Knox Little Athletics Centre Inc.

Knox Little Athletics is deeply saddened to hear of the tragic passing of Jemma Stapleton while overseas on a family holiday.

Jemma was part of the Knox Little Athletics community as a Little Athlete with the Rowville Club. From an early age, Jemma showed great talent, determination and love for athletics, achieving success at Knox Championship level and going on to represent Knox at State level.

Jemma later continued her athletics journey in the Victorian Athletic League, where she achieved outstanding success, including winning the Women’s Ringwood Gift and competing with distinction at the Stawell Gift, finishing 3rd in 2025.

Her achievements on the track were a reflection of her dedication, competitive spirit and the joy she brought to the sport.

Many within our Centre will remember Jemma and the Stapleton family with great fondness.

Our heartfelt thoughts, love and condolences are with Jemma’s family, her partner Tyler, and all those who knew and loved her, as they face the unimaginable grief of losing a cherished daughter, sister, partner and friend.

Jemma will be remembered with great fondness by the Knox Little Athletics community and by all whose lives she touched.

A GoFundMe has been established, with the family’s approval

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-stapletons

Knox Little Athletics athletes in the U9 to U17 age groups are invited to register for the 2026 Region Cross-Country Carnival.

The Region Cross-Country Carnival is an individual cross-country event and also acts as the qualifying event for the 2026 State Cross-Country Championships, which will be held at Lake Dewar on Saturday 15 August 2026.

To be eligible to compete at the State Championships, athletes must compete and complete at the Region Cross-Country Carnival.

Although the carnival is an individual event, there is also a team component. Team results are based on the first three athletes from each Centre across the line in each event. Where Knox has more than three athletes in an event, each additional group of three athletes will form another team.

EMR Cross Country Carnival Details

Location: T.H. Westfield Reserve, Clifton Hill
Age Groups: U9 to U17 athletes
Entry Fee: $28.60 per athlete
Registrations Close: 11:00 am, Wednesday 1 July 2026

You can register for Region Cross Country via the link below

https://events.mygameday.app/event/2026lavicregionstatecrosscountry

The entry fee includes the processing fee and covers entry into both the Region Carnival and the State Cross-Country Championships.

Knox athletes who would like the opportunity to qualify for State Cross-Country Championships are encouraged to register before the closing date.

Rememeber – Registrations close at 11:00 am on Wednesday 1 July 2026.

A huge congratulations to all our Knox Little Athletics athletes who competed at the recent LAVic State Cross Country Relays.

It was fantastic to see so many Knox athletes representing the Centre with pride, determination and great team spirit. Well done to every athlete who took on the course and gave their best for their team.

A special congratulations to our podium teams:

🥇 U10 Boys A – 1st
🥇 U14 Girls A – 1st
🥇 U17 Girls – 1st
🥈 U10 Girls – 2nd
🥉 U14 Boys – 3rd

Well done also to all our Knox teams on their fantastic results:

U12 Girls A – 4th
U16 Boys – 4th
U11 Boys A – 6th
U15 Boys – 7th
U14 Girls B – 8th
U11 Boys B – 12th
U12 Boys – 12th
U9 Boys – 15th
U12 Girls B – 15th
U9 Girls – 16th
U11 Girls A – 19th
U12 Girls C – 24th
U11 Boys C – 28th
U11 Girls B – 28th
U11 Boys B – DNF

A huge thank you to our Team Manager, Jess Dux, who put in an enormous amount of time and effort behind the scenes organising teams, completing registrations, coordinating setup, and making sure the tents and equipment were ready to go on the day.

A special thank you also to Jess for making sure we were well supplied with the right amount of lollies — an important part of any successful Knox team effort!

Thank you also to our coaches, parent helpers and families for supporting our athletes throughout the day and helping make the event such a success.

Well done Knox — an outstanding effort by everyone involved!

💛🖤 Go Knox! 🖤💛

Knox Little Athletics is excited to have entered 20 teams in the upcoming State Cross Country Relays.

Thank you to all families for supporting Knox’s involvement in this State event. With the relays being held at Jells Park, we may even have a little bit of a home venue advantage!

Event Details

Date: Saturday 30 May 2026
Venue: Jells Park, Jells Road, Wheelers Hill
First Event: 12.30pm

Please note -: For Knox families, the venue is located at Jell Park North – enter via Cnr of Jells Road and Wheelers Road. The course is adjacent to the Cafe.

Families should note that this event is separate from the regular weekly Knox Cross Country meet, which will be held at Tirhatuan Park on the same day.

For families competing at the State Cross Country Relays, we recommend choosing one event on Saturday and not trying to attend both. However, this remains a family decision.

Athlete Entry Fee

Thank you to those families who have already paid the $14 athlete entry fee.

For families still needing to complete payment, please finalise this before the weekend using the details emailed to you from the Knox Team Manager. If you do not have the email in your inbox, please check your spam/junk email folder.

Event Information

Families should have received information from LAVic, including the attendee booklet.

The following event documents have also been provided to competing families.

• Attendee booklet
• Jells Park venue map
• Jells Park course map
• Final timetable
• Knox team list

Please ensure you review this information before attending.

Parent Duty

Knox has been allocated two duties for the State Cross Country Relays:

• Course Marshal
• Team Recorder

The Course Marshal will be positioned on the course to monitor their allocated area and assist with athlete welfare.

The Team Recorder will record team finish orders at one of the finish points.

Duty time blocks are expected to be approximately 30–45 minutes, depending on race times. Changeover times should align with athletes marshalling for their events, allowing parents time to complete a handover before leaving their position.

Duty Roster

FINAL Timetable for this event is as follows;

Thank you again to all families for supporting Knox Little Athletics and helping our athletes take part in this State event.

We look forward to seeing everyone at Jells Park.