Marshalling All athletes MUST report directly to the event area 15 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time of the event. Track events take priority—if you have a clash between a track and a field event, report to the field event and advise the Chief.
Duty is compulsory for Parents of competing Knox LAC athletes. Parents must do duty for either the full morning or afternoon session. Failure to do so will result in athletes being removed from events. Please do not ask for an exemption as none will be granted. If you are unable to do duty – or arrange for someone to do it for you – for the full morning or afternoon session, please do not continue with your entry as we do not want to have to remove your child/ren from events on the day.
Conditions of Entry Club uniform must be worn with Registration Patch. No protests will be entered into. Spikes (maximum 7mm conical or Xmas tree) are permitted for U11 to U17. Knox LAC reserves the right to cancel or postpone the entire event due to extreme weather conditions.
🏃♂️❄️ Knox Little Athletics: 2026 Cross Country Season ❄️🏃♀️
With our summer track and field season coming to an exciting close — with the Knox Championship Day on 21st March — it’s almost time to swap spikes for trail shoes as we gear up for Cross Country 2026!
The cross-country season kicks off on Saturday, 2nd May 2026 at Knox Athletics Track, and again this year we’re offering a variety of fantastic venues, including:
Jells Park
Norton Park
Tirhatun Park
Knox Athletics Track
Plus, we’re thrilled to include a Winter Track Classic as part of this year’s program — combining the best of track and cross country!
Get ready for muddy trails, fresh air, and plenty of PB opportunities — it’s going to be an incredible season!
Key Dates: 2 May 2026 – Round 1 – Knox Park 18 July 2026 – Region Carnival (Venue to be confirmed by EMR) 8 August – Knox Championship Day 15 August 2026 – State Cross Country Carnival (Venue to be confirmed by LAVic) 22 August 2026 – Cross Country Presentation Night
📅 Cross Country Season: Registration & Calendar Update
The 2026 Cross Country Calendar is nearly finalised. The centre will publish full details on venues, dates, and events as we get closer to the start of the season.
✅ Already registered for summer track and field? You’re all set! Your registration automatically covers the winter cross country season — no extra payment is required.
📝 New Athletes Registering for cross country only: The registration portal will open in April, closer to the season start. Fees for cross country-only registration have not yet been finalised.
Stay tuned! Keep an eye on our website and social media channels for updates as they are posted.
Congratulations Knox Families – A Successful State Championships at Knox
What an incredible weekend for Knox! A huge congratulations to all our Knox families, athletes, volunteers and supporters for helping deliver a fantastic and successful State Championships at our home track.
Hosting an event of this size takes an enormous team effort, and our Knox community truly stepped up. From the early morning setup crews to the last people packing equipment away, the dedication and hard work from our volunteers ensured the event ran smoothly and created a great experience for athletes from across the state.
To our athletes – we are incredibly proud of you. Your determination, sportsmanship and enthusiasm were on full display throughout the championships. Competing at a State level is a wonderful achievement, and you represented Knox with pride.
To our parents and families – thank you for supporting your athletes and for contributing your time to duties, officiating and helping wherever needed. Events like this simply cannot happen without the support of our amazing community.
We would also like to sincerely thank Little Athletics Victoria (LAVic) for their support and partnership in delivering the State Championships at Knox. Their guidance, coordination and assistance throughout the planning and event weekend helped ensure everything ran smoothly.
A special thank you to several members of the Knox community who played important roles across the weekend:
Sarah Kirkwood, our Knox Team Manager, for her outstanding work supporting and coordinating our athletes and families.
Pete Preston, Knox Starter, for his efforts officiating as a starter throughout the championships.
Dave Frost, who took on the role of Arena Manager and helped keep the competition running smoothly.
Dave and Janine Kearsley, who served as Little Athletics Victoria officials, with Dave working on timing alongside Jess Dux and Janine officiating as a referee, among other things, over the weekend.
Mike Kerr and Cleanaway, for supplying additional bins for the weekend and for Mike’s assistance supporting Dave Frost with arena operations.
Michael Booker, for his assistance working with Dave Frost to help pack up the arena on Sunday following the conclusion of the championships.
A big thank you to Liam and Emma Mathews for all their hard work running the canteen over the weekend. It cannot be said enough how much work goes into catering for a large event like this, and once again, Liam and Emma delivered for our club. Your planning, organisation and long hours ensured athletes, families and officials were well fed throughout the championships – a fantastic effort and greatly appreciated by the entire Knox community.
We are incredibly grateful for the time, effort and expertise these volunteers and supporters contributed to help make the championships such a success.
Hosting the State Championships is something our club should be extremely proud of, and it was fantastic to see the Knox LAC community come together to showcase what our club is all about.
With Championship Day just around the corner, the Centre has now published the list of athletes who currently meet the qualification standards to compete.
There are now only three weeks remaining for athletes to attend competition nights and ensure they have met the minimum participation requirements for Championship Day.
If your athlete’s name is in green, they have met the requirements for qualifying for Champs Day. If an athlete’s name is yellow, you will need to check the number of weeks required for meet attendance or duty. If your name is highlighted red, you will not be able to qualify for Champs Day as there are insufficient weeks left in the season.
If you have already submitted a nomination and do not meet the qualification requirements, your nomination will not be accepted. Please note that nomination acceptances will be finalised after 4 March, once registrations close.
Parents are reminded that duty requirements form part of athlete eligibility. Please ensure you have completed sufficient rostered duty to support your athlete’s qualification.
If you have any questions regarding eligibility or duty requirements, please contact the Centre Committee for clarification.
Let’s finish the season strong 💚💛
⭐ Championship Day is FREE for all qualifying athletes ⭐
📍 Event Details
Venue: Knox Athletics Track, Bunjil Way, Knoxfield Date: 21 March 2026 Start Time: First event at 9:00am Approx Finish:4:00pm Entry Fee:$0 Entries Close:Wednesday 4 March 2026 – 8:00pm
To be eligible to compete, please make sure all requirements are met:
✅ Athletes must have competed in the minimum number of meets for the season (50% of competitions from registration date)
✅ Parents must have completed the minimum duty requirements (6 duties over the season)
🚫 No late, postal or on-day entries
🚫 No changes once entries are accepted
👕 Full club uniform must be worn
🏷️ Current registration patch is mandatory
❗ No patch = no competing + no medals
👨👩👧 Parent Duty – Compulsory
To successfully run Championship Day, parent duty is compulsory for all Knox LAC athletes competing.
Parents must complete either a full morning or full afternoon session
No exemptions will be granted
Failure to complete duty will result in athletes being removed from events
If you are unable to complete duty — or arrange someone to do it for you — please do not proceed with your entry, as we do not want to disappoint athletes on the day.
🗓 Timetable & Duty Roster
The event timetable and duty roster will be published closer to Championship Day.
The Knox LAC Executive Committee extends its sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the LAVic Eastern Metro Region Track and Field Carnival.
A special acknowledgment to Janine Kearsley for the extraordinary commitment she demonstrated in her role as EMR Competition Director. Janine invested countless hours developing the competition timetable and additionally undertook referee duties across the weekend. Her professionalism and dedication were instrumental in delivering a well-run event.
A very special thank you to Sarah Kirkwood for undertaking the role of Team Manager. It is often an undervalued and demanding position, requiring organisation, communication and calm leadership. Sarah did a fantastic job supporting our athletes and families across the weekend.
We also extend our sincere thanks to Dave Kearsley, who served as Chief Referee for the weekend. Dave dedicated many hours in the days leading up to the carnival preparing and setting up the venue — often working late at night at the track to ensure everything was ready. His leadership, oversight and behind-the-scenes effort were critical to the smooth delivery of the event.
Thank you to Pete Preston and Andrew Fischer for their work as Starters across the weekend, ensuring track events ran efficiently and professionally. We also acknowledge Jess Dux for her role as Timing Official, managing the backup timing system throughout the carnival — an essential function in maintaining the integrity and accuracy of results.
Our thanks also to Dave Frost for his efforts as Arena Manager and for his assistance with both set-up and packing up. A special mention to Dave Lindley, who undertook pack-up with an exceptional level of effort and commitment — a contribution that did not go unnoticed.
We would also like to acknowledge the broader EMR Committee members who invested countless hours in the lead-up to the weekend preparing paperwork, managing entries, compiling start lists, organising event folders and ensuring all administrative requirements were in order. Without the dedication and behind-the-scenes work of these volunteers, events of this scale simply do not happen.
To all of our families, thank you for your support and for fulfilling duty obligations across the weekend. Your contribution is essential to the success of these events.
To our athletes, well done on your performances and the way you represented Knox. Congratulations to those who have qualified for the State Championships — a significant achievement and one to be proud of.
We look forward to welcoming you back to Knox for the State Championships on 7 and 8 March.
