Young athletes from all over Whitehorse are gathered at FH Collins today to compete in the city's largest annual track-and-field meet.

Student representatives from all the city high schools will be there, said Jamie Shaw, the F.H. Collins gym teacher who is organizing the event.

"I have no idea how many kids are coming, because I'm still waiting on last minute entries,” Shaw said, adding that students are usually still registering right up until the start gun goes off.

The events began at 8:45 this morning with the 3,000-meter and continue until 2:45 p.m.

"The four-by-100 is our final event and it's usually the one that the kids get excited about because it pits school against school,” Shaw said.

Although the fastest, highest, and strongest competitors are rewarded with ribbons, Shaw stressed that the focus of the event is getting the students excited about sport, rather than the competition.

"We don't keep records and that's part of the ‘come out and compete and just have fun' idea,” he said.

The meet will include javelin, discus, shot-put, high-jump, long-jump and a range of foot race distances.

Shaw said a barbecue was expected, but things were still being organized as of yesterday afternoon.

"As long as it's not snowing then we're pretty happy,” he said.