NSW Little Athletics State Championships cancelled due to coronavirus concerns

It was tough news to hear for the 11 Bathurst Little Athletics competitors who had earned a place at the weekend's championships, only to be told one day before that proceedings wouldn't go ahead.

Organisers made the announcement on Friday that they would cancel the event which was to be held at Sydney Olympic Park.

"Little Athletics NSW has been closely monitoring and evaluating developments regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak for the past week or more, with advice being sourced daily from the Australian and NSW Health departments," it read.

"News has just been received that a meeting today of State and Federal Governments has agreed to issue advice to cancel ALL public gatherings of over 500 people. As a result of this advice, we now confirm that this weekend's State Championships WILL NOT be taking place."

Bathurst Little Athletics secretary Sarah Emms said it was an unfortunate but understandable decision for organisers to make in an effort to curtail the spread of the virus.

"Everybody is disappointed by the fact it had to be cancelled but everybody understands it's an unusual circumstance and that we need to respect that they made a decision which is in the best interest of the athletes and all of the volunteers associated with the event," she said.

"There were a number of families inconvenienced by it who had already booked accommodation and travelled down to Sydney. We were only notified on Friday afternoon, so there was some frustration, but I think in general people understood.

"It's an extraordinary circumstance and there's no much we can do in these times."

Bathurst Little Athletics also cancelled their regular Monday training session, without advice from the state's governing body and instead reaching the decision with a committee vote.