Little Athletics is a uniquely Australian modified athletics program for children from 5 years of age.  Our Centre offers a Tiny Tots program for 4 year olds (and if numbers permit 3 years olds). 

As the name suggests, it is based upon the sport of athletics (track and field). There is a wide range of events from running, jumping, throwing and walking and events are modified to suit the age, developmental stage and ability of the children.

Little Athletics promotes that it is important to "Be your Best" ®. The emphasis is on fun, participation, performance, technique and getting involved with your family in physical and healthy activity. 

The motto of Little Athletics is 'Family, Fun and Fitness".

Across Australia, more than 100,000 girls and boys enjoy the activities of Little Athletics. Little Athletics is the "Foundation for all Sports". All sports use the skills developed at Little Athletics.

TINY TOTS

Children aged 3-4 (sometimes 5) will be in a group called ‘Tiny Tots’. This is a modified program that is designed to develop the children’s fundamental movements of running, jumping and throwing through fun and enjoyable activities. 

The aim of the program is to improve the physical, social, emotional and cognitive development of children through a play-based approach that is engaging and stimulating.

NOTE: A child MUST be 3 years of age before they are able to participate in Little Athletics. Not all States run a Tiny Tots program.

AGES 5-19

All above ages are grouped into their own age brackets (Under 6 through to U20). There is no standards or requirements athletes have to meet to be able to participate in Little Athletics.  We welcome children of ALL abilities. These athletes will participate in different running, jumping, throwing and walking events on a week to week basis.

Our emphasis is on Family, Fun & Fitness. Children can join with any level of skill or fitness. Children are given plenty of encouragement to achieve personal bests (PB's). Little Athletics recognises that children vary widely in shape, size and athletic ability, and thus is one of few sports that successfully caters for all.

Little Athletics is primarily a summer activity.  Bowral Little Athletics' season runs  from October through to March. 

We generally have a break over the Christmas/New Year period.  

Registered athletes also have the opportunity to participate in NSW Athletics events over the winter, with a particular focus on Cross Country in the winter months.  These events are available on the NSW Athletics website under 'Events'.

Registrations open on August 1, 2026, for our 2026-2027 season.

We hold two registration collection days prior to the start of the season where you can collect the registration numbers and age patches for your athletes – these must be securely attached to the uniform top. 

You may register at any time throughout the season (as long as our age categories do not reach capacity). 

Fees do not typically reduce for very late registrations, but they may in extreme circumstances. Check with the club registrar if required.

If you miss the registration collection days or register late – you may collect the registration kit from the club registrar at one of our Friday Club nights.

Please check our registration page for up-to-date membership pricing.

Bowral Little Athletics is entirely run by volunteers – which means we can keep our registration fees low, making Little Athletics one of the most cost effective participation sports available.

In addition to the registration fee, each athlete must also wear a club uniform top which can be purchased from our online store "Sportsmagic Australia". 

Uniform tops are either a singlet or crop-top, which is to be worn with black shorts/tights at our club nights or at competition events.

Some optional championship events may have an additional cost associated with them – but costs are generally kept low or subsidised to encourage participation

We run a BBQ most Friday nights  – we are confident that our sausage sandwiches are the best you will get on a Friday night.

Yes, Active Kids vouchers can be used towards Bowral Little Athletics registrations.

If you have not already obtained an Active Kids voucher for your child this year and wish to use one of them for registration, you will first need to apply for the voucher, before beginning the registration process.

Once you have a voucher, you simply enter the specific voucher number allocated to the child that you are registering, into the appropriate box within the registration portal, and the registration fee payable will be reduced accordingly.

Age groups are determined on a calendar year basis.

All kids born in a specific year (1st Jan – 31st Dec) compete together in the same age group.

Age groups remain the same throughout the season – so if your child is in the 8s age group in October, they will remain with that same group until the end of the season in March.

Refer to the table on our registration page for the current season’s age groups based on year of birth.

We verify ages for all new athlete registrations – passports or birth certificates must be presented to the club Registrar when registering or when collecting registration kits

For the 2025-2026 we did cap numbers in our age groups to ensure athlete safety and maximise engagement for registered athletes.

For the 2026-2027 season Bowral Little Athletics is yet to decide on cap numbers for our age groups.  We find that some age categories particularly our U6-U12 are in demand and fill very quickly.  

Yes, we offer the Tiny Tots program for kids who turn 4 years old in the year the season starts (i.e. born 2022 for the 2026-2027 season).  

Depending on the demand we may consider opening registrations for those who turn 3 years old in the year that the season starts (born in 2023).

Tiny Tots will participate in games and activities designed to develop gross motor skills. They will not engage in competition.  Parents must be present during the weekly sessions.   

See our registration page for more information on our Tiny Tots program, including current costs.

Bowral Little Athletics Centre is entirely volunteer-run, and we rely on as many families as possible to assist throughout the season.

For our Friday night competitions to run smoothly we require parents to assist with club night set up, club night pack up, timing/race starting and assisting the Age Manager with events.  

Parents generally accompany the athletes around the field while they compete – it is expected that parents will contribute to running the events, under the instruction of the age manager. You don’t need to be an expert!  Parents MUST not drop their child at Friday night competitions and leave.  It is NOT a drop and go activity. 

NSW Athletics has online parent helper training to help you get up to speed on each athletics event so that you can help out confidently.

Athletes must wear our club uniform to aFriday club nights and to any championship events they compete in.

Athletes may choose a club singlet or crop top – uniform items may be purchased from Sportsmagic Australia online http://sportsmagic.com.au

The athlete registration number must be firmly affixed to the front of the uniform top – and is season-specific, meaning that each season it must be replaced, even if the number remains the same.

The supplied age patch must be affixed to the front of the uniform, usually on the left hand side.

Since the 2025/26 Season, the age patch now includes the Coles sponsor logo. The Coles logo cannot be separated from the age number.  The age patch (with Coles logo) can no longer be affixed to bottoms, it must be affixed to the top.

Athletes should wear black or navy shorts/bike shorts or tights.

Kids must wear shoes – no athlete may participate without appropriate footwear.

Kids must wear shoes – no athlete may participate without appropriate footwear.

No special footwear is required to participate in Little Athletics other than enclosed running shoes or sneakers (no thongs, sandals or other open-toed shoes) – most kids just wear their normal sneakers.

Keen runners often purchase “waffles” which are a lightweight running shoe with rubber lugs on the bottom (sometimes referred to as “spikeless” running shoes).

There are a variety of event-specific athletics shoes on the market. It is not necessary for athletes to purchase specialised shoes, but keen athletes may choose to do so. Note that shoes with metal spikes are only permitted in some circumstances for older age groups. See spikes FAQ section.

If an athlete is in an age group permitted to wear spikes, they must not put them on until they are ready to compete in a specific event. This means that athletes should wear sneakers or waffles to the Friday competition night and carry their spikes in a suitable bag.

Bowral Little Athletic does not permit athletes to compete in Crocs or similar shoes, bare foot or in socks only.  Football boots or cleats must not be worn and are not permitted.

Spiked shoes MUST NOT be worn by any athlete in the 6s-10s age groups.

Athletes in the 11s and above age groups may wear spikes in certain events and should not put them on until directed to by their age manager.

Athletes in the 11s and 12s age groups may wear spikes in events run entirely in lanes (100m, 200m & 400m sprints, plus hurdles events), long jump, triple jump and high jump.

Athletes in the 13s+ age groups may wear spikes in events run entirely in lanes, long jump, triple jump, high jump, javelin, 800m, 1500m and 3km.

Athletes must not put on their spikes until they are ready to compete in each specific event and must remove them immediately afterwards.

Under no circumstances are athletes permitted to continue wearing spikes when not competing. These shoes can be very dangerous and are responsible for most of our athlete injuries – this rule is strictly policed. Athletes should wear regular running shoes for moving around the carnival or for events where spikes are not worn.

Athletes must not wear spike shoes with the spikes removed.

Note that some championship venues (eg SOPAC/Griffith) have strict rules about the types of spikes that may be worn by athletes – this is policed at events and so be sure to check you have suitable spikes before competing at those venues.

Results are published to the ResultsHQ system.

Electronic Timing Gates are used for track events. Times are uploaded automatically to the Results HQ system.

Our wonderful parent volunteers manually upload the field events.  This may take a few days and we appreciate your patience.  (We are always looking for more volunteers😉) 

If results seem to be missing or are incorrect (sometimes we get glitches with the timing gates and they trigger early – world record times are a good indication of a glitch!), please contact send an email to the club [email protected] or speak to your age manager will coordinate with the results officer to rectify data issues.

Families can log in to view their child’s individual results by following the steps below.

TO VIEW YOUR CHILD’S RESULTS ONLINE

 Go to www.resultshq.com.au.

 Enter the email address you used when registering for Little Athletics.

 Select “Forgotten your password”.

 An email will be sent to you with password reset instructions.

If you have difficulty accessing ResultsHQ please reach out to one of our friendly committee members.