Alec McNab: Summer athletic season looms

Georgina Duncan to Sophie Redmayne at full stretch on way to NZSS Junior record.

The start of daylight saving is a further reminder that summer approaches and the clock ticks ever closer to the start of the athletics season.

Inevitably the longer daylight hours available in the evening brought about by the change of clocks has been met with a series of dark of dark cloudy evenings The change however, does mean that even the greyest early season evening there will only be limited use of floodlighting on Tuesday club nights.

We all hope for a clear sunny evening for the opening of the season on Tuesday, October 17 when as in the past few years we will be ground sharing with the Heartland Whanganui Rugby team preparing hopefully for a successful retention of the Heartland title.

Last week I reported on the indoor meeting that served as a further reminder that summer is just around the corner. This week I am attending a meeting that will fix the fees for the forthcoming season in which we are looking at packages to encourage growth in membership and build on the success of the children's section last year as they move towards secondary school and the senior club. Watch this space.

Next week I will be in Hawkes Bay with the annual Collegiate pre-season camp followed by a visit to Rotorua for the annual Rotorua Ekiden relay around Lake Rotorua, yet two more steps towards the new season.

It was great to see a large group of young athletes with Greg Fromont training at Cooks Gardens last weekend suggesting that club nights will be vibrant and competitive. Such activities will be happening throughout the country in preparation for the season.

There are in fact only 10 weeks until the first major championship of the season in Hastings with 1400 athletes competing in the annual New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships.

I have long highlighted the benefits of relays in the sport and with this in mind I will be very interested on the thoughts of coaches at the relay camp and conference in Auckland in early October concerning the major change in relay rules which will come into effect this season.

The change effectively increases the changeover zone from 20 metres to 30 metres. In the past athletes were allowed to start 10 metres back from the back of the 20 metre box in what was known as the acceleration zone.

Athletes may not start behind the back of the old acceleration zone (marked in blue) but now the only requirement is that the baton must be received by the end of the zone marked in yellow 30 metres forward of the back of the zone. This removes the risk of disqualification at the back of the box when the baton is received before entering the old 20 metre relay zone.

This will be easier for runners and will remove a whole group of disqualifications from mostly young inexperienced teams at the junior end of the sport who in attempting to utilize the full acceleration zone infringed by receiving the baton before the zone at no advantage to the team.

In framing the new rules it was felt that such infringement at the back end of the zone was of no advantage to athletes and at the same time simplified zone changes. It will certainly make explaining to nervous young teams at the changeover zones simpler and will also simplify judging. I can see this having little or no change to the way international and elite teams operate where invariably problems with baton changes comes at the exit from the relay zone. I can see however, some advantage for less able teams where by careful use of how the zone is utilized can mean that weaker team runners may run slightly less and stronger runners a little longer.

Many of the successful teams I have been associated with have attempted to vary where the baton is received in the box but such tactic has carried the risk of infringement on entry to the old zone. There is no such risk with the new extended zone.

I look forward to the season ahead particularly the camaraderie and team work involved with developing relay combinations. Relay teams and active training groups give a real impetus to young athletes as they prepare for both the individual and team challenges that lie ahead.

Bring on summer.