Aspiring Athletes Club (AAC) hosted its first official athletics meet last Saturday (March 25), attracting more than 80 children aged from 6 -13 years.

The  Wānaka Country Club meet drew club members from Dunedin, Alexandra, Cromwell and Queenstown as well as a large contingent from the Upper Clutha, who participated in a variety of track and field events at the Wānaka Recreation Centre grounds.

“This is the first athletics meet of its kind held here in Wanaka and has been years in the making,” AAC committee chair Kirsten Wyatt said.  

The club’s membership and capability had been building and recently reached the threshold where the club felt comfortable it could host a country meet, she said.

Intrinsic to achieving that threshold was securing a grant from the Lion Foundation to purchase a new FinishLynx photo finish camera which takes a rapid succession of images as athletes cross the finish line. 

“This really has propelled our club into the 21st century,” Kirsten said.

“It's incredible to think that Aspiring Athletes Wānaka is now in a position to host clubs from outside of Wānaka but we have finally done it.”

She said the club was “completely spoiled” by the participation of Bevan Mears, the official race starter at Dunedin’s primary athletics track at the Caledonian grounds, who keenly supports small clubs and volunteered his services for the one-day meet.

Sue Bridges of Athletics Otago also assisted with the programming, and Mount Aspiring College students as well as senior AAC members volunteered with marshalling duties and also helped out on a BBQ which raised funds for the club to meet costs of travel, uniforms and so on, Kirsten said.

AAC members claimed the honours in the Grade 8 Girls Vortex event with Emmie Wyatt (first), Ella Key (second), Jorja Steel (third) and Mabel Speak (fourth).

Events included long-jump, shot-put, discus, vortex (a prequel to javelin), 60m, 200m and sprint relays for Grades 7 – 9 athletes (ages 6-9) and long-jump, shot-put, discus, high-jump, 100m, 400m and  relay sprints for Grades 10 – 12 athletes (ages 10-13).

“The day was a complete success,” she said. “We’ve had some terrific feedback [from the other clubs].”  

“One parent said to me that it was the first time their child had attended an athletics competition and that it was perfect as it was a Country Club event and wasn’t as daunting as perhaps running on the all-weather track at the Caledonian for their first time.

“We are officially in the Otago children’s athletics calendar so this event will be an annual occurrence,” Kirsten said.

The club is considering running regular Saturday meets for its members and many of its junior members will be competing at the Central Otago Primary Schools Athletics in Alexandra this week (Wednesday, March 29). 

Kirsten said the club would be happy to host a senior athletics event but she was doubtful senior athletes “would want to compete on a grass track”.

AAC has made it clear to the Queenstown Lakes District Council an all-weather running track should be included in any future sports area development, she said. 

PHOTOS: Supplied