Aths Day runs in the nick of time for Bellbrae PS

TIME was on the side of Bellbrae Primary School when they hosted their long-awaited athletics day at Landy Field in South Geelong, just hours before the start of Victoria’s latest lockdown.

According to the school’s vice principal, it was great to tick last Thursday’s carnival off especially given the anticipation leading up to the day.

“It was really good to get the event done, particularly for the kids,” vice principal Louise Kahle said.

“Just having some kind of normality was really good.”

The day was run by part-time Grade 6 teacher and organiser for all of Bellbrae’s larger sporting events, Hayley Mooney, who said the day was a massive success.

“It was fantastic, we had a great day,” she said.

“We had to cancel our athletics day earlier before the previous snap lockdown because of COVID, so it was good to be able to get the kids back out and enjoy some of their sporting activities.”

Parents were allowed to come and watch from a distance but were not allowed to mingle with the kids given the COVID-19 restrictions at the time.

Around 320 kids participated in the school’s athletics day with students ranging from grades two to six.

“In terms of the organisation, the day ran really smoothly which is a testament to Ms Mooney,” Ms Kahle said.

“The kids had a great day and one of the kids was heard saying it was the best day ever.

“It was just good to do something normal in these trying times.”

The final house tallies and age group winners are still being totalled according to Ms Kahle, however it remains unlikely that the City to Surf event will go ahead next week due to the current rules surrounding schools mixing with one another.