SEASON DATES AND INFORMATION FOR 2023/2024
Competition Dates for the 2023/24 Children’s Athletics Season:
- 5th November 2023 – Hester Shield at Athletics Park Blenheim (Sunday)
- 19th November 2023 – Russell Cup at Saxton’s Athletics Park (Sunday)
- 3rd December 2023 – Cockeram Cup at Saxton’s Athletics Park (Sunday)
- 11th February 2024 – Winstone Cup at Saxton’s Athletics Park (Sunday)
- 24th & 25th February – 2024 Tasman Champs at Saxton’s Athletics Park (Saturday and Sunday)
NORTH ISLAND COLGATE GAMES – Auckland 5th, 6th, 7th of January 2024
SOUTH ISLAND COLGATE GAMES – Dunedin 12th, 13th, 14th January 2024
Inter-club Programme: Inter-club programme
Tasman Champs Programme: Tasman Champs Programme
CLUB NIGHTS
Our club nights start at 5.15 with a warm up for the kids and notices for the parents. After the warm up the kids group themselves into ‘Grades’. They will need to know what Grade they’re in so please tell them or write it on their hand! To work out what Grade your child is in, simply deduct their year of birth from 2023. So, for example, a child born in 2015 is Grade 8 for the whole season (2023-2015 = 8). They are in Grade 8 for the whole track and field season (until March/April next year) even if they turn 9 in January!
The kids train and compete in Club Singlets, which are sold for $45 on club nights at the track. Cash only please as we don’t have eftpos. The first few weeks can be a little cold so a singlet underneath is a good idea.
We are a volunteer run club. We are absolutely dependent on parent help to make our club nights and competitions successful. We have a number of youth-coaches who are national level athletes, but they aren’t parents!! They aren’t expected to cope with disciplinary issues – as parents you are responsible for the conduct of your children! **Please help us by being actively involved on our club nights – everyone has more fun when they’re engaged and enjoying the action**
Grade 10 and up can race in spikes if they want to. These can be purchased online or from Shoe Clinic in Nelson. If you have singlets or spikes to sell, please bring them to the track on a club night and put your name, contact number and how much you would like for them. The club doesn’t get involved in sales but we do encourage handing on equipment as the kids grow so fast!
COMPETITIONS
The first competition is being held in BLENHEIM on Sunday 5th November – please note this is a change to the previously announced date.
In order to compete for the coveted ‘age group medal’ at the Tasman Champs kids need to have competed in at least 2 of the 4 inter-clubs on offer during the season. If they haven’t entered 2, they can still participate in the Tasman Champs, they’re just not eligible for the overall medal. We keep track of the children’s progress and use the results from the inter-clubs to collate points for our ‘Personal Best Cup’.
Entries to competitions – we will post an entry link to Facebook and you can also find it on the new Tasman Athletics website (which will be updated in the next couple of weeks):
https://www.athleticstasman.
COLGATE GAMES
We have athletes travelling to both the North Island and South Island Colgate Games again in January! We sit together and support each other and it’s a great time. Athletes in Grades 10-14 compete for medals with heats, semis, finals etc. Those kids in Grade 7-10 are grouped randomly into ‘divisions’ and pennants are awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place in each division. Please take a look at the info below before you register, the info link is also listed below.
North Island games – Auckland 5-7 January
South Island Games – Dunedin 12-14 January
Club Code: NELS
North Island Team Manager: Dominic Cain-Townley
South Island Team Manager: Alysha Mace-Gold
You don’t need to enter a time, ignore that.
Ignore the relay button
You will be prompted to purchase merchandise. It’s probably fair to say that most kids end up buying the games T shirts – they last for years and make great memorabilia. Getting your access passes ahead of time can also be a good idea.
Information and Entries: https://athletics.org.nz/
COMMUNICATION
Club communication will predominantly be via our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/
This is because we can quickly and easily disseminate information, links, updates, cancellation notices etc. and it saves me from bombarding your email inbox.
TRAINING AND SENIOR COMPS
Our club offers additional training opportunities for kids in Grade 12 and up. The reason being that as kids get older, the range of disciplines they compete in expands. These events can be highly technical and discipline-specific training becomes important. We coach kids in Javelin, Triple-jump, hurdles, high jump, long jump, relay technique etc. A number of our athletes do very well in high school athletics, Colgate Games and Senior athletics because they attend the additional sessions. Please let me know if you would like to join the WhatsApp group to be notified of training times etc.
Athletes Grade 12 and up can also enter the summer track and field senior meets. Please visit the Athletics Nelson website to sign up for the newsletter and find the season dates:
