4J Indoor Season 2024: Our plans for Scottish Champs in some events

Friday 10th November 2023

The new Riverside Arena venue at Ayr is one of the hosts for a qualifying Heat

Emirates Arena to be renovated for World Indoors – with winter closures

scottishathletics members should already be aware of the closure of the Emirates Arena in Glasgow this winter ahead of the 2024 World Indoors.

As a consequence, our 4J Scottish Indoor Championships season cannot take place as normal this year, as reported previously.

However, our Competitions Team has been working hard to draw up alternative plans to offer the opportunity to become a 2024 National Indoor Champion – in certain events – in a new competition format.

Three qualifying Heats, held in three venues across Scotland in January and February, will earn a number of athletes the opportunity to enter the National Finals weekend February 16-18 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

Due to the facilities involved, Scottish Championship events on offer will be limited to 60m, 60m hurdles, long jump, high jump, triple jump, pole vault and shot put.

Provisional timetables have been drafted for the Events and entries will open online soon. Further points of information are listed below the table.

Weekend	Event Date	Entries		Venue
		Open	Close
H1 Info	Friday 19 January 2024	10am Monday 4 Dec 2023	5pm Monday 08 Jan 2024	Riverside Sports Arena, Ayr
	Saturday 20 January 2024
	Sunday 21 January 2024

H2 Info	Friday 26 January 2024	10am Monday 11 Dec 2023	5pm Monday 15 Jan 2024	Pitreavie, Dunfermline
	Saturday 27 January 2024
	Sunday 28 January 2024

H3 Info	Friday 2 February 2024	10am Monday 11 Dec 2023	5pm Monday 22 Jan 2024	Aberdeen Sports Village
	Saturday 3 February 2024
	Sunday 4 February 2024

FINAL

Info

Friday 16 February 2024

10am Monday

22 Jan 2024

1. 5pm Tuesday 6 Feb 2024 (Qualifiers)

2. 12 noon Tuesday 13 Feb 2024

Emirates Arena, Glasgow or Grangemouth Stadium*

Saturday 17 February 2024

Sunday 18 February 2024

*Glasgow is the preferred venue but availability is currently TBC.

The superb indoor facility at Aberdeen Sports Venue will stage qualifying Heats event

‘Thanks to all our members for your patience and understanding as we work towards finalising a plan for the indoor track and field season in 2024,’ said Colin Hutchison, chief executive of scottishathletics.

‘It will be different and some compromises have had to be made unfortunately. But we will still have an indoor season and there will be an opportunity across the age groups to win a national championship in certain disciplines.

‘We look forward to returning to the Emirates Arena for the 2024/25 indoor season, and to the athletics community in Scotland benefitting for many years to come from the investments being made in the Emirates Arena for the 2024 World Indoors.’

FURTHER INFO TO NOTE:

Our Events will be open to athletes in the U13 age group and above. Masters athletes will compete against each other in one Masters category, with performances age-graded. U17+ classified ambulant Para athletes will also be scored on RAZA points in 60m, long jump and shot put.
Entry costs £10 per event, with athletes limited to 3 events maximum at any of the three Heat Weekends.
Athletes may enter more than one Heat Weekend if they wish.
The top 4 athletes in each age group and gender category from each qualifying weekend will gain the first opportunity to enter the National Finals Weekend.
Top performers in the Heats will earn the opportunity to enter the Final, and must enter online before the deadline to confirm their place. Any Final places not claimed by qualifiers from the Heats will go on sale from 10am on Wednesday 7 February until 12 noon on Tuesday 13 February on a first-come-first-served basis.
If an athlete has already gained the opportunity to enter the final as a qualifier from a previous fixture, the qualifying opportunity in the later fixture will be offered to the next best in that later fixture.
All Heat events will be run as open graded events, with athletes divided into track heats/field pools determined by performance. Athletes should enter the day or session in which they would like to compete, and pools/heats will be determined once entries have closed. Events at the final will be contested in a Championship format by age group.
Spectator space for family and friends will be limited, and may be outdoors at some venues. Athletes taking part in these events should be prepared to warm up and compete unsupervised, or under the supervision of a coach who can oversee a small group of athletes from their club.

Should the Emirates Arena be available to scottishathletics on the weekend of February 16-18, circular track events will be added to the Final programme, with first-come-first-served entry available to athletes who have reached the qualifying standards per age group/gender.

Further details will be communicated in due course.