nswathletics.org.au 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Compiled by: Daniel Laus, David Tarbotton and Laura Crowhurst Front cover: Jessica Hull - female athlete of the year(credit: Getty Images) Inside Front Cover: NSW U20 Sprinters Keegan Bell, Zen Clark and Leroy Reid Images: Getty Images, Davidson Photography, Chris Rudge, Daniel Laus, David Tarbotton and Laura Crowhurst ABBREVIATIONS AA - Athletics Australia ANSW - Athletics NSW Limited SA - Sport Australia LANSW - Little Athletics Association of NSW Inc. NSWIS - NSW Institute of Sport NSWMA - NSW Masters Association TTP - Target Talent Program 2 Athletics NSW Annual Report 2019/2020 CONTENTS 4 Vision and Purpose 6 Chair’s Report 10 Message from the Chief Executive Officer 14 Competitions 16 Officials 17 Coaching 19 Marketing 21 Target Talent Program 26 NSW State Teams 28 Membership and Clubs 37 Records 38 NSW Champions 40 NSW Roll of Honour 42 Athletics NSW Awards 47 Presidents and Secretaries 48 Vale 49 Staff and Advisory Panels Athletics NSW Limited Concise Financial Statements Directors’ Report Auditor’s Independence Declaration under Section 307C of the Corporations Act 2001 Statement of Profit or Loss and Other Comprehensive Income Statement of Financial Position Statement of Changes in Equity Statement of Cash Flows Notes to the Financial Statements Directors’ Declaration Independent Audit Report Athletics NSW Sponsors ATHLETICS NSW LIMITED ABN 11 330 775 869 FOUNDED 20 APRIL 1887, INCORPORATED 15 JANUARY 1996 Postal Address: PO Box 595, Sydney Markets, NSW 2129 Street Address: Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre, Edwin Flack Drive, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW 2127 Telephone: (02) 9746 1122 Facsimile: (02) 9746 1168 Email: [email protected] Website: www.nswathletics.org.au This report covers the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 unless specified otherwise. nswathletics.org.au 3 OUR VISION: To transform the sport of athletics through innovation, unity, experience and education Junior cross country athletes, junior sprinters, athletes at the World Para-athletics championships, Sydeny10 recreational running event, masters hurdler Matt Woodhouse and champion hammer thrower Alex Hulley. 4 Athletics NSW Annual Report 2019/2020 0UR PURPOSE: We are responsible for the growth, sustainability and continual improvement of athletics in new south wales nswathletics.org.au 5 Chair’s Report Our report to the membership for the 2019/20 season the ANSW business in the final month of our financial is unprecedented in both its form and substance. year, long before the welcome injection of both Commonwealth and NSW Government assistance Transition of Chair which complemented decisive actions taken by the Board and management to stabilise the business. In early 2020, after almost 3 years as Chair of ANSW, Those actions included very difficult decisions which Peter Higgins decided to take up a professional had to be taken impacting the ANSW staff. opportunity in the United Kingdom and therefore It is not lost on either of us the very real impact these step down as Chair of ANSW. Matt Whitbread was decisions have had on the lives of the people who subsequently unanimously elected to the Chair in work day in and day out to make our sport what it is. February 2020 in a seamless transition to ensure It is precisely because of that very real impact that we continuity and stability for the sport in NSW. While and the Board were so impressed by and appreciative the occupant of the Chair may have changed, the of the approach taken by the ANSW team towards underlying strategy and continuity of the Board the decisions taken by the Board and CEO during has not. We have worked together, both inside this period. Those necessary changes were accepted and outside the boardroom, for the better part of in the spirit in which they were intended – that is, a decade and we are in lockstep as to the future to ensure the long-term survival of the business. direction of our sport. It is for that reason that we The entire team is to be commended for their deliver the first joint Chair’s report for the 2019/20 attitude and effort during what has been a period of season. unprecedented adversity. Over the past five months or so, both our sport We would also like to make particular mention of our and the world at large have been confronted with CEO, Kirin Lindop. Barely more than a year in to her a challenge the likes of which we have not seen tenure as CEO, Kirin navigated us through the most since the Second World War. That challenge has difficult conditions either of us have seen in the sport. necessitated ANSW taking early and decisive action Her professionalism, innovative mindset and ability to ensure the long-term survival and strength of the to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances has left sport in NSW. ANSW in a position where it is poised to rebound strongly out of what has been an unquestionably COVID-19 and Our Team difficult period. The swift implementation of initiatives such as the Virtual Run Series and the staging of The financials presented in this Annual Report show the universally praised Short Course Cross Country a significant financial loss for the 2019/20 year. That Championships at the Kembla Joggers facility in Dapto result is almost entirely attributable to the effects of are just two instances of the fruits of Kirin’s leadership COVID-19 which had its most significant impact on of the ANSW team. 6 Athletics NSW Annual Report 2019/2020 Our Community OneAthletics We said at the start of this outbreak that we must The unification of athletics in NSW and indeed never forget that to participate in our sport is a Australia has been the better part of a decade in the privilege which must never be taken for granted. making. It has been the subject of extensive scrutiny Even in the best of times, there are any number of and analysis which has produced any number of members of the broader community who are not expert reports and recommendations. The outcome afforded the opportunities to participate in a fun, of that analysis and independent expert advice is safe and welcoming environment that we are given express and unequivocal. While there undoubtedly as a matter of course. Never has there been such remains work to be done on the precise mechanics a poignant reminder of that fact than the last few of unification, there can no longer be any rational months. basis to deny that the underlying principle of coming together is in the best interests of the sport as a We are proud of the fact that, like our team at whole. ANSW, the broader athletics community has rallied together to support each other through what have We must end the culture of ‘us’ and ‘them’. We been common challenges and emotions. We are all are not Little Athletics, opens and masters. We are incredibly frustrated at being unable to do what we all here because we love the same sport and we love – whether that be competing ourselves, watching want it to be as successful as it can be for those our loved ones participate, volunteering at our local who come after us. The unification of athletics in clubs, coaching or officiating. We are nothing without NSW will be ANSW’s single most important strategic the people who make up our community – athletes, focus in 2020/21 and represents the single biggest officials, coaches, club volunteers and fans. Each of opportunity for our sport to take a quantum leap you have a fundamental and critical role to play in our forward to the benefit of the entire athletics sport and none can survive in isolation. We thank you community. for both the support you have provided each other and the patience you have afforded us during this time. As we continue to work our way back from this Our Competition Offering crisis, we ask that you all continue to adopt the same attitude towards the return to play as you have to its The second major strategic initiative of the Board shutdown. in 2020/21 is the reinvigoration of our track and field competition product offering. For too long we The Year Ahead have done things because that’s the way they have always been done – tinkering at the edges without Outside of COVID-19, our sport is on the precipice of addressing the fundamental limitations of how profound change for the better which has been years we deliver our sport. With a number of notable in the making. exceptions where members of our community have attempted to drive innovation, that complacency We are each committed to two principal strategic has seen the sport stagnate in NSW and that must objectives for our sport in the next 12 months. First, change. the unification of athletics in NSW by finally achieving a coming together of Little Athletics, open athletics At the Board’s direction, the ANSW team have begun and masters athletics in NSW. And second, the work on developing a track and field competition reinvigoration of our core track and field competition product offering which both serves our existing product offering which will both serve our existing membership and participation base better, while also membership better and also bring our sport to an opening up our sport to an entirely new audience. entirely new audience. While the operational details of that revamp remain a work in progress, a number of fundamental principles have been agreed by the Board to guide the revamp. nswathletics.org.au 7 First, there will be an increased focus on meets being find a better way of doing things, we are confident held within specialised event groups so that athletes that we can both improve what we already do and can participate in meets tailored to the events they also open up our sport to an entirely new audience want to compete in – rather than at meets trying which will bring with it untold opportunities.