Sport
Sports in general are well supported by the Bathurst community. The Bathurst Regional Council and NSW State Government have contributed significant funds over the past decade to build new facilities, such as a new heated Aquatic Centre, an Indoor Sports Stadium, Hockey Complex and major upgrade of the track, new pit complex and spectator facilities at the Mount Panorama circuit. The Hockey Complex is an advanced facility which includes water and sand based fields as well as numerous grass fields. Bathurst has had a long association with competitive Hockey at the National level. The city provides dedicated sports facilities for motor racing, Rugby League (part of Group 10), Rugby Union, AFL, Athletics, Cricket, Netball, Tennis, Football and Touch Football. There are over 70 different sporting groups and organisations in the region from the Academy of Dance, croquet, aero, pony clubs, through to the football, rugby, cricket and cycling. Cycling is increasingly considered a speciality sport of the Bathurst Region with ideal road and community facilities around the city. The Bathurst Cycling Club is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia founded in 1884.
Sports grounds around Bathurst:
- Alan Morse Park – cricket and athletics
- Anne Ashwood Park – rugby union (Bathurst Bulldogs Rugby Union Club)
- Bathurst Sportsground – turf cricket pitch, rugby league / rugby union field, velodrome, and turf 'track and field' facilities – home of Bathurst Panthers Rugby League Club & others
- Bathurst Indoor Sports Stadium – basketball, volleyball, netball, soccer and badminton courts
- Brooke Moore Oval – 3 synthetic cricket nets, and 1 turf cricket pitch
- Carrington Park – rugby league, and rugby union
- Cooke Hockey Complex – 9 grass hockey fields, 3 synthetic hockey fields
- Cubis Park Facilities – 2 synthetic cricket pitches, and 2 full size rugby league / soccer fields
- Eglinton Oval
- George Park – AFL, and cricket
- John Matthews Complex – 14 all weather netball courts, and tennis
- Learmonth Park – 4 synthetic cricket pitches, and 9 touch football fields (turf)
- Marsden Estate - table tennis tournament
- Proctor Park – 12 turf soccer fields
- Police Paddock – 2 synthetic cricket pitches, and 2 full sized turf soccer fields
- Ralph Cameron Oval, Raglan – 2 tennis courts, 3 cricket nets, 2 synthetic cricket wickets
- Walmer Park
Gliding is a popular activity and there is a large gliding community in Bathurst. The participant numbers are boosted by Bathurst being the closest gliding centre to Sydney. Gliding takes place at Pipers Airfield which is approximately 5 kilometres to the north of the city. Gliding also occurs most school holidays at the Bathurst Regional Airport where Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC) from No.327 Flight learn to fly.
Bathurst, with its young demographic, has established modern sporting competitions such as the Newtons Nation event. At this event, held at Mount Panorama, young people can participate in modern sports such as BMX Dirt Bikes, Mountain Bikes, Wakeboarding, Parkour, Flatland BMX, Krumping, Skateboarding, and Luge.
Read more about this topic: Bathurst, New South Wales
Famous quotes containing the word sport:
“Every American travelling in England gets his own individual sport out of the toy passenger and freight trains and the tiny locomotives, with their faint, indignant, tiny whistle. Especially in western England one wonders how the business of a nation can possibly be carried on by means so insufficient.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)