The Challenge was held in conjunction with the Hunter Track Classic which is a lead up event for Olympic Qualifications.

Elle Hay, Ebony Burke, Josh Trotter and Dean Hollis were part of an invitational team that represented the Mid North. Zone Manager Ian Adams took a team of boys and girls to the Challenge to compete against athletes form across the state.

The Hunter Classic is a Grand Prix style event that was open to profession athletes in the lead up to the Olympic Games and to an invited group of Under 14 Little Athletes.

The team competed in a number of events on Saturday and were then able to watch the professional athletes perform.

Ebony Burke and Elle Hay were members of the girl's team which included athletes from Stuarts Point and Kempsey.

Ebony competed in the individual 400 metre event and smashed her PB with a time of 1.09.00 and was the third runner in the 300m leg of the Swiss Medley relay. Elle competed in the 100m event.

While still an under 13 Dean Hollis stepped up to be a member of the boys team when a Gloucester athlete pulled out due to injury.

Dean and Josh Trotter made up 50% of the boys team with athletes from Gloucester and Port Macquarie filling the other spaces. Dean produced a PB in the Shot Put and also ran the 100metres for both the individual and Swiss Medley events.

Josh courageously competed in the triple jump (after only learning how to do it the day before) and ran the 200metre leg of the Swiss Medley.

Three members of the Wauchope Club: Ebony, Melinda and Matthew Burke were able to attend the coaching clinic which was held on Sunday morning.

Over 120 athletes ranging in ages from under 9 through to under 17 enjoyed a fantastic morning of coaching supervised by thirteen elite coaches.

A huge highlight was the presence of guest elite athletes Ben Harradine, Dani Samuels, Tamsyn Manou (nee Lewis), and Jake Stein who mingled with the clinic participants, and took part in a very interesting and entertaining Q & A session.

Ebony Burke said "Going to the Hunter Track Classic was great. We got to see the professionals and Olympians in action in real life, not just on the TV.

It was also good to have a high level competition opportunity before going to regionals, to see how our training is working.