African Southern Region Athletics Championships

Not to be confused with South African Athletics Championships.
African Southern Region Athletics Championships
Genreoutdoor track and field
Frequencybiennial
Venuevaries
ParticipantsSouthern African nations
Organised byConfederation of African Athletics

The African Southern Region Athletics Championships is a biennial international outdoor track and field competition between Southern African nations, organised by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA). Typically held over two days in June or July, it was established in 1995 and replaced the African Zone VI Championships.[1] It is one of four regional championships organised by the CAA, alongside the North, East and West African Athletics Championships.[2][3][4]

The competition is one of three senior athletics championships organised for the region, alongside the African Southern Region Cross Country Championships (held same year as the track and field meet)[5] and the African Southern Region Half Marathon Championships (held annually).[6] There is also an age category counterpart to the competition, in the form of the African Southern Region U18/U20 Athletics Championships, which is held in even-numbered years,[7][8] and the Cossasa Games – an athletics competition for Southern African students organised by the Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa.[9]

The competition is used as preparation by athletes who have been selected for the World Championships in Athletics, which takes place one to two months after the regional championships.[10] Each edition of the championships attracts around a dozen countries and around 600 athletes in total.[11]

The 2019 event was due to be hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa, but Athletics South Africa cancelled the event due to financial issues stemming from the legal case against the IAAF's testosterone rules.[12]

  1. ^ African Southern Region Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  2. ^ West African Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  3. ^ East African Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  4. ^ North African Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  5. ^ Ouma, Mark (2007-02-25). Nations share spoils at Southern Africa XC Champs. IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  6. ^ CAA Southern Region half-marathon championships, Antananarivo (Madagascar) 4/09/2016. Africathle. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  7. ^ Record medal haul for SA on Day 2 of CAA Southern Region U18/U20 Championships. Athletics Africa (2018-04-29). Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  8. ^ Ouma, Mark (2006-07-16). African Southern Region Junior Champs . IAAF. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  9. ^ Junior athletes gear up for Cossasa Games. The Namibian (2018-05-02). Retrieved 2019-09-11.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference SC05 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Mokganedi, Mosah (2009-06-01). Botswana: All Set for Regional Athletics Meet. All-Africa. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  12. ^ Mauritius to host the two-day African Athletics Confederation’s champs. Sports Leo (2019-07-03). Retrieved 2019-09-10.