What could be the biggest summer of Little Athletics is primed to launch from the blocks after a false start last Friday night.

The season should have opened at the club’s home of Mount Gambier High School last week, but heavy showers dampened the spirits and track so much it had to be called off.

Mount Gambier District Little Athletics president Adrian Lynch said it was a tough call, but hoped it could be rescheduled so the eager participants did not miss out.

“It was disappointing, but it will be good to kick the season off this week instead,” he said.

“We could have got away with it if we had already run on the track a few times and knew what to expect, but when we made the call it was so wet and we did not want to expose our new athletes to the conditions.

“We will look to make that day up later in the year with a Sunday session, but have not worked out exactly when

“The come and try kids can still have two weeks free and people can still come and join anytime.”

The wash out arrived at a poor time for Little Athletics with the sport carrying so much momentum following the incredible feats achieved at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

Nicola McDermott (women’s high jump), Ashley Moloney (men’s decathlon) and Kelsey-Lee Barber (women’s javelin throw) were Australia’s field and game medalists, but so many more inspired the entire nation.

Many kids would have dreamt of running as fast as Peter Bol or Rohan Browning since August after they lit up the time sheets.

After the two-week extravaganza, more success followed in the Paralympic Games where 20 athletics medals were achieved by Australia.

James Turner and Madison de Rozario would have also boosted interest in running events after their gold rush.

De Rozario had a games to remember winning the women’s 800 metres race and marathon, while no one could catch Turner in the 400 metre dash.

There will also be plenty hitting the sand after Vanessa Low won the long jump.

Lynch said he expected participation to rise because of Australia’s equal most successful summer games with the 17 gold medals matching the tally from Athens 2004.

“There are cycles in athletics and it coincides with the Olympic Games,” he said.

“After the games numbers go up before it drops off a bit, so we are expecting more numbers after the success of the Australian team.

“It is hard to tell until halfway through the season because many will not register until the next few weeks.

“But at the moment we have about 140 registered athletes which is pretty good numbers.

“We were up over the 170-mark last year, so potentially we can get past that because there is still plenty of time.”

Although the starter’s gun has not fired yet, Lynch is already happy with the numbers across the grades.

“The pleasing thing is we have got good numbers right across the age groups,” he said.

“I think we have 12 Under 15’s which is unheard of and I do not think we have ever had that many which is fantastic.

“Under 6 is our biggest age group and there are around 25, so there are strong numbers all the way through and I think it will be a really good season.”

In addition to the hysteria around the Olympics, the Mount Gambier District Little Athletics also won the 2021 country club of the year award.

It is not the first time the special statewide honour headed to the Blue Lake club after it also took it out in 2016.

Lynch said the accolade was down to the hard work of many individuals.

“You do not expect these sorts of awards, but it was very nice to win the country club of the year award,” he said.

“A lot of statistics go it like numbers, retention, how many come and try athletes stay, registered athletes, committee members and governance, so they look at how the whole club is run.

“To win it for the second time in five years is really exciting and it goes down to the hard work the committee has put in for many years”

With everyone hoping rain does not interrupt the track and field action this Friday, Lynch said it is not too late to join in.

“People can sign up anytime and all registrations are online including the come and try, so you just go to the South Australian Athletics web page and follow the links,” he said.

“There are also Little Athletics clubs at Millicent, Penola, Naracoorte and Bordertown.

“We will operate every week until the middle of December, have a Christmas break and come back at the end of January to run through to the end of March.

“We are just looking forward to seeing all the young athletes back out there improving and simply having fun.”

The season begins at Mount Gambier High School from 4.30pm this Friday.