North Rocks Carlingford Little Athletics Centre

History and Details about Little Athletics and North Rocks Carlingford

The idea of Little Athletics is the brainchild of Mr Trevor Billingham. The first competition started in Geelong, Victoria, in 1964. Trevor recognised a need for a simple Saturday morning competition, to cater for all those youngsters too young to compete in senior athletics.

The idea took hold and the Association gradually spread throughout Australia, with competition commencing in New South Wales in 1970. Competing athletes in the inaugural year totaled 1,500 and this number has grown to it's present level of over 41,000 registered with 202 Centres. These Centres were distributed throughout 24 Zones in 5 Regions.

The age grouping for Little Athletics ranges from Tiny Tots (3-4 years old) to Under 17, the athlete having to be under the age at midnight on 30th September.

North Rocks Carlingford Little Athletics Centre (NRCLAC) was established in 1981 with the first day of competition held on Saturday 3rd October with approximately 300 athletes attending. In season 2006/2007 NRCLAC registered 369 athletes. Our centre was in the top 20% of the State in size, but remains small enough to be a Centre that encourages all the family to be involved.

NRCLAC (Centre number 158) is part of the Northern Metropolitan Zone that also comprises Cherrybrook (219), Hornsby (4), Northern Suburbs (54), Parramatta (7) and Ryde (38) Centres. The Northern Metropolitan Zone, along with North West Metropolitan, North East Metropolitan and Central Coast Metropolitan make up Region 1 under the Little Athletics Association of New South Wales umbrella.

Our highest honoured athlete is Stephanie Price who represented Australia at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 400m Hurdles. To this day Stephanie is very proud of her Centre and continues to attend Presentation Days and the like when called upon.

All members of the Committee, Officials and Coaches are voluntary workers, most of who have or have had children competing at the Centre.

NRCLAC prides itself on being a family oriented Centre. All athletes talented or not are encouraged to compete, improve personal performance and generally keep fit and have fun.

Parents are encouraged to participate by helping with the running of the events. No special skills are required to assist, just the love of watching the children compete and enjoy themselves. There are no firsts at NRCLAC, because everyone is a winner when they better their previous result for the event. The emphasis at this Centre is PBs (Personal Bests).

Life Members: The following people have been given the honour of Life Membership to North Rocks Carlingford Little Athletics Centre (NRCLAC) for their commitment, effort and dedication to the Centre and Little Athletics in general.


	Mr Brian Crews	1984

	Mrs Lorraine Crews	1984

	Mr Jan Andrews	1989

	Mr Laurie Matchett	1990

†	Mr Paul Corbett	1991

	Mr Alan Wilson	1991

	Mr Ed Strom	1992

	Mr Alan Bradley	1996

	Mrs Ann Pamplin (1)	1997

	Mr Robert Care (2)	1998

	Ms Glenys Atkins	1999

	Mr Peter Blackett	2000

	Mr Tony Kish (2)	2001

	Mr Ivan Drury (3)	2002

	Mrs Deanna Kish	2002

	Mrs Jenny Drury	2003

†	Mr Wally Pamplin (2)	2003

	Mrs Kay Boshier	2004

	Mr Brian Baker	2007
	Mrs Mary O'Byrne	2008

(1)	Mrs Pamplin has also been honoured with Life Membership of LAANSW and Northern Metropolitan Zone.

(2)	Mr Care, Mr Kish and Mr Pamplin have also been honoured with Life Membership of Northern Metropolitan Zone. They are also recipients of a Merit Award from LAANSW in recognition of service at State level.

(3)	Mr Drury has also been honoured with Life Membership of Northern Metropolitan Zone.
†	Deceased

Merit Award: The following people have been recognised for their contribution and service to the Centre over a number of years and are therefore recipients of a NRCLAC Merit Award.


	Mrs Di Botfield	2003

	Mr Mal Botfield	2003

	Mr Malcolm Janssens	2003

	Mr Ken Smith	2003

	Mr Stephen Quilkey	2003

	Mrs Vicki Gresser	2004

	Mrs Barbara Broomfield	2006

Honour Roll: The following are people who have been athletes of the Centre and have enjoyed wonderful success during their time with NRCLAC and beyond. Their achievements have been recognised on the NRCLAC Honour Roll Shield.


	Melanie Wilson	1990

	Chelsea Andrews	1992

	Erin Wilson	1995

	Lyndall Taylor	1996

	Simon De Pomeroy	1998

	Stephanie Price**	2000

	Gareth Care	2001

	Sarah Mullen*	2003

	Kathryn Archbold	2004
	William Sacilotto	2009

**	Stephanie represented Australia at the 2000 Olympic Games held in Sydney (400M Hurdles).

*	Sarah represented Australia at the 2002 Commonwealth Games held in Manchetser (4x100M Relays).

President: All the work done at Centre level is voluntary which means it needs to be co-ordinated and managed. The following people have taken on this challenge as President which has helped to shape the Centre into what it is today.


	Mr Brian Crews	1981 - 1984

	Mr Jan Andrews	1984 - 1987

	Mr Frank Turnball	1987 - 1989

	Mr Ed Strom	1989 - 1992

	Mr Peter Chidgey	1992 - 1994

	Mr Robert Care	1994 - 1997

	Mr Tony Kish	1997 - 1999

	Mr Ivan Drury	1999 - 2000

	Mrs Kay Boshier	2000 - 2002

	Mr Stephen Quilkey	2002 - 2003

	Mr Brian Baker	2003 - 2004

	Mr Anthony Dowse	2004 - 2005

	Mr Brian Baker	2005 - 2006

	Mr Russell Briggs	2006 - 20090
	Mrs Margaret Ramsay	2009 -