Parkes Little Athletics kids have received some nifty, much-needed sporting equipment to help them better their skills in a sport they love and host their annual gala day.
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An $1800 grant from Coles has enabled the club to buy the new sports gear, thanks to funds raised through the sale of Coles' Community Chiller Bags.
Parkes Little Athletics is one of 316 centres across Australia to share in more than $1.1 million in sports equipment grants from Coles.
Parkes Little Athletics president Christy Jessep said the generous grant will make a big difference to the club, which needed new equipment to continually provide a high quality and safe weekly experience for its young athletes.
"The grant we have received from the Coles Little Athletics Grant Program has allowed us to purchase some much needed equipment for our weekly competition and our yearly gala day," she said.
"The new training hurdles will provide a safe training environment for our young athletes and the new high jump equipment will enable us to run two high jump events simultaneously."
The club was able to purchase two Vortex, shot put ground markers, numbered marking flags, stopwatches, two new javelins, four foam javelins for training, one shot put, four discus, training hurdles, high jump stands and cross bar, and a measuring wheel.
"This grant allows us to have the necessary equipment without raising our registration fees to keep athletics affordable for children in our community," Christy said.
"It is great to see Parkes Little Athletics growing in size again."
Christy said this year they saw an increase in the number of athletes who represented Parkes in the Western Zone Carnival in Dubbo in November.
A number of these children have progressed through to the Regional Carnival, also held in Dubbo at the beginning of February in 2020.
The following athletes proudly represented Parkes at the zone carnival were: Lucas Edwards (Under 11s), Haidin Hodge (U11), Ryan Hodge (U8), Makhavell Hornery (U10), Shaykharn Hornery (U13), Jack Jessep (U14), Pippa Robinson (U10), Addison Wild (U8) and Emily Wild (U7).
Parkes Little Athletics will hold its annual gala day on Sunday, March 8 next year.
The event, which last year attracted 90 athletes, sees people travelling from Forbes, Dubbo, Orange, Narromine, Nyngan and Sydney to compete.
"It's quite big and it's getting bigger each year," Christy said.
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