Games legacy’s athletic failure
ATHLETICS figureheads say the lack of facilities around the Gold Coast will prevent clubs from capitalising on the boom in participation numbers the Commonwealth Games are set to deliver.
Sharon Hannan, the highprofile coach affiliated with Gold Coast Victory Athletics Club, predicted youngsters will soon flock to the sport.
“The (little athletics) season that starts in August of this year will be massive,” she said.
“Centres will struggle to cope with the numbers I’m sure.
“The crowds walking into the stadiums, it is probably 90 per cent adults with children.
“(On Sunday) there was a family sitting in front of us, there was a family sitting behind us. They knew nothing about athletics, they just brought the kids along and the kids were so excited, asking questions and getting into it.”
Her club, which generally works with athletes from secondary school age onwards, is in for challenges with Griffith University taking control of their campus-based track.
Hannan said training times would become restricted for all athletes, with hammer throwers no longer allowed to practise at Griffith, where the throwing cage will be removed as sporting fields become the priority.
“The original big documents for the Commonwealth Games had brand new headquarters for athletics on the Gold Coast, which was at Carrara, and there was meant to be a 3000-seat stadium at the warm-up track but that’s not going to happen,” she said. “There’s no win for athletics.”
Chris Lewis, of the Gold Coast Central Athletics Club, is equally disappointed about the facilities situation.
“It is probably the biggest drawer of crowds than any other sport in the Games … (but) as far as athletics is concerned, we are not going to have a lasting legacy,” he said.
“We don’t have one public synthetic track. You go to Bundaberg, they have got one. Cairns has got one, Townsville has got one, Dubbo has got one.
Lewis said from his experience, participation levels generally rise in Commonwealth and Olympic Games years but fall back in between.
Hannan added: “Numbers will grow and the good thing is that will put pressure on venues and maybe we will get some more.”