SURFACES have been debated and facilities scrutinised in the first step towards Barden Park's multi-million dollar redevelopment during an observational trip to Sydney.
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Representatives from Dubbo City Council, Dubbo Athletics Club and the community visited Homebush, Blacktown and Campbelltown athletic centres.
Dubbo Athletics Club president David Williams and Dubbo Mayor Mathew Dickerson were among the group of nine that found the trip vital to the process.
"It was very important and we got a lot out of it, a tour of the (Homebush) track, looking at storage facilities, the grandstand," Mr Williams said.
Looking at logistics such as costs for tracks, they also met with Athletics NSW and Little Athletics to discuss their requirements.
"We may have been premature but we pushed for the NSW Country Championships to be held in Dubbo every year, and we will keep pushing as we build the facility," Cr Dickerson said.
"The application we put in was largely based on promoting a regional facility and we will attract some of those events," Mr Williams said.
Mayor Dickerson said the track and grandstand would come under separate consideration, but the timeframe for a track was closing in.
"The decision would be about four to six months away for a track, the whole completion date is April 2014," he said.
With the athletics season set to warm up in the next month, Mr Williams said many of his club's older students understood what the redevelopment would potentially mean.
"Those that have competed in carnivals (already) are excited," he said.
"A lot of kids know the metropolitan and regional differences, to train and compete on it (a synthetic track) will make a difference."
Mr Williams said that numbers generally tended to rise in clubs during Olympic years and thought the combination of current events would fall in their favour, as suggestion the funding was well sought.
The Barden Park Regional Centre for Excellence for Athletics in Dubbo will receive $3.5 million from round two of the Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF).
Major components include synthetic running and field event surfaces and the construction of a 500-seat grandstand facility.
The state government and Dubbo City Council will fund the rest of the $5.3 million centre.
