Whittlesea City Little Athletics Centre will have a record 32 relay teams in the Little Athletics Victoria’s relay championships later this month.
City had 32 teams qualify for the championships following their efforts at the Northern Metropolitan Region Relay Championships held last weekend.
At the region championships, City won 11 gold, 14 silver and eight bronze medals.
City team manager Craig Chapman said the centre’s results at the region championships had exceeded all expectations.
“It was definitely an amazing result for the club,” Chapman said.
“All 77 athletes who competed have been training hard for the last five to six weeks. We thought we would go quite well but were pleasantly surprised how well.
“For some of the kids it was the first time they were competing in relays.”
City finish third in its region behind Diamond Valley and Keilor.
“I think this is one of the toughest regions in the state,” Chapman said.
Chapman said the centre had aimed to get as many children as possible competing in the region events.
“We want to give as many children as possible the chance to enjoy competing,” he said. “I think we have got that right and it’s something that the club will build on in the future.”
As part of its inclusive approach, City had many teams competing in mixed age and mixed gender relays.
The centre had massive success in these events, winning all but one of its gold medals in mixed events.
The centre’s under-14 and under-15 mixed relay teams won their 4×100-metre and 4×200-metre relays.
“They are usually the harder events to fair well in,” Chapman said. “You need to have four crack runners and that’s hard to find.”
Chapman is hoping City can continue its winning ways at the state championships on December 12.
