NSW Masters ‘Festivals of Athletics’ wins with our athletes
Published Thu 14 Sep 2023
Masters Athletics is for those aged 30 and over and is all about participation, the most important aspect is that people come along and give something a try. We look forward to welcoming athletes of all abilities, current members or those just interested in trying something new or taking up something they have done previously. Everyone is welcome!
The NSW Masters Association committee has wanted for several years now to hold a month-long 'Festival of Athletics', an event which would focus on one discipline within Athletics per week, to engage with potential new members and give them the opportunity to try our events. This year those plans have come to fruition, with this pre-season event taking place across September. Feedback received so far has shown that this has been very well received and we look to include it in our Masters annual event program going forward.
So far, we have hosted the Festival of Sprints at Barden Ridge, and the Festival of Throws at Rotary Field, Chatswood. While it seemed too early in the season for the Sprinters to be out and about, we still had a great afternoon at the home of Illawong Athletics, with athletes stepping down in distance and giving the short sprints and relays a go.
As always with the Masters, the Throwers turned out in droves last weekend, with at least six potential new athletes coming along, and more who took an interest in what was happening when they came along with friends and liked what they saw.
A promising sign that we are on the right path is when athletes are willing to travel up to seven hours to take part in an event and having to bring the start time forward an hour due to the high entry numbers. Fortunately, with many helpers stepping in to assist, we were able to get through all five throwing disciplines in the allotted timeframe.
The second half of our festival of Jumps at Narrabeen this weekend, and then conclude with the Festival of Distance/Walks at Sydney's newest synthetics track in Werrington on 23 September.
Further information can be found on Masters Athletics social media pages or by contacting Bianca at inclusion_officer@nswmastersathletics.org.au
