Right on track

By EMMA SUN
YARRA Ranges youngsters will be running like the wind with the Yarra Ranges Athletics group training for the first time on Mount Evelyn’s new athletics track.
About 40 children hit the track, complete with lights, last Tuesday evening after waiting 20 years for an upgraded training venue.
President Susan Taylor said the kids were very excited about training on the $5.4 million Morrison’s Reserve facility, which meant they no longer had to train on mud and grass.
“The last couple of years with it raining so much, they’ve had a lot of competitions cancelled,” she said.
“We normally can’t train at this time of the year because we never had lights before so there’s huge excitement from all of them.”
Ms Taylor said the rain previously caused many problems for their young athletes, making the old track being too dangerous to train and compete on.
She said the track broke down too much when used during the wet, which made it rough when it dried and created perfect conditions for injuries.
She hoped the new track would not only reduce the risk of injury, but also encourage runners to do better on the home track.
“The track is really going to help their performances. We’ve found over the last few years, when they go to other venues to compete, their performance is better than at our centre,” she said.
“I would see with being able to use this track, we may not get as many of those because their performance at our centre will lift so there shouldn’t be such a big divide between our centre records and what they can do elsewhere.
“The difference between what they do on a grass track and a proper surface is huge and with this new track, a lot of the athletes who travel to other areas to train can come back and have the continuity of training and competing in similar facilities.”
The club has also started recruiting for a senior group, and recently changed its name from the Lilydale and Yarra Ranges Athletics Centre to reflect the expanded club.
It has about 200 members registered with Little Athletics Victoria and is hoping to recruit children aged 14 and up to compete in the Athletics Victoria Shield Competition, which starts in October.
Ms Taylor said the group could comfortably accommodate 600 members and hoped to host state and national competitions once the final stages of the upgrade were completed.
Yarra Ranges Council Billanook Ward councillor Tim Heenan said it was fantastic to see the children using the facility, which was funded by the council and the State Government.
“I share my excitement and enormous pride for all of the people that have come and gone in been involved with the athletics club,” he said.
“They’re the ones we’ve done this for because they’re the ones that have had the old grass track with rabbit holes and had to put up with hoons.
“We have to do our best to make sure we have the best choices for the young people and having the track there and the soon to be constructed pavilion will be fantastic.”
Anyone looking for more information about the club or wanting to register their child in the senior club can contact head coach Brendan Dixon on 0439 735 911 or president Susan Taylor on 0407 513 774.