A Record is a best performance held by a registered athlete that has been set at a sanctioned event, witnessed by a qualified and accredited Official who’s recognised by the Club and the performance subsequently ratified by the club’s Records Officer and endorsed by the Committee.
A new or broken Record is a performance recognised as a better performance than the existing Record listed within the Registry of Records that has meet or exceeded the Records Guidelines set by the Committee. The Records Officer is responsible for the maintenance and updating of the Registry of Records.
The Records Policy applies to any set of ratified Records as determined by the Committee and listed in the Records Guidelines.
Sanctioned Events include those sanctioned by the Committee, the State or National Associations including Little Athletics ACT and Athletics ACT.
A qualified and accredited Official is a person who holds the necessary qualification or knowledge for a sanctioned event as determined by the State or National Association (Level 1 or above) or the Australian Track and Field Coaches Association (Level 2 or above). An Official may be a Volunteer, Parent, Family Member, Committee Member or Coach.
The State or National Association will determine the season (duration) by which a Record can be broken in the individual age group. With respect to Little Athletics Australia the Australian Little Athletics Championships (ALAC) is deemed the last official meet of the season for that National Association. Little Athletes competing out of season will be deemed to be participating in the new season Age Group for their date of birth.
The Records Officer from time-to-time may update the Records Guidelines to keep them in line with the most recently published set of State or National rules as they apply to respective events. Where the Records Guidelines and the published Association rules vary the Association rule shall take precedence.
The Registry of Records is a permanent repository and will include the following (where known and/or applicable):
- The date of the performance;
- The location;
- The full name and age group of the athlete at the time of the performance;
- The verified performance;
- Who verified the performance; and
- Details of the previous Record (as above).
The Officer of Officials shall maintain a registry of all qualified Officials and this will be published twice annually (September and January each year).
The Club Registrar shall maintain a registry of all members including full name, date of birth and year(s) of registration. The Member registry shall be perpetual.
Appendix A: Records Guidelines
Set of Records
The “Club” recognises the following sets of Records as governed by the Club Records Policy:
- All time records;
- Charnwood only records;
- Five-year bests;
- Season bests;
- Ginninderra Carnival records;
Rules of Competition
A qualified and accredited Official must verify that the performance has complied with the Association’s Standard Rules of Competition. Where there is inconsistency between local and Association rules, the Association rules will take precedence.
Coaching and Pacing
An application for record may not be ratified where it has been determined by the Records Officer that an athlete was being coached or paced during their performance.
Application for a Club Record
Applying for a Club Record must be writing and using the form on the Club Website. All applications must be verified and witnessed as per the Club Records Policy. A record will not be recognised officially until the Records Officer has ratified it.
The Records Officer and the Official who witnessed the record attempt cannot be one and the same person.
Track Records
All Club Records have been standardised and manual times are no longer accepted. Electronic times are accepted as verification at sanctioned events and a post event check is required for determining manual error or equipment malfunction on the day. No manual start of electronic timing will be accepted as a record.
All non-gated circular track events will require standardisation where the electronic timing system does not involve photo finish.
Club Records are not impacted by wind speed.
Throws Records
A qualified and accredited Official can only verify a record if they themselves verified the throw inline with the position of Chief Judge.
The Official must verify that the Measuring Assistant and the Spotter have correctly measured the throw by placing the zero end of the tape at the marker and pulled the length tight and straight across the centre point of the throwing circle (Shot Put or Discus) or that they pulled the tape through the centre of the sector lines intersection point on the Javelin runway (8 metres into the run-up area). The Official must verify that they saw the Javelin strike the ground with the tip of the metal headfirst.
Jumps Record
A qualified and accredited Official may verify a record post attempt. Ideally the Official should verify the record as close to real-time as possible.
Where the Official is not present, the event must stop and an Official found to verify the record. If an event proceeds without verification the record attempt is null and void.
The landing mat/sand, the bar or the pit must not be touched. A record may be unverifiable if this occurs.
If the mat or sand is not sufficient to determine that the true and correct placement of the foot on the take-off board the record may not be verifiable.
If an Official, Chief Judge or Spiker did not adequately witness a landing or take-off the record may not be verifiable.
Walks Record
A minimum of three qualified and accredited Officials must verify a Walks performance.
Representation
In claiming a club record, an athlete must have been a registered member as well as have been representing the club at the time of the performance and/or been representing the club’s senior club at an Athletics ACT endorsed competition at the time of the performance.
Notification of an Attempt
It is in the interests of the Athlete that their Parents, Guardians, Team Mates, Team Manager or Coach notify the Committee immediately if they believe an attempt on a record is imminent. A suitably qualified and accredited Official can then be allocated to witness an attempt.
No Doubt
If an Official has for any reason doubts about a record attempt they should side with caution and not verify the attempt. They may place their comments on the Application for Club Record form.
Disputes
Disputes regarding Club Records must be made in writing using the form on the Club’s website. The Records Officer may obtain further information including photographic or video evidence (if required).
Applicants for a Record may request a second (separate) qualified and accredited Official be accepted as the witness of an attempt in their Application. The Records Officer will document the reasoning behind the use of another Official.
Where required the matter will be raised before the entire Committee of the Club for endorsement of the decision with respect to the dispute. No further communication will be entered into once a decision has been reached.
Ratification of Record
The time taken to ratify a record from the date of receipt of an Application shall be no longer than three (3) calendar months. It is expected that during the track and field offseason ratification may take longer than over summer.
Where the ratified record has been broken on more than one occasion since the last round of ratification, all verified and ratified record attempts will be recognised (celebrated) as having broken the previous record, however only the best of those attempts will be published in the Registry of Records, regardless of the date of the performance.
Publishing of the Registry of Records
The Registry of Records (the “Club” records) will be published annually in the Season Booklet. Throughout the season the Registry will be updated periodically (no less than once a month) and published on the Club website. New ratified Records will be communicated broadly to members using established communication channels.