Alert Level 2 has not delayed the start of the Otago summer athletics season.
It will cause today’s opening day at the Caledonian Ground to look at bit different, though.
Separate bubbles will be formed for different events in order to keep to gathering limits.
Sanitiser will be on hand, both for athletes and the equipment they are using.
There will be no combined meetings between children and senior athletes for the next month.
Children’s competition will not begin until next week, and it presents more challenges.
Parents need to be factored in gathering limits, and short and sharp programmes for smaller age ranges are being looked at.
It is hoped the summer’s major events will go ahead under normal conditions.
The majority of those are scheduled after the Christmas break.
The national secondary schools championships, to be held in Inglewood, are a notable exception. They were postponed well in advance from their usual early December date to December 16-18.
The twilight Yvette Williams Memorial Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 13 in Dunedin, following last year’s inaugural meeting.
That follows the Lovelock Classic in Timaru the Saturday before, which is the first of the four classic meetings through January and February.
Hamilton’s Porritt Classic will not be held this year due to a deteriorating track.
The Otago championships will be held on February 12-13 at the Caledonian Ground.
Christchurch will host its International Track Meet the following Friday, while Auckland’s Graeme Douglas Memorial Meeting is scheduled for two days after that.
The national championships are set for the first weekend of March in Hastings.
