The Athletics Wellington Board recently convened a small working group to review our Track and Field programme. The main findings have been distributed to clubs.
We have now published a 2019-20 season planning calendar and a Track and Field events matrix. Click Here
Our intentions for Track and Field for this season are:
Revitalise the programme – Track and field is for everyone to come and have fun, try different events, challenge yourselves and compete in a friendly environment. The more the merrier! We aim to offer a fun programme with a friendly vibe that will encourage people to come along and ‘give it a go’.
Manage workload for officials – Our officials are amazing – they are the unsung heroes of our sport, without them there would be no competitions. They turn out week in, week out, come rain or shine, to help out because they are passionate about the sport we love.
Repeating last year’s programme would be too much of a burden on our small number of officials, so we are going with the ‘less is more’ principle this year. We have tried to develop a schedule that provides a range of events to cater for everyone, but will be more compact and less onerous for officials and spectators.
What are we doing to generate interest?
- We will be actively promoting events, producing write ups of events and sharing photos
- A Grand Prix series points competition over four meets, based on age-adjusted performance standards
- The Wellington T&F championships is the final Grand Prix event where we will award age graded prizes and have a celebration after the event
- The season will end with novelty distances and some relay fun
How can you help?
- Come along and compete
- Put your name down as a helper to go onto the season roster – the more people we have the easier and more fun it is for everyone
- Talk to your clubmates and friends to generate interest
Where to from here?
If attendance at events is healthy then the calendar could expand to perhaps include midweek events later in the season. If events are not well attended then we might have to think hard about the sustainability of the calendar later in the season.
On the positive side, we are considering the possibility of adding a few mid-week twilight meets. We are keen for feedback about this idea.
Lastly, developing a calendar is tricky! We can’t please everyone, but feedback is appreciated. If people have good ideas and are willing to help make them happen, drop us a line.
Marshall Clark
Convenor, Track and Field Committee
