Cross country racing with a touch of pink

WOADY Yaloak Athletics Club’s Pink Run took off to encourage female participation in sport last week.

The five-day event was part of the club’s annual junior cross-country season, and invited young girls and the women in their life to get active together on dirt tracks in the Ross Creek State Forest.

Coordinator, Peter Luke set up this course and many others in the last 20 weeks across the north of Golden Plains Shire, ensuring young athletes could continue to be competitive runners in their own time.

“We’ve set up virtual running, where families can head out to the week’s course between Wednesday and Sunday, run, time themselves, take a photo, and I collate aggregate points,” he said.

“We’ve had quite a few mums and their girls running. We encouraged everyone, including the boys, to get dressed up in their pink colours for the latest run, as opposed to their club singlets, to show support for women and girls in sport.”

WYAC organises a different running course each week, on gravel or dirt walking tracks. Based in the Smythesdale, Scarsdale, Haddon, Ross Creek and State Forest areas, they always vary in difficulty.

Under sixes run between 400 metres and 500 metres, under eights and 10s run between 800 metres and 1400 metres, under 12s travel around 2.5 kilometres, and the under 14s run between 3.5 kilometres and 4kilometres.

“If any parents are running and want to go further, they do an extra lap, but 4 kilometres on these tracks that are often up-hill is pretty difficult,” Mr Luke said.

“We’ve been getting a lot of feedback from them saying it’s been something ongoing that their whole family can do, and get out and about together,”

WYAC’s summer track and field season is planned to begin next month at Haddon Recreation Reserve.

Regardless of COVID-19 restrictions, a competition will operate in some capacity, even if the community is in home isolation.

“We can’t make any decisions yet, but we will be doing something,” Mr Luke said.

A track and field Pink Day is on the agenda for November. Visit facebook.com/WoadyYaloakAthleticsClub.