THE athletic dreams of children from Dubbo and the surrounds have become more achievable with the completion and officially opening of world-class facility, Barden Park Centre of Excellence for Athletics.
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The facility was officially opened by key figures behind it's construction, Dubbo City Council, Director Parks and Landcare, Murray Wood, Dubbo Mayor Mathew Dickerson, Member for Dubbo and Deputy Premier Troy Grant and Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton.
The State, Federal and Local Government representatives agreed the $5.691 million facility was a result of the cooperation from the three government levels.
Dubbo Mayor Mathew Dickerson said the facility was almost not build at all, if not for added assistance from Mark Coulton, Troy Grant and John Walkom and Regional Development Australia (RDA).
"The reason we are sitting in this amazing 598-seat grandstand looking out across this international, world-class facility is because of the perseverance and determination of Council to bring this to partition," he said.
"The first application we made for this facility we got knocked back on and it would've been easy for Dubbo City Council to say 'oh it well it was just a pipe dream, we had a bit of a go, let's just give up.'"
But Dubbo City Council sought help from Mr Coulton, Mr Grant and Mr Walkom, realised why they did not get the application past the first time and reapplied with a refined application.
Funding for the facility consisted of $1.256 million from State Government, $958,000 from Local Government and $3.477 million from the Federal Government.
Mr Coulton said he was pleased to be involved in Barden Park, a facility that he said will help to bridge the gap between city and country.
"This will be a regional facility just to enable kids to have a crack on a facility that our city cousins take for granted," he said.
Junior Sportsperson of the Year Payton Smede spoke of the advantages young athletes will have performing on a international-standard track.
And Nathan Reilly the first Indigenous man to complete the New York Marathon through the Indigenous Marathon Project (IMP) was showcased by the IMP-associated former world champion marathon runner Robert De Castella.
Mr Grant said Barden Park will encourage children from Dubbo and Western NSW to chase their athletic dreams.
"We have the opportunity to embrace communities not just in Dubbo but right across Western NSW," he said.
"To give them access to a world-class athletics facility where not only the sport of athletics across many disciplines can be showcased and developed here. "We have a wonderful infield where other sporting bodies can come, particularly with the accommodation, the opportunity to bring development officers to help develop the skills of our young kids and help them to reach their dreams.
"This is now the reality thanks to the co-operation that has gone into the project- this is as good as it gets."
Mayor Dickerson said a school co-ordinator told him 14,000 school children will use the facility in terms two and three next year.
He agreed with Mr Grant and said the facility raised the calibre of the city.
"It's just another wonderful facility that Dubbo has that lifts our standard overall in Dubbo to a new standard," Mayor Dickerson said.
"Our kids can dream now about not just what they'll do on the local level, but they can dream about state, national and international level."
Mayor Dickerson concluded $2 million of $5.691 million spent on facility went to local wages.
205 workers were employed to work on the facility- 95 percent of those were from local businesses with local employees.
"This facility is owned by the local community and will be utilised by the local community and the local region," Mayor Dickerson said.