Australian Athletics Tour
# Australian Athletics Tour

The Australian Athletics Tour, formerly the Athletics Grand Prix Series is a series of annual Australian track and field competitions which is held from February to April. Australian athletes aiming at selection in the Olympic Games, World Championships or Commonwealth Games are usually required to compete in the meetings which form the series.

## Overview

Each year, Athletics Australia and its member associations conduct a range of athletics meets held around the country in a two-tiered structure. Australian Athletics Tour is part of the Athletics Australia National Athletics Series from November to April, which includes meetings, like the Hunter Track Classic in Newcastle, Briggs Athletics Classic in Hobart, Canberra Track Classic, Adelaide Track Classic, Melbourne Track Classic, Perth Track Classic, Sydney Track Classic and Brisbane Track Classic in Brisbane.

From 2005 to 2009, the Melbourne Track Classic was part of the prestigious IAAF World Athletics Tour, at which competing athletes can earn points towards competing in the IAAF World Athletics Final. From 2010 to 2016 the meet is part of the IAAF World Challenge.

In 2017, Athletics Australia cancelled the entire tour in favour of a Nitro Athletics event in Melbourne from 4–11 February. NSW Athletics continued both events regardless of their inclusion in the tour. Canberra looks to also get a national event with a "summer of athletics grand prix".

## Editions

| Season | Adelaide | Brisbane | Canberra | Hobart | Melbourne | Newcastle | Perth | Sydney |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1987-88 | 9 Feb 1988 | 13 Mar 1988 | | 5 Jan 1988 | 17 Mar 1988 | | | |
| 1988-89 | 1 Feb 1999 | 12 Feb 1999 | | 4 Jan 1989 | 9 Mar 1989 | | | 8 Feb 1989 |
| 1989-90 | 14 Mar 1990 | 18 Mar 1990 | | 4 Jan 1990 | 8 Feb 1990 | | | 14 Jan 1990 |
| 1990-91 | 15 Feb 1991 | 2 Feb 1991 | | 6-7 Jan 1991 | 7 Feb 1991 | | | 20 Jan 1991 |
| 1991-92 | 16 Feb 1992 | 1 Feb 1992 | | 12 Jan 1992 | 25 Feb 1992 | | | 25 Jan 1992 |
| 1992-93 | 14 Feb 1993 | 31 Jan 1993 | | 17 Jan 1993 | 25 Feb 1993 | | | 23 Jan 1993 |
| 1993-94 | 11 Feb 1994 | 5 Feb 1994 | | 26 Feb 1994 | 24 Feb 1994 | | | 30 Jan 1994 |
| 1994-95 | 26 Jan 1995 | 4 Feb 1995 | | 19 Feb 1995 | 23 Feb 1995 | | | 21 Mar 1995 |
| 1995-96 | 26 Jan 1996 | 14 Mar 1996 | | 25 Feb 1996 | 29 Feb 1996 | | | 11 Feb 1996 |
| 1996-97 | 1 Feb 1997 | 15 Mar 1997 | | 16 Feb 1997 | 20 Feb 1997 | | | 27 Jan 1997 |
| 1997-98 | 26 Jan 1998 | 21 Mar 1998 | | 22 Feb 1998 | 25 Feb 1998 | | | 28 Feb 1998 |
| 1998-99 | 26 Jan 1999 | 13 Mar 1999 | | 28 Feb 1999 | 25 Feb 1999 | | | 20 Feb 1999 |
| 1999-00 | 8 Mar 2000 | 11 Feb 2000 | | 30 Jan 2000 | 2 Mar 2000 | | | 13 Feb 2000 |
| 2000-01 | | not held | | 11 Mar 2001 | 1 Mar 2001 | | | 16 Feb 1991 |
| 2001-02 | 23 Mar 2002 | not held | | 9 Mar 2002 | 7 Mar 2002 | | | |
| 2002-03 | 6 Feb 2003 | 23 Jan 2003 | | not held | 1 Mar 2003 | | | |
| 2003-04 | | 23 Jan 2004 | | not held | 12 Feb 2004 | | | |
| 2004-05 | 15 Feb 2005 | | | not held | 17 Feb 2005 | | | |
| 2005-06 | | 3 Mar 2006 | | 6 Jan 2006 | 9 Mar 2006 | | | |
| 2006-07 | | 20 Jan 2007 | | 9 Feb 2007 | 2 Mar 2007 | | | 17 Feb 2007 |
| 2007-08 | | 2 Feb 2008 | | 18 Jan 2008 | 21 Feb 2008 | | | |
| 2008-09 | | 7 Feb 2009 | | 30 Jan 2009 | 5 Mar 2009 | | | 28 Feb 2009 |
| 2009-10 | | | | 12 Feb 2010 | 4 Mar 2010 | | | 27 Feb 2010 |
| 2010-11 | | 11 Feb 2011 | | | 3 Mar 2011 | | | 19 Mar 2011 |
| 2011-12 | 28 Feb 2012 | 14 Feb 2012 | | | 2-3 Mar 2012 | | | 18 Feb 2012 |
| 2012-13 | 16 Feb 2013 | 23 Feb 2013 | | | 6 Apr 2013 | | | 9 Mar 2013 |
| 2013-14 | 15 Feb 2014 | 29 Mar 2014 | | | 22 Mar 2014 | | | 15 Mar 2014 |
| 2014-15 | 21 Feb 2015 | 7 Mar 2015 | | | 21 Mar 2015 | | | 15 Mar 2015 |
| 2015-16 | 20 Feb 2016 | 19 Mar 2016 | 20 Feb 2016 | 13 Feb 2016 | 5 Mar 2016 | 30 Jan 2016 | 12 Mar 2016 | 19 Mar 2016 |
| 2016-17 | | | 11-12 Mar 2017 | | | | | |
| 2017-18 | | | | | | | 13 Jan 2018 | 17 Mar 2018 |
| 2018-19 | | 23 Mar 2019 | 28 Jan 2019 | | | 25 Jan 2019 | 16 Mar 2019 | 23 Feb 2019 |
| 2019-20 | | | 13 Feb 2020 | | 6 Feb 2020 | | 1 Feb 2020 | 22 Feb 2020 |
| 2020-21 | | 27 Mar 2021 | 11 Mar 2021 | | 25 Mar 2021 | | | 13 Mar 2021 |
| 2021-22 | 12 Feb 2022 | 9 Apr 2022 | | | 19 Mar 2022 | | | 12 Mar 2022 |
| 2022-23 | 11 Feb 2023 | 25 Mar 2023 | | | 23 Feb 2023 | | | 11 Mar 2023 |

## IAAF World Athletics Tour meets

The three IAAF approved meetings held in Australia are:

* Canberra AIS meet - traditionally conducted around Australia Day, 26 January
* Sydney Track Classic - usually conducted in late February
* Melbourne Track Classic - traditionally conducted in late February

The Australian Championships are held shortly after the conclusion of the Grand Prix series.

The Grand Prix series is usually telecast on SBS Television.

## Event sponsorship

The series has previously been supported by Athletics Australia's major sponsor and known as:

* Mobil Grand Prix series
* Optus Grand Prix series
* Telstra A-Series
* Qantas Australian Athletics Tour

Telstra's support for athletics in Australia ended in 2007 and the sport was without a major sponsor during the 2008 series.

