A proposed merger between Athletics ACT and Little Athletics ACT is under way, and it envisions higher participation rates and combined resources through a one body approach.

A vote on the merger will be the final hurdle, with no date set yet, as the proposal is out for consultation with the region's track and field clubs.

Both organisations, however, hope to have merged before the start of next season in October.

And if it's successful, the territory would become the second state/territory to merge after Western Australia did so in mid-2020.

Athletics ACT executive officer Edward Wilson said Canberra had been working towards unification for several years, and things were heading towards a vote later this year.

He said the overwhelming response had been in support of it, so far.

"The purpose and the mentality behind it is because we're quite a small jurisdiction in terms of geographical area and size," he said.

"We believe that it's best for us to combine, not only just our staffing but also our resources.

"What that does is it establishes pathways for not just participation, but also high performance, to the point where we see a vision for the future of having athletes and para-athletes from age five to 99 being able to compete in the one sport.

"Because as it stands at the moment, nationally, they are still two technically different offerings, services and even sports if you want to go that far."

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Little Athletics Australia looks after athletes from tiny tots to age 15, whereas Athletics Australia looks after athletes from 16 onwards.

Unification between the two national organisations was primed to become a reality in December to bring the sport in line with other national codes, such as Football Australia and Rugby Australia, until the vote failed.

Seventy-five per cent of AA members voted in support of the unification but the majority of LAA members did not, leaving the two as separate entities for now.

Wilson said the unification attempt nationally had had an interesting effect on the ACT athletics community's opinion.

"Despite the result of the national unification, the enthusiasm locally has actually got stronger which is very pleasing to see," he said.

"Naturally, there is a good working relationship between the two bodies on a national level and for us in the ACT.

"So there's a lot that we've already done in terms of working together ... but in short here, it's us looking at the future and going 'it is much better if we're all trying to achieve the same thing: provide competitions, events and pathways for athletes. Now, why don't we do it all together?'"

The main arguments in support of unification between the two organisations, at both state and national levels, is for resourcing, staffing and to bridge the gap between junior athletes and senior programs.

As currently there is a high drop out rate once athletes reach their late teens at the end of their Little Athletics career.

Wilson said the unification was incredibly important to create those pathways for athletes to move into senior competitions.

"It's incredibly important, and even that's an understatement," he said.

"Athletics is something that has phenomenal participation across the country for 17 years and younger, and what we do see happening ... is that those numbers do start to drop off towards the backend of schooling.

"So what we see is being able to create a unified vision that enables athletes not only the pathways, both through community sport and high performance, to continue participating."

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