We are moving now towards the final part of the year for most of our athletes. The outdoor track season is from March to early May for most. This is an opportunity for athletes to bring all the skills attained over the year together. Athletes can begin to specialise or add new field event skills during this period. For example, young athletes will get a chance to try the turbo javelin and older athletes will start to try new events that they will be able to compete in at county or provincial championship level – triple jump, javelin, hurdles, shot put, etc. Our little athletics squad will also join training during this stage to get a feel for the track and a taste of the events.

❇️Most athletes will train until the County championships and this will be their last event of the year.

❇️U12's and teenage and older athletes might continue until June only if they are starting to specialise in an event and are really competitive at a provincial level.

❇️Some U9-U11 athletes that are successful at County level may be selected by the club to compete at a provincial level. These athletes normally only compete in a ‘pair’ rather than individually. The scores of both athletes are added together to determine the winner in each event. It is not always just the best performing athletes at County level that get selected by the club as it makes more sense sometimes for athletes that are competitive across a range of events to train, compete and perhaps travel together. It is a considerable commitment to train through the start of summer and other sports and holidays for families can sometimes affect selection also.

We would suggest that if an athlete has been successful and is interested after the County championships in competing further then talk to the coach for that event who will be able to offer the best advice.