last weekend, among our 11 participants were the following medallists:

• Andrew MacPherson (55-59; 3rd)
• Cristine Suffolk (55-59; 1st)
• Emma O'Sullivan (50-54; 1st)

Full results of AW members at both events are available on the Results page.

Winter Distance Pointscore competition

AW's Winter Distance Running Pointscore has now passed the halfway mark.  The competition window continues until the end of August, meaning that you still have time to qualify for end-of-season awards: even if you haven't participated as yet.  (As per the rules, a minimum of six performances are required).  

Held alongside the parkrun series of events, a new local venue will soon be available.  Though they're reportedly going to miss their originally scheduled start date of August 9th, the Reddall Reserve parkrun at Lake Illawarra will soon join the calendar. It's a two lap course that looks fast and flat: that'll help your age-graded percentage!  Keep an eye on the parkrun website to catch when it gets underway.

Last month, the AW members with the highest age-graded percentages were the Bazleys, with Scott’s best of 68.39% just shading Seattle’s 67.89%.  Next best was Ros Perry with 66.12%, David Comer with 65.59% and EJ McHenry with 65.02%.

Athletics Wollongong is looking to host a parkrun meet at North Wollongong in September.  That means that we'll provide all of the necessary helpers there.  Partly as a thank you for providing the structure for our Winter Pointscore, but also to share word of our upcoming track and field season with participants.  Stay tuned for more details to come; it'd be great if we could get plenty of volunteers.

Hoodie Weather

Cooler conditions are certainly in effect, which makes it a perfect time to treat yourself to an Athletics Wollongong hoodie from our online store.  We have sizes available from Junior 14 through to 3XL.  Buy a hoodie HERE.

Coming Dates

• 16th-27th July - World University Games, Germany
• 27th July - NSW Long Walks Championships, Chipping Norton
• 1st August - 2025/26 Registrations open
• 2nd August - NSW Road Relays, Bankstown
• 3rd August - Winter Track & Field Metro Series, Bankstown
• 16th-17th August - NSW Primary Schools Carnival, Narellan
• 1st September - 2025/26 Season begins
• 14th September - Sydney Half, Olympic Park
• 24th September - 2025/26 Summer Season of AW's weekly Wednesday meets - Info Night
• 27th-30th September - NSW All Schools Championships, SOPAC

And don't forget AW's Winter Distance Running Pointscore, held each Saturday morning - until the end of August - at your local parkrun.