Remarkable Relayathon result

THE little athletes of Bacchus Marsh have punched well above their weight, notching up the second highest Good Friday Appeal tally for any Little Athletics club in the state.

A whopping $11,627 was the final tally raised through Bacchus Marsh Little Athletics Centre’s overall Relayathon efforts with the impressive sum donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital over Easter.

“We were very excited. That’s the most we’ve ever raised and we ended up second in the state among Little Athletics clubs,” said BMLAC records and ranking officer Linda Thompson.

“We were just pipped out by Cranbourne but we’re still pretty proud of our efforts. They’ve got around 700 members where we just have over 200.”

The annual Relayathon has a long history among Little Athletics Victoria with clubs around the state participating to raise dollars for the the GFA.

When BMLAC contributed their handsome tally it was a culmination of many months of fundraising fun that ranged from crazy sock and hair days to the actual Relayathon itself.

Nicholas Ibrahim passes the baton to Deegan Doyle in the five-hour-long relay as part of BMLAC’s Relayathon effort.

From 7am to 12pm on 28 February, the club’s little athletes across all age-groups participated, running legs in a continuous relay for five solid hours.

“We did 224 laps at Masons Lane Reserve. It was a very, very busy day,” Thompson said.

Quite a few others also joined in and supported the event with Member for Eureka Michaela Settle and Moorabool Shire mayor Cr Steve Vendetti-Taylor among the guests who ran a leg.

By the end of that day, all up they’d covered a total of 89.6kms.

“We raised a lot on that day. We had online donations coming in throughout the day. It was an extremely rewarding effort and all going to the Royal Children’s Hospital,” Thompson said.

“The kids love it and the community got right behind the event. We had people come down and participate in it.”

BMLAC’s tally fed into the overall sum that Little Athletics Victoria ultimately presented to the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, an impressive $83,291.91 cents .

“Little Athletics Vic have been participating in the Royal Children’s Hospital appeal for well over 50 years and this year they’ve contributed the second highest tally ever,” Thompson said.