The club had the biggest representation in the New England zone team and finished with the highest number of athletes qualifying for the March 19, 20 and 21 State Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre at Homebush.

Overall, around 50 athletes from 10 centres across the zone will be competing at the carnival after placing in the top three in their respective events on the weekend – 14 of them from Tamworth.

“Our Tamworth athletes performed exceptionally well,” Tamworth Little Athletics president Ian Scott said.

“What capped it off was the senior boys’ relay team.

“They won the gold medal convincingly, and in a very good time.”

The relay was the last track event on the program.

“To my knowledge that’s the first time we’ve won that event,” Scott said.

Off the track it was an exciting weekend for the club too.

“We thought it was a terrific opportunity,” Scott said of hosting the championships.

It was the first time in 15 years that Tamworth had hosted the regionals and it was arguably a bigger undertaking this time round.

“There were two extra age groups (U17s – boys and girls) to 15 years ago, so it has grown enormously,” Scott said.

He couldn’t have been happier with the response from the community – both athletic and broader.

“I was really happy and delighted with the way the Tamworth committee operated and also the parents volunteering,” he said.

“We would have had 10 people out there at 6am on both Saturday and Sunday morning getting things ready.”

Armidale was another of the zone’s strong performing centres.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic with the performance of the athletes,” Armidale Little Athletics president Pauline Smith said.

They have nine athletes now training for the State Carnival.

That’s from about 17 that competed on the weekend.

The youngest of the Armidale State contingent is N’Dea Rumble.

She qualified for the U10 girls’ 400m, 800m and discus, and should be a strong chance of a medal at State, Smith said.

Rumble is also preparing for the state multi-event to be held at Nowra next weekend (March 6/7).

She will compete over six different disciplines covering track and field.

“We also had two people competing at zone for the first time,” Smith said.

“They (Isaac Selvey and Luke O’Donoghue) both progressed to State.”

At the other end of the scale, Kasmir Gregory and Damian Williamson will be competing in their last championships.

The State Carnival will be held on March 19, 20 and 21 and marks the cul mination of the little athletics season.