The 17-strong group will head to the Hunter Track Classic in Newcastle and spend time training with the Hunter Sports Academy.

After initially planning to attend and watch some of Australia’s best athletes in action, a handful of the Academy’s members will get the chance to line up on the tracK. 

“Because we were already going down to watch the Hunter Track Classic I suggested to several of the athletes that they chuck an entry in and they might get a run,” athletics coach Jay Stone said. 

“It turned out that Canberra put on a meet the same night and given that Canberra usually has much better conditions, a lot of the prospective Olympians and what not are heading to Canberra which left the fields in Newcastle a little bit open.

“It turns out we have a few of those NIAS athletes have earned a spot in the fields now along with [Armidale runner] Stuart Geddes, who is not part of NIAS. He has a spot in the three kilometre steeplechase.

“They were just going to be watching from the grandstands and volunteering but it looks like we have a few of those NIAS athletes who will be stepping out on to the track now so it is pretty exciting for them I am sure.”

For some of the athletes, it will be the toughest race they’ve ever run. 

Stone said the experience will outweigh the results for the young stars of the track. 

“It should be a great experience for them,” he said. 

“They are stepping out in a very, very high-level, competitive environment. 

“I came last in my race last year. I was racing people who had ideas on getting to the World Champs later that year. So the competition is pretty fierce and these NIAS athletes are schoolaged so it is going to be a pretty steep learning curve for some of them. As long as they just take it for what it is, the experience of being out there and an opportunity to run a fast time and hopefully they get could conditions.”

The athletes in the program have had one opportunity to train together with more sessions scheduled throughout the year. 

“We had one test sessions where we had a meet and greet in Tamworth and we put them through mobility tests and what not. It is just getting off the ground and ramping up in 2018,” Stone said.