How's it all going friends and families of the Normanton Karumba Athletics Club.

Thought we may do a little update of everything that has happened so far this year as well as upcoming events seeing how we are now at the end of May.

At the start of the year a few of our 9 & overs went to Townsville to compete in the Summer Series Meet #2.

After competing and before heading home our athletes also attended a training clinic with some top level coaches which included some throwing and for a first time some of our athletes even gave Pole Vault a go, with some very surprising results for some of our athletes.

I would have loved to shown them all how its done but it was to close to just after Christmas and kinda had to many Christmas lunches.

In April two of our rising stars not only got to represent our club and community, but also the state of QLD at the National Championships in Sydney.

It was a massive couple of days and a great learning curve for all involved. Everything from me and Paul getting in trouble at the first event for being in the wrong area, to Sharie stealing the limelight with an appearance on national tv for her 2000m Steeplechase as well as a big introduction from the commentators proudly labelling us the most remote athletic club in all of the World.

We wish these two all the best for the years to come and look forward to watching other athletes from our club and region join them in the years to come.

More recently we had a team of 37 Athletes attend the Festival of Athletics in Townsville. 

It was our largest amount of athletes to go away so far to date and all did extremly well coming home with plenty of medals.

Our athletes did the club proud with many compliments from officials and other members of the athletics community speaking about how well behaved our athletes were and how they listened very well when being offered advice and putting it into use. For many of our athletes it was about trying out new events as they moved up an age group from last year as well as many debutants to their first carnival.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Listed below is our upcoming events for the 2022 season that we currently have in the works.

Tri-Series Event 1 – Karumba Rec Club – 4^th June

Normanton – Outback Pentathlon – 25^th June

Tri-Series Event 2 – Karumba Point – 3^rd July

Cairns – Coral Coast – 23^rd & 24^th July

Tri-Series Event 3 – Normanton Golf Club – 30^th July

Tolga – Tablelands Pentathlon – 7^th August

Longreach – Outback Sunset – 20^th & 21^st August

Charters Towers – Pentathlon – 27^th August

Townsville – NQ Championships – 23^rd – 25^th September

Please note as well that our numbers are increasing though the size of our bus isn't currently but I am working on getting more assistance to help with travels. In the mean time if families are able to find their own ways to events that helps but for those wishing to jump on the  bus I will have to prioritise those who regularly show up to training and help out above anyone else. 

As you can see we have a very long list to go and to try to keep everything to a minimal cost we need as much help as possible when it comes to fundraising for it.

Our own carnival is going to be one of the biggest fundraisers for us so we need as many people we can to jump in and help out where they can from volunteers helping run events to working in the canteen so that all families may get to watch their loved ones compete.

Other methods of fundraising we will be doing is chocolates, where we hope many families will happily put up their hands to help sell them, BBQ at Karumba markets, Car washes, Goose Clubs at the Albion Hotel, Assisting other groups, ie running the gate for the rodeo and show. If any families have any ideas or want to run there own fundraising for the club please get in touch with us.

Sponsorhips is also still a big one for us. So we ask if anyone knows of anyone who could sponsor us to please get in contact with us asap. There is still time for companies to get their names on the back of our supporter shirts but it will be closing soon as we are about to place our order in.

That leads to our next talking point. Our uniforms are about to be orderd and once they arrive those who have paid their registration fees will be able to collect them. We are undergoing a little bit of a change as well to make us stand out more. These include a new design and logo for the club. Please note these are not finalised yet but are the general idea of where we are headed.

Training

Its been great to see everyone turning up for training and hope to see it keep getting better.

A reminder about training days:

Karumba is on Tuesdays at 3:45 at the Karumba Rec Club. If you aren't apart of the group chat on facebook please let us know so we can add you. Its the easiest way to keep up to date with any changes that may occur.

Normanton is on Wednesdays at 4:30pm at the John Henry Memorial Oval. There is also going to be extra training for the older kids on Mondays from 4:30pm starting in June.

At times there maybe training on weekends as well as a catch up from a missed training session, to some of our higher athletes preparing for a serious event, to even some upcoming club days so we can get results for all kids for some awards at the end of the year.

A reminder to our athletes as well, please listen and be respectful to those who are trying to coach you as we are all volunteers. Be respectful to each other as well keeping hands and feet to ourselves, no bullying or borking and encouraging each other. Remember to also leave equipment alone unless you have been told to get something. We do want to try keep kids out of the sheds in Normanton as it can be a bit dangerous with all the equipment and we have also discovered some red back spiders nesting in there so we want to keep everyone as safe as possible.

Well that's about it for now. Hope to see everyone down on the track and remember new members are welcome to join up anytime through the year.

Cheers

Jacob Daniels

President of Normanton Karumba Athletics Club