RACQ driving force for sport and safety
THE Hinchinbrook community has been given a massive boost by the RACQ Foundation, which has stumped up a six-figure sum for the development of an athletics field and donated a shiny new car to help high school students gain their open licences.
At a ceremony at Ingham State High School on Thursday afternoon, Herbert River Athletics Club secretary Brenda Oats thanked RACQ delegates for “basically saving our club”.
The club, based at the flood-prone George Day
Oval near the school, last year shuttered after 50 years.
Ms Oats said the $100,000 RACQ grant had revived the fortunes of the club, which would relocate to the high school.
She said the funding allowed for the construction of a shed that would incorporate a club house and storage facility as well as the creation of a grass running track.
“This funding will cover installation of the shed and hopefully running track – the fields will be laser levelled basically straight away.”
Ms Oats said the club had also applied for additional funding to cover the costs of
installing a long and triple jump pit as well as shot put and discus circles.
“My goal is to have proper facilities that you would normally have to go to Townsville for,” she said.
RACQ community and education manager David Contarini said the Herbert River Athletics Club matched the organisation’s grant criteria “perfectly”.
“There was a need in the community to keep that service going and North Queensland has had many wonderful, wonderful athletes over the years and it just didn’t seem right that this whole community and the
athletics that they enjoy was going to stop simply because we couldn’t find another venue,” he said.
Mr Contarini said the RACQ Foundation was about helping community groups recover from disaster, which North Queensland had in spades.
In news that has delighted Ingham State High School teenagers, RACQ, in conjunction with ARTIE Academy, provided the school with a Hyundai i30 to help learner drivers complete their mandatory 100 hours of driving practise and ultimately gain their driver’s licences.
The car and an accompa
nying adult driver is now available for student use, with bookings opening on Friday.
Mr Contarini said the donation aimed to ensure new Ingham drivers had as much experience as possible before graduating to open licences.
“Research throughout the world says that if you can practise at least 100 hours before getting your licence, you’re going to survive the first number of years in those really critical years … red Pplates are over represented in crash statistics,” he said.
He said obtaining a driver’s licence was critical in rural communities, including for securing employment.