A TEAM of nine athletes will represent the Portland Little Athletics Centre at Ballarat this weekend.

The Western Country Region Track and Field Carnival is open to athletes in age groups from under-9 through to under-17, with each athlete able to contest up to five events.

The competition is one of seven regional championships which will be held at venues throughout Victoria this weekend, and act as a qualifying event for the state titles, which will be held in Melbourne in March.

More than 300 athletes are entered for the Western Country Region event, with the home club Ballarat (93 entries) and Warrnambool (43) having the biggest teams.

The region – which stretches from Portland in the south to Swan Hill in the north and from the South Australian border in the west through to Ballarat in the east – is made up of 16 active centres, with Hamilton reforming this summer and Port Fairy also being established.

For Portland’s athletes it will be a rare chance to compete on a synthetic track, with the centre’s usual weekly Thursday competition at Nelson Park taking place on a grass track.

The Portland athletes who will be competing are:

Under-10: Kiran Sonti (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, shot put); Lucy Colley (400m, 800m, 60m hurdles, long jump, shot put).

Under-13: Havi Farley-Harvey (shot put, discus, javelin); Sakura Riley (100m, 200m, long jump, triple jump, discus).

Under-15: Airlie Aldridge (90m hurdles, high jump, shot put, discus, javelin); Siena Riley (100m, shot put, discus, javelin).

Under-16: Noah Board (1500m); Oliver Ward (400m, 800m, 1500m, triple jump, discus); Sharnee Hutchison (100m, 200m, 400m, long jump).