Little Athletics stars River Melia-Pentecost and Maxwell Cracknell will be taking on the competition at Olympic Park in Sydney after smashing their way through the Regional Championships in Lismore last month.

Little Athletics president Bob Burling said everyone performed well at the Lismore competition. 

“We have some very talented kids,” he said.

“We’ve now got 10 qualified coaches too and some of our coaches have brought talent in that we haven’t had before which is great for the kids.”

Mr Burling said it wasn’t the first time River, who is now also a coach, had made states. 

“River has actually made nationals but it’s the first time for Max at states,” he said.

Maxwell jumped over the competition coming in second in the Regional Championships 60 metre hurdle. 

River took out the gold in the under 17s 100 metre sprint at the Lismore competition and also performed well in the hurdles.

“The 200 metre hurdles is what he went to nationals for and he’s jumping over seven metres which is pretty good,” Mr Burling said.

“River is also now a coach and has been coaching the hurdles.

“A third of the kids in the club do hurdles now so I suspect in the next couple of seasons we’ll see many of our kids going to Sydney for hurdles.”

Inverell’s Matilda Oliver also competed in the 800 metres against top athletes from the mid North Coast and Northern Rivers in very hot and humid conditions.

Of the 16 runners in the under 11s age group, Matilda finished in 5th place.

Mr Burling said Regional and State Championships were an excellent challenge for the young athletes.

“The experience they gained at Lismore – it’s big steps up for them,” Mr Burling said.

“They go to zone carnivals at the start of the season but that’s not much different from being at home.

“It’s a big experience for the kids to go through and Sydney’s an even bigger one.”