Yarra Ranges Athletics is leaping into the new season with a $4500 grant from Coles, to give a welcome boost for young athletes and the volunteers who support them.
The funding is part of the 2025 Coles Little Athletics Community Fund, was awarded to 72 grassroots Little Athletics centres across Australia sharing in $250,000 to purchase essential sports, safety and volunteer equipment.
The club’s centre president, Max Savill-Bentley said the grant would allow Yarra Ranges Athletics to purchase new hurdles and marquee weights, helping volunteers deliver a fun, safe, and high-quality program for young athletes.
“As our club continues to grow in athlete numbers, volunteer participation, and school bookings, it is crucial to have the right equipment to meet these increasing demands,” Mr Savill-Bentley said.
“The new hurdles will not only provide a better competition experience for our athletes but also ensure safer and quicker setup for our volunteers between races. Additionally, the metal leg weights for our marquees are crucial to the safety and wellbeing of our members.”
Secretary of Yarra Ranges Athletics, Cameron Yorke said receiving the grant was a significant win for the club.
“Every dollar counts for local sporting clubs, so anytime there is an opportunity for a sporting grant we jump at it. We realised it would be really competitive, with so many other Little Athletics centres applying for this one, so putting in a strong application was really important,” Mr Yorke said.
“The more clubs can raise from sponsorship and grants means that we can keep membership prices low, which is really important at the moment with the cost of living.”
He said the funding would directly improve both safety and efficiency at competitions.
“One of our main goals at Yarra Ranges is for our athletes to have fun at weekly competition, and part of this is ensuring we have created a safe environment with up-to-date equipment and resources,” Mr Yorke said.
“Hurdles can be a time-consuming event to organise, and with schools also booking our venue, most seasons we will end up with broken hurdles that need replaced, so it’s been great to replenish our hurdle stocks.”
“More marquee weights are another great addition for the centre, but an addition that will likely go unnoticed by the athletes. However, I’m sure the parents will appreciate on warm summer days our ability to erect multiple marquees around the ground to keep our athletes out of the sun, and not be worried about the marquee blowing away and causing injury.”
Mr Yorke also spoke about the challenges and opportunities that come with the club’s growing participation numbers.
“The growth in membership is fantastic, and we have witnessed this at our centre since COVID, as our numbers last season were almost double from five years ago,” he said.
“More athletes equals more equipment required to run a successful Saturday morning competition, so this funding ensures we can fast-track equipment replacement, which is usually a year-to-year proposition and comes out of the centre’s hard-earned funds.”
He highlighted the importance of community partnerships like Coles in supporting grassroots sport.
“Coles’ support of Little Athletics is one of the great sports sponsorships in Australia because the money flows right down to community level, which isn’t always the case in a lot of sports,” Mr Yorke said.
“When we visit other centres for meets you can clearly see the impact Coles has had on those centres, with them also being able to show off their shiny new equipment to conduct a competition. As well as the grants, we love Coles’ initiative of the free bananas each week.”
“It’s so important to promote healthy choices after competition, and week after week our two to three boxes of bananas disappear to refuel our athletes after a tiring but rewarding morning of competition.”
Mr Yorke said Yarra Ranges Athletics takes pride in building a strong, engaged community.
“One of the big advantages that Yarra Ranges has over other athletics clubs is that we are dual affiliated with both Little Athletics Victoria and Athletics Victoria as one club, so there is a seamless transition once our Little Athletes have reached their age limit at Little Athletics,” he said.
“This also allows our age leaders and parents to assist with the running of competition Saturday morning, and then be great role models themselves by competing or further volunteering at Saturday afternoon competitions.”
“We have a really strong core of volunteers who fill key roles on the committee, as age leaders, starting races, or working in the canteen, with each role vital for the club’s success.”
