Fifty-three years on the track
The Leeton Little Athletics Centre opened its first meet on a hot Saturday in November 1973, with thirty-two children, four foam hurdles, and a stopwatch borrowed from the high school. The Riverina was in the middle of a record-dry summer. Eight of those thirty-two children would still be members three seasons later.
Five decades on, the centre runs fourteen meets a season, sends athletes to the state championships in two-thirds of years, and holds thirty-eight standing centre records in the books. The kids today wear timing chips and run on a synthetic track, but the rhythm hasn't changed — first heats at 9 am, sausage sandwich at the kiosk by ten, finals before the heat picks up at noon.
This is where they learn to lose well, and where one in five learns to win.