The Christchurch Avon club was formed in 1989 from the amalgamation of Christchurch Athletics and Harrier Club circa 1922, which was one of the first non-church clubs, and Avon Amateur Athletics Club circa 1974, which had a strong input from Burnside Highschool PE teachers. The blue in our singlet is from Christchurch and the orange from the Avon club. We have a proud and diverse history on which to build our strong future.

At Christchurch Avon we believe that athletics is a great sport and believe that every member should be supported to achieve as far as they want to in the sport. This may be selection as a national representative, improving your time for a fun run, or just having mates to train and compete with.

We consider that all the disciplines have value and complement each other so that children should learn a wide range of Athletics disciplines – running long, sprinting, jumping, hurdling and throwing. Accordingly, we take a holistic approach exposing all our Summer children athletes to the full range of athletics disciplines to develop skills, strength and coordination. (Tom Walsh was a successful high jumper as a child). Sports Science shows that children should not specialise before 14 and later if possible and that they do benefit from a broad range of strength, coordination and skill programs. Even our winter only athletes are encouraged to develop strength and coordination as well as aerobic endurance.

We have well qualified coaches for sprints, throws, middle and distance running as well as a trainer who focusses on helping older runners develop balance, coordination, cadence and pace.

We also see value of athletics disciplines to many other sports. Running, jumping and throwing are foundation skills for sports as diverse as hockey, basketball & netball, triathlon & duathlon, and all codes of football. Many of our members, both seniors and children participate, in other sports; for some running is their secondary interest, for others it’s their primary sport.