All-abilities projects up for awards

TWO local events, and an open space, have been named Victorian Disability Sport and Recreation Awards finalists.

Solve Disability Solutions lead local Freedom Wheels bike clinics for people of all abilities, and quarterly free Inclusive Community Sports Days are respectively up for VicHealth Initiative of the Year and VicHealth Active Recreation and Leisure Initiative of the Year.

Solve leisure therapist Tim Marchinton said he was grateful that their work had been recognised by the awards for a second time.

“The Inclusive Community Sports Days are all about people trying sports that are available to them at local clubs, and it’s really powerful to stand back and watch the magic happen,” he said.

“The idea is that people form great relationships in their own community. The days are really delightful, watching families meet other families, and feeling welcome and included.

“Sport should be open to everyone, and there are so many wonderful outcomes from being involved in a local sporting group.”

The Inclusive Community Sports Days are designed to connect people of all abilities through sport, and link clubs with potential members.

Solve staff build unique devices, including the Freedom Wheels bikes, to assist people with their movement and aim to ensure they can enjoy the physical, social, and mental health benefits of sport.

Meanwhile, Woowookarung Regional Park’s Dementia Friendly Forest and Sensory Trail is a contender in the Polytan Inclusive Sport, Recreation or Open Space Infrastructure Award.

Wattle Flat’s Thomson Hay Landscape Architects received an AILA Victoria Landscape Architecture Award in the Health and Education Landscape category for the dementia trail earlier in 2022, which was co-designed with Bigger Hearts Dementia Alliance Ballarat, Parks Victoria, and Friends of Canadian Corridor.

The one-kilometre compacted gravel trail, with wetlands, a boardwalk, and six circular outdoor rooms, is accessible for people of all abilities, wheelchairs, and walkers.