Country championships athletics comes to Albany with showpiece Peter Watson Mile incorporated into program

The Albany Athletics Club will be welcoming about 250 athletes this weekend for the WA Country Championships in the city’s first major meeting of 2026. A full schedule of age-group and senior events is planned from Friday, with Great Southern Academy of Sport athletes chasing records over wins. Running on grass makes personal bests harder to come by compared to running on track, but that will be the focus of GSAS star Ginger Gleeson, who won’t have time to stop given her punishing schedule. She is slated to run the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m, plus the 300m hurdles and triple jump. However, she will kick off with the Peter Watson Mile which is scheduled for Friday evening. The race is run annually to celebrate the achievements of former Albany MP Peter Watson, who was the third West Australian — after Herb Elliott and Keith Wheeler — to break the four-minute mile. Gleeson, a Denmark Senior High School pupil, is the Australian Athletics All Schools Champion over 800m, adding that national under-16 title last month to the State crown she claimed in November. Her mother and coach Bec said she expected Albany Athletics Club members to do well over the course of the weekend. “Because there are not many teenagers from other clubs taking part, we would think Albany athletes would collect a lot of medals,” she said. “It’s a good opportunity to look for records because that’s a bit harder on the grass and several athletes will be in with a chance of doing that.” Mason Watkins is another multi-eventer, having signed up for five under-18 events. He will compete in the 100m, 200m, high jump, long jump and, his speciality, triple jump. Bec Gleeson has been the driving force behind the event, the first major meeting to be held since Albany’s athletics and little athletics clubs joined forces. She said it had been a long time in the planning. “Planning has been under way since the country championships finished in Bunbury last year,” she said. “We have received huge support from Athletics West and the country clubs around WA. “It’s been a team effort to turn it into a really great event which gives country athletes the chance to compete in a big meeting without going to Perth. “I’m sure there will be a lot of Albany athletes providing noteworthy performances.” Events run from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon at the Mike Biddulph Athletics Ground.