The Dubbo Festival of Athletics was planned to be run on January 8 and 9 while attracting talented athletes from across the state to compete at Barden Park but unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases around NSW.

Gamble said the decision to cancel the event in just a week's time was a tough one for the committee to make but knows it was right.

"We had to make a decision pretty quickly at the end of last year to postpone our festival," he said.

"It hasn't been met with a great response but those things happen."

"There was a lot of deliberation between us and the officials from Sydney,"

"It was just far too risky.

"The entries were down on where we needed it to be for the carnival.

"It took us nearly a week of deliberation before we finally pulled the pin on it.

"We even extended the entries for another week just to allow for some more numbers but it just didn't happen."

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While the festival will now not be held in January, Gamble is confident it could return later in the year and may act as the opening tournament of the season for the club.

"It's unlikely that the festival will happen this season," he said.

"We will probably have it to open the season next year.

"So around September or October potentially.

"Everyone that we need to talk to is on holiday at the moment so we haven't been able to make a decision formally about when that it is going to happen.

"But it's most likely going to later in the year.

"Hopefully some things have settled down by then."

There is no doubt many people were disappointed by the cancellation of the festival, but Gamble knows there is another big carnival coming up to be held at Barden Park in just over a month.

"The first weekend in February is the region three carnival," he said.

"It's the first carnival off the bat for our zone this year.

"There have been a couple in Bathurst and but they were only gala days.

"We've got this one coming and hopefully it will go ahead.

"I don't think they are going to cancel this one."

The regional carnival will act as a stepping stone for many athletes who will no doubt be looking towards pushing to qualify for state.

Gamble said approximately 60 people from Dubbo Athletics Club have been nominated to compete in the carnival.

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