Wangaratta Sports Club president Anna Pasquali isn’t too concerned an athletics meet in Albury on the same weekend as the Wangaratta Sports Carnival will impact their participant numbers

Last week, Athletics Victoria announced their Country Athletics Championships will be held in Albury from Saturday, 24 January – Monday, 26 January, the same weekend which the sports carnival has traditionally been run.

While Pasquali admitted while some runners might prefer the Albury meet, the schedule clash was not new, and she was confident the carnival would not be impacted too heavily.

“They’re generally always over that weekend, so it’s not a new thing, there’s always been a clash,” she said.

“It does take away some of our athletes, but predominantly we get the professional athletic league athletes and they get the amateur runners, and there’s not a heap of crossover.

“A lot of the Melbourne people who come up just do professional running, they don’t do amateur running, there’s not a lot who do both - there is a bit of overlap but it’s mainly the junior kids that are attracted to the amateur league.

“It might take away from the kids but generally, from the adults, not too much.

“It shouldn’t affect our numbers drastically I wouldn’t have thought.”

With the carnival a little over a month away, Pasquali and the entire committee are hard at work securing sponsorship so the beloved event, featuring both athletics and woodchopping, can go ahead.

Pasquali said the response from the community had been positive.

“There are a few people who have come on board who haven’t been on board before, so that’s been great, and a few of the regular sponsors have come on board again, which is good,” she said.

“I’m deep into annoying a lot of the Wangaratta community trying to drum up sponsorships – it’s not my favourite part of the job, but it’s going to be done because without sponsorships we don’t have a running meet.

“We’ve done a Bunnings barbecue, we’ve got the races on the weekend that we use as a fundraiser for the carnival.

“The Rural City of Wangaratta has generously sponsored us again this year which is great.”

The Wangaratta Sports Carnival will be run at the Wangaratta Showgrounds on Saturday, 27 January, 2026.