The Gunnedah athletes qualified for the championships after qualifying at regional carnivals and club president Ben Sawyer said the kids were deserving of their selections.

“It’s great. They put a lot of training and effort in,” Sawyer said.

“It’s good to see Gunnedah have names on the list. For a country town it’s a great effort. It’s a massive competition down in Sydney.”

Sawyer said Gunnedah’s representation at the championships at Sydney Olympic Park was similar to previous years. The president was hopeful of some similar performances to past years as well.

“In previous years, kids have got up in the top 10 and it’s looking promising this year,” Sawyer said.

“Hopefully they can get up there. They’ve been doing plenty of training.”

Gunnedah Little Athletics Club train each Wednesday but Sawyer said most of the athletes were doing extra training.

”Some of the athletes train on other weekdays and some train on the weekends. Some of them are probably training three or four times a week,” Sawyer said.

The even runs from Friday to Sunday.