A decision by the Bendigo council to purchase the La Trobe University Bendigo Athletics Complex has been hailed by the sport’s organising body as providing more certainty for the “crucial” facility’s future.
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City of Greater Bendigo councillors voted to purchase the property from the university last month, with a $1.45 million investment, including replacement of the ageing track, to be considered for inclusion in the 2017/18 budget.
Athletics Bendigo general manager Craig Green said the facility’s 18-year-old track was “in severe need of replacement” following a year of record-breaking participation in the sport.
“In an Olympic year it does tend to go up and there’s been a 30 per cent increase in Little Athletics compared to the previous year,” he said.
“[For the seniors] there’s been an increase on how consistently they compete, so there’s been around about a 25 per cent increase in the number of athletes competing each week.”
Mr Green said the track upgrade would allow Athletics Bendigo to host more major meets at the site, which had previously hosted the Youth Commonwealth Games, pre-Commonwealth Games events and Oceania Masters Games before having its rating downgraded by Athletics Australia.
“All tracks are rated, so ours was fairly high and that’s been downgraded in recent years just because of deterioration in the surface of the track,” he said.
“[It’s] very hard to tender for major events now with the condition of the track.”
In the meantime, the complex is set to host up to 600 children and families at the State Multi mini-decathlon on the Australia Day weekend, and Mr Green said its continued maintenance would be crucial for the health and wellbeing of the community going forward.
“It’s a real need of the community to have that facility to keep fit and remain active,” he said.
“And that’s athletes of all abilities, so there needs to be facilities for our elite athletes but there also needs to be facilities for our grass roots athletes who just want stay fit.”
The replacement of the complex’s track will be contingent on the university’s willingness to sell and its inclusion in the council’s next budget.
Under the current arrangement, the city shares responsibility for maintaining the facility with the university, which has indicated it has higher priorities for investment and does not wish to replace the track.
