Following the announcement of the 5-day lockdown by the Victorian Government, Little Athletics Victoria (LAVic) sought feedback from the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions who manage the Public Events Framework, on what options are available to us to deliver our Region events. The permits issued to LAVic are venue, date, and event-specific, meaning we could not plan alternative dates for Region Track & Field without Government and venue approvals.
Region Track & Field Carnivals
At 10.00 pm on Monday night, we received an email confirmation from the Dept, that approval has been granted to amend our permits from Feb 13-14 to Feb 27-28 for the 2021 Region Track and Field Carnivals to be rescheduled.
Our plans for the State Track & Field Championships to be held at Lakeside Stadium on Sat 13th – Sun 14th March remains unchanged.
Since then, we have been working with various venue management bodies and councils in conjunction with the Centres and Regions to re-book the venues to reschedule Region Track & Field. This has proved to be a very difficult task as this was occurring during the lockdown and the timeframe to get approvals was hours/days and not weeks. We received approvals from all but one Council, this has delayed the announcement as we are trying to organise an alternative venue if one Region cannot proceed as scheduled.
All Regions Track & Field Carnivals other than SMR remain unchanged. Details to follow on the SMR venue.
We are aware that this rescheduled date clashes with the AV State Championships – Week 2. We will be working with both AV and the athletes concerned to provide an opportunity to minimise the consequences of this clash. A specific email with details will be sent to the athletes concerned.
Additionally, if athletes cannot attend the rescheduled Region Track & Field Carnivals, on either or both days, due to other reasons, if they scratch before the deadline of Tuesday 23rd February, LAVic will offer a refund to these athletes. We will send out to all confirmed athletes a portal link, where they can login and scratch from events. Refunds will only be issued to those events scratched through the portal before the closing date. Any athlete that scratches after Tuesday 23rd February, will need to advise their Centre so an athlete scratch form can be filled in by the Centre and handed to the Region on the day, no refunds will be offered.
Changes to events or adding new events are not possible.
The registration portal will not be reopened, no further registrations will be accepted.
Region Relays Carnivals
The result of the reschedule means that the Region Relays Carnivals have been cancelled. We will instead work on conducting the Commonwealth Bank State Relays Championships on Sat 27th March and Sun 28th March at Casey Fields, Cranbourne as a direct entry for all age groups.
However, without Region for U9-U12 Teams, our numbers will be significantly higher than normal at the State Championships and will require some major changes to the structure. The days the age groups are competing will be confirmed after close of entries for all age groups.
Additionally, our permits have attendance capacity limits, which means we will need to amend the structure of the State Relays into age group sessions, over the 2 days, so we remain under the cap, and fit as many events as possible into the timeframe.
All the above events are dependent upon the current COVID restrictions in place at the time and can change accordingly. We will endeavour to keep you updated as soon as possible if further changes are required.
The LAVic team.
