Winter Program 2025
The 2025 Winter Season will run from 24 May to 30 August 2025.
Competition is held each Saturday afternoon at various venues in the parklands around Adelaide. The 2025 Winter Program is available to download using the button below. See also the Winter Program Notes below.
The first competition on 24 May will have the 5km Run and 5km Walks Championships and will be held at Park 24 (Ellis Park / Tampawardli) West Terrace, Adelaide.
All are welcome to take part in our weekly walks and runs. However, only financial SAMA members are eligible for placing in State Age Group (SAG) Championships events, to enter the Relay Challenges and to win prizes. The dates for all SAMA events including Championships and Prize days are listed in the Winter Program (click on the button below), and full details of competition each week will be available in the Events Calendar (including venue and course maps). Come at least 20 minutes before your event to register.
Results for all our competitions, including Championships, can be found on the Results page. The photos from previous SAMA competitions can be viewed via our Facebook Gallery.
Some of the walks and runs during the season are conducted using predetermined handicaps, including the Relay Challenge weeks. The remainder are held as scratch races, which include the SAG Championship events, Multi-Event days and a Turkey Handicap event on the Winter Presentation week. The Winter Program shows the dates for all types of races.
2025 Winter Program Notes
- The two innovative features introduced two years ago into the Winter season will be continued:
Relay Challenges (over 3 weeks)
Multi-event days (over 2 weeks) - No SAMA competition will be held on 12 July 2025 – instead runners and walkers may choose to take part in a parkrun of their choice, and submit their results for collation by SAMA
- The SAMA Half-Marathon Championships and 15km Walks Championships will be held on 26 July 2025; the Half-Marathon will also serve as a recognised event for the AMA Postal Half Marathon Championships
- The SAMA 20km Walks Championships will be held on Sunday 24 August 2025; the Race Walk will also serve as a recognised event for the AMA Postal 20km Road Walk Championships
- A Winter Track & Field event will be held on 16 August 2025 at SA Athletics Stadium.
SAMA Achievers Award
The SAMA Committee has revisited in April 2025 the status of the Achievers Award, which had been suspended for the 2024/25 Summer season.
Following a review of the roles, responsibilities and functions of SAMA Committee and Ex Officio members it has been decided that the Achievers Award will be discontinued due to competing function priorities. Please contact the President if you have any concerns.
View the results of the 2024 Winter Achievers Award.
Championships & Special Events
Australian Masters Athletics (AMA) Winter Postal Championship Events
The AMA 20km Road Walk Championships will be held as a postal event in 2025.
The SAMA 20km Walks Championships will be held on Sunday 24 August 2025. The Race Walk will also serve as a recognised event for the AMA Postal 20km Road Walk Championships. To be eligible for the National Championships, it is necessary to also submit a separate entry to AMA. See the Events page for further details.
The AMA Half Marathon Championships will be held as a postal event in 2025, covering runs undertaken between 26 April and 31 October.
The SAMA Half-Marathon Championships will be held on Saturday 26 July 2025, and will also serve as a recognised event for the AMA Postal Half-Marathon Championships. Athletes will be required to register separately for the National Championships and are responsible for submitting their results to AMA. See the Events page for further details.
The SAMA Half-Marathon, together with the Adelaide Half-Marathon on 4 May, the Barossa Half-Marathon on 24 August, the City Bay Half-Marathon on 21 September and the McLaren Vale Half-Marathon on 19 October, will constitute the South Australian races eligible for the 2025 AMA Postal Half-Marathon Championships (see the AMA website for full details).
SAMA Winter Championships 2025
State Masters Athletics Championships (State Age Group Championships)
The Winter Championships are for all SAMA members, and we encourage you to enter. NB. Only financial members can enter championship events.
Entries for all Championships can be made on the day – please come at least 20 minutes before your event to register.
They are run basically as per our normal competition but results are determined by 5 year age groups and this means you will competing against those in your age group. A Certificate is awarded to all participating entrants, showing placing, performance and age-graded percentage for all their events.
The 5km Run and Walks Championships will be held at the first winter season competition on Saturday 24 May 2025.
See the Event for further details.
The SAMA 20km Walks Championships will be held on Sunday 24 August 2025. The Race Walk will also serve as a recognised event for the AMA Postal 20km Road Walk Championships.
See the Event for further details.
The remainder of the Championships are being held as part of our normal Saturday competition as shown in the Winter Program.
The SAMA 15km Walks Championships and the SAMA Half-Marathon Championships will be held on Saturday 26 July 2025. The Half-Marathon will also serve as a recognised event for the AMA Postal Half-Marathon Championships.
See the Event for further details.
Competing in Athletics SA 2025 Winter Season
SAMA is a full member club with Athletics SA (ASA), so that SAMA members are eligible to compete in all ASA Road, Walks and XC Events. It is recommended to compete in a SAMA uniform and if you don’t have one please see the Uniforms page for information about how to obtain one.
All financial SAMA members have Athletics SA (ASA) Recreational Membership and are eligible to compete in the ASA Winter Season commencing on 17 May 2025, which includes Cross Country, Road Races & Club events.
Each individual event may have an entry fee.
Further information about the ASA Winter Season can be found on the ASA Website.
AMA Indoor Throws Championships 2024
Saturday July 19th and Sunday July 20th 2025.
Argentille Equestrian Centre, Lovedale NSW
Registrations opening soon
See the Event for further information.
2025 National Cross Country Short Course Championships / Mixed Relay Championships
Saturday 23 August – Sunday 24 August 2025.
Victoria Park, Ballarat, Victoria
See the Event for further information.
2025 OMA Championships – Brisbane
6-10 September 2025.
Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, Brisbane
Entries are open
See the Event for further information.
World Masters Athletics Championships -Daegu 2026
August 22, 2026 – September 3, 2026.
Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Registration opening soon
See the Event for further information.
Program Information
COVID-19 Precautions
SAMA competition will be conducted to comply with the COVID-19 Public Activity Requirements for South Australia , which currently allows outdoor Athletics competitions to be conducted without any restrictions. However, it is recommended that all participants in SAMA competition continue to observe social distancing and take precautions to ensure the health and safety of all participants.
SAMA is no longer required to operate under a COVID-Safe Plan.
Walking Events
In the spirit of inclusion SAMA introduced Club Walking into its program, to encourage current walkers who struggle with bent knees, previous walkers who no longer compete for fear of disqualification, and others who might like to try walking without the pressure of full Race Walking rules.
SAMA will continue to have two types of walking in its competition – Race Walking and Club Walking. Refer to SAMA By-Laws Section 24. WALKING AS AN ATHLETIC EVENT
Race Walking will be conducted under IAAF rules with the “No advantage” concept applied as is done at National (refer to the AMA website) and International competition.
For Club Walking the only rule is that there would be no running – which for our purposes will be defined by the requirement to always have one foot on the ground (bent knees will not be an issue). Walkers in this category can still be disqualified if they break the contact rule!
During normal SAMA competition, the differentiation between the two groups of walkers will only apply for ‘scratch’ races. For ‘handicap’ races (which are not judged) all walkers will be competing in a single Club Walk group.
As both types of walking would be in the same race the type of walking must be nominated on entry into ‘scratch races’. We will have some distinguishing feature on Race Walkers. Both types will have their own Club Championship events but there will only be records for Race Walking (which must fulfill the criteria for setting SAG records) and only Race Walkers would be eligible for the SAMA Walks Award (for further details refer to the Records & Awards section).
Other Information
Unless indicated as a ‘scratch’ program, the runs and walks are conducted using predetermined handicaps – see the SAMA Handicapping Information.
Each week the program will be designated either as ‘scratch’ or as ‘handicap’, which will alternate in a bi-weekly cycle. The Winter Program shows the dates for scratch and handicap weeks.
Men and women compete together. W designates a walk (separate Race-walk & Club-walk events on Scratch days only).
Summer Program 2024-25
The 2024-25 Summer Season has finished. Results for all our competitions, including Championships, can be found on the Results page. The photos from previous weekly SAMA competitions and the Summer Presentation Night can be viewed via our Facebook Gallery.
Results of Special Events and Championships
Special Events
View the Final Report for the 2024 Bob Clarke Challenge , and the results of the Bay Sheffield Exurbia 800m Masters race ( December 2024).
AMA T&F National Championships Adelaide 2025
Friday 18 April – Monday 21 April 2025.
SA Athletics Stadium, Adelaide, South Australia.
See the Event for results.