In what has proven to be a once in a 30-year opportunity, Griffith is getting ready to host the Region Four Little Athletics Carnival.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The town is set to be inundated with around 780 young sporting competitors across both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, with pedestrian numbers estimated to be almost 2000.
Athletes and their families from as far as Wollongong and the NSW and Victorian border are expected to attend, and are in for a cracker weekend with the temperatures expected to stay below 32 degrees.
President of Griffith’ Little Athletics Veronica Cudmore and the committee have been planning this event since she made the submission to host four years ago.
Since the announcement, two years of planning has gone into making sure everything goes smoothly, with a lot of work going on behind the scenes to hold an event of this size.
While the competition is set to be fierce, Cudmore says most of the athletes have their eyes set on achieving personal bests.
They are also highly motivated to qualify to participate at the State Little Athletics Championships to be held in Sydney in March., and there is certainly some young stars expected to shine.
Between 1500-2000 people are expected to flood the town, giving the local economy a nice boost after the Christmas rush.
“It is a really great economic benefit to the town, every hotel is booked out for all reports, and the restaurants will be filled as well,” Cudmore said.
And in true Griffith style, many businesses and community organisations have banded together to help make the sports carnival a success.
With grants from the State Government and Griffith City Council, sponsorship from over 30 local businesses and volunteers pulling together, it has been a true community effort.
RELATED:
“Thanks to hard working committee and fellow sporting bodies that have helped us out,” Cudmore said.
“We have got 40 officials per day… it’s a big thing to find 40 volunteers to run everything and they’ve come from all over the region,” Cudmore said.
Events will run from 8am in the morning until around 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday at West End Oval.
***
While you're with us, did you know that you can now receive updates straight to your inbox every Monday at 6am from The Area News? To make sure you're up to date with all the Griffith and MIA news you can sign up here.