The Wicklow County Championships are fast approaching and all club athletes need to get their entries in asap to allow time to process them. Closing date is next Wednesday May 9^th and events take place on Saturday 12^th & Sunday 13^th May, starting at 11am each day.

Please check the timetable of events, which you will find on the sidebar of our website www.greystonesac.com and put your entry in early. You will find the entry form on our website also and entries must be submitted by Wednesday at the very latest.

There are events for all ages from U8 up to O80, however only registered club athletes can take part. Athletes may only compete in their own age group except for relays, where an athlete can move up one age group, so allowing them to compete in two relays during the Championships. Age group is determined by Year of Birth, so a child who is or will be 7 this year (2018) is U8, 8 this year is U9 etc.

There is an AWARD SCHEME for U8/9/10/11 year olds on Sunday. Our Little Athletics members who are or will be 6 this year (2018) are welcome to come along and take part in the U8’s. The Award scheme has a sprint, a distance race, a long jump & a turbo javelin throw, with points being awarded for each event. Gold, Silver or Bronze medals are awarded according to their final score and athletes must take part in at least 3 of these events to receive an award. An athlete’s 3 best scores will count towards their final result for those who take part in all four.

As younger athletes up to age 10 (U11) compete on Sunday only, both their even age & uneven age relays will take place on Sunday. If an athlete signs up for the relays and is put on a team, they are expected to stay around to take part. It is dreadfully disappointing for other team members to discover when the relays are called, that one of the team has gone home. This is true for all ages!

Athletes from U12 upwards will have a number of events on both days. Events for each day are listed in the programme, which is on the sidebar on the front page of our website. Please note that athletes should be proficient at all events that they enter for. In particular, don’t enter for High Jump, Javelin (U13 up), Discus (U14 up) or Hurdles, if you have not practised them at training, as injuries could occur. There is no issue with taking part in the Turbo Javelin.

As always, the club will cover the cost of entries for our athletes, but those who fail to turn up on the day will have to refund these fees to the club.

This is the biggest event of the year for a large number of our club athletes, especially the younger age groups and we sincerely hope that everyone will make a huge effort to take part on at least one of the days and ideally on both days, especially as it is here in Greystones and we don’t even have to travel. As well as being great fun, it will give you loads of extra points towards our club awards & attendance trips for 2018.

We would appreciate it if parents could please inform all children that they are not allowed on the outdoor gym equipment beside the track. This will be taped off on the day, but still needs supervising! Neither are they allowed climb on or over the fences or the banks around the track. These are Health & Safety issues and we have to ensure these rules are adhered to. This has been a big problem in previous years, with many unsupervised children constantly having to be removed from these area throughout the day. We would also advise that children should not go into the field behind the track/Go Gym area, as it is waste ground and may hold hidden dangers.

Looking forward to watching ALL of our athletes show off their skills, in what will be a great weekend of athletics and hoping the weather is as good as it has been this weekend!