Bathurst Athletics Club still dreaming of its own purpose-built facility in the future

The club held its annual general meeting (AGM) last month, where Mike Curtin was once again re-elected, with a few new faces joining a very familiar committee line-up.

While it seems the club's short-term home will continue to be Morse Park, Curtin and his team are playing the waiting game when it comes to a long-term venue.

"The biggest challenge that we face is what happens with a venue," he said.

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"I've heard a tender has been awarded for the study they're going to do up at CSU but nothing has come out at the moment. We just have to wait.

"There was talk to get us back to the Sportsground, but as a committee we're not interested in that. It's like playing cricket on Carrington Park, there's no point.

"It's not the right size, it's not the right shape. On a circular track, what the Sportsground would be, you'll be able to get 400 metres but athletes won't be able to know where they are in relation to the finish, which makes it hard to train on."

In February earlier this year, the Western Advocate reported that both CSU and Bathurst Regional Council chipped in $50,000 to commission a feasibility study for an athletics facility on the Bathurst campus.

CSU Bathurst's director of external engagement Julia Andrews said it was done in response to community interest in the concept.

However, she stressed that there is no allocation in CSU's budget to develop an athletics facility.

Like CSU, Curtin said funding remains a big obstacle for the athletics club.

"In principal, there are many people who think [this track] is a great idea," he said.

"t's all about getting it to happen and the most difficult thing is finding funding.

"It's a facility that transcends local, state and federal government.

"If it ends up at CSU, universities are funded federal, it has state importance for cost and of course it's going to be in our local government area.

"It could be a really good project, if all three teams got together."

In terms of the club's relationship with the schools around Bathurst, it continues to grow.

The club's timing system, which was acquired by the club in 2020, has been used by a number of schools in town.

"The timing system we're using is being used by all schools in Bathurst, which is great," Curtin said.

"The club's position is that if you use the timing system, you have to be involved in the club in some way. We've had teachers coming down, learning how to use the system.

"It's been really positive and it's certainly fostering relationships between the club and schools.

"Given that athletics is the only sport that K-12 in the NSW school syllabus, it's really great that the athletics club is developing those relationships."

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