The Colgate Games has been the country's supreme National Junior Athletics Championship for athletes aged 7-14 since 1978.
The 39th incarnation of where world class athletes, like double Olympic 1500m medallist Nick Willis got their first taste of big time athletics, takes place early next month.
The North Island meeting is in Hastings from January 6-8, with Invercargill hosting the South Island champs from January 13-15.
To give a sense of the scale of the Colgate Games, there are 1340 entrants in the North Island Colgate Games competing in 5463 individual events, with another 792 athletes in the South Island Colgate Games in 3451 individual events.
Most clubs in the Bay of Plenty will be represented in Hastings with Bellevue Athletics Club leading the way with 38 athletes - a massive increase from 12 last year.
Club president, Ruth Tuiraviravi, puts the increase down to several factors.
"I think some of it is down to the Olympics surge, with high interest post-Olympics, plus we have a strong committee which helps to make a very strong club," she said.
"We are well structured and well organised. We are all about kids participating and having fun so I think it is a mixture of a lot of stuff.
"We have become probably the largest club in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato and I am very proud of it."
Tuiraviravi says expectations are high the team will perform well in Hastings.
"We just had a very successful Waikato Bay of Plenty relay champs where we came away with 21 medals and we are sending away 10 relay teams.
"They are individual athletes and they form teams. There are number of them that I would anticipate making finals and then a number to come home with medals."
READY TO ROLL: Bellevue's squad for the Colgate Games in Hastings next month. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK
Tuiraviravi has noticed an increase in demand for coaching among younger athletes in the Western Bay.
"It is very strong. We probably have about 20 kids getting coached by the likes of Kerry Hill, Val Bromley and Kevin Hore, so that just shows the interest. It is not just enough one day a week - they want more which is cool."
Chairman of Athletics Bay of Plenty, Murray Green, has had a long involvement with the Colgate Games.
"It has been growing every year and is probably the second biggest event [outside AIMS Games] behind the New Zealand Secondary Schools champs, so is pretty significant," Green said.
"If you look at a top athlete like Catherine Marshall. She went to Colgate Games from age 10 right through to 14 and went on to get selected for the Commonwealth Games and almost qualified for the Olympics this year.
"For the kids it is cool meeting so many kids from other areas. From a parent's perspective it just blows you away when you see the performances of so many of them.
"The first one I went to was at Whanganui and that really got me hooked and why I am doing what I am doing now really."
■Colgate began sponsoring the event in 1978 and has provided four scholarships, named after Colgate Games alumnus and Olympian Nick Willis, worth $500 each to athletes who display outstanding performance.
