2020 CLUB SEASON UPDATE
Due to the lengthy approval process to meet the requirements of the Industry COVID SAFE Plan the Townsville North Star Athletics committee has made the very difficult decision that we are unable to proceed with a “normal” club season.
Although ANQ has released a COVID Event Plan for Track and Field, as a club we have guidelines that we need to put in place which requires the club to have a venue specific COVID SAFE policy. There will be a large number of new COVID SAFE practices that we will need to implement, and social distancing will need to be strictly adhered to off the field of play. We are working hard to put these into place, and this has taken longer than we anticipated.
This will mean that there will be no Friday night club meets for 2020. This is not a decision that we have made lightly, but due to our meets being held at a State Government facility the process has become a lot more complicated than we expected. Many of you may expect that athletics, being a “no contact” sport, that getting back to normal club operations would be easy. That’s what we thought too!! Unfortunately, this has turned out to be not the case. Due to our fantastic club having such a large member base and our meets having multiple events running all at once it has become much more complicated.
Due to the cancellation of our normal club season we are working towards offering several special meets which we hope to provide further information on shortly. These will run similar to our “Summer Series” Meets. These meets will work on the basis of pay to participate.
We recognise that there will be a number of athletes that will wish to participate in upcoming events such as NQ Champs. It is mandatory that these athletes are affiliated with a club to be able to compete. It is for this reason that we will be offering a club affiliation membership for $50. This will enable the athlete to participate in any 2020 ANQ event and also club, state and national championships in early 2021.
For those that have already registered and paid there are a number of refund options available.
1. Fees carried over to 2021
2. 100% refund
3. $50 used for affiliation membership and balance carried over to 2021 or refunded
Please email to advise us what option you would like to take. We understand that a number of you may have already emailed us when the membership fees changed. If that is the case, there is no need to email us again unless you wish to change your option. We ask for your patience as we work through the requests.
Our sign on day that was scheduled for the 11 – 12 July was cancelled.
Again, this is not a decision that we have made lightly. Please don’t stop training as we are working hard to set up the COVID safe practices so we can get you back on the track as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it will not be in the format we are used to and we are going to be heavily reliant on volunteers to make it happen.
We appreciate your understanding and value everyone of our members and family who have supported Townsville North Star Athletics Club and we are looking forward to bringing you a bigger and better season in 2021.
Kind regards
Townsville North Star Athletics Committee
