Little Athletics Queensland held their State Championships in Townsville over the weekend from 24 – 26 March.
Over 75 clubs from across Queensland descended upon the Townville Sports Precinct for the 3 days of competition. The State Championships is held in North Queensland every four years.
Glasshouse District Little Athletics had 43 people travel to Townsville for the event, including parents and officials, with a 23-strong contingent of athletes competing in a broad range of events.
The team had some fantastic results, including Daniel Byford from Glasshouse Mountains who ran a massive 18 second Personal Best (PB) in the under 16’s 1500m to come fifth in the State.
Izaac Kwarcianyi from Glass House Mountains brought home the club’s only medal from the weekend with silver in the under 12’s 80m hurdles.
Estah Muller from Glasshouse Mountains just missed out on a podium finish coming fourth in under 12’s Discus and Javelin.
It was a special event for club captains Josh McKellar and Ben Young along with Maddy Small, who are all in Under 17’s, which means this was their last year in Little Athletics, so it was a memorable trip to finish their journey with the club.
The trip was organised by the club’s committee, who are all parent volunteers, including centre manager Danielle Gibbons and nominations officer Kim Cross, who worked tirelessly to book flights, accommodation, transport and meals. This was a huge logistical effort and is somewhat unique given most Little Athletics clubs expect individual athletes who qualify for States to organise their own travel plans, which can prohibit some families from attending as it’s quite expensive. The club subsidised the cost of the trip, which meant more athletes could participate; 29 athletes from the Glasshouse District club qualified for the State Championships and 23 were able to travel and participate, which was a great achievement.
It also meant it was a wonderful team trip with everyone staying together at a local holiday park where they enjoyed meals together and time in the pool. And the group got to enjoy some of the tourist sites around Townsville including The Strand water park and Castle Hill. There was great team spirit and camaraderie as everyone cheered for each other at the stadium over the 3 days.
The club is currently fundraising to help cover some of the costs of the trip with an online raffle open until Friday April 14. Jason Hunt MP has donated a Nintendo Switch as the major prize. Tickets are $5 each. If you would like to support the club, please visit: https://cutt.ly/N4DZhcr