Carterton Athletics Club have voted unanimously to align themselves with a new Wairarapa-wide athletics club will likely be known as Athletics Wairarapa.
Their move follows the decision last month of the track and field section of Athletics and Cycling Masterton to separate from that body to be part of the new club.
High-profile throws coach John Quinn said his Carterton club were so keen on the Athletics Wairarapa proposal that within a week they had set up their first joint meeting with their Masterton counterparts to work through the details.
A draft constitution had been written for athletes and families to consider how to make the most of the opportunities by the construction of the track at the Colin Pugh Sports Bowl. Quinn was instrumental in establishing the first Wairarapa- wide club, Team Wairarapa, about seven years ago but under the rules their members get to run under the one banner only three or four times a year, disadvantaging them at regional and national meets.
Masterton track and field club captain Jill Stringer welcomed Carterton into the fold and said the thinking behind Athletics Wairarapa was very much "one club, many tracks". "The idea is to have the same programme running at both tracks, the same access to volunteer and coach development and the same impetus to grow the sport in the region," she said.
