New era for sport on the Garden Route

Monday 23 June's official opening of the World Athletics Class 2 accredited track at Rosemoor marked the start of a new era for George and the Garden Route.

- Jacqueline Herbst

"We're going to change the Garden Route with sport, because we have a mayor that spends the money correctly," said the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, committing to release funding for more sports facilities and infrastructure such as swimming pools.

The state-of-the-art R40m tartan track's World Athletics accreditation clears the way for full provincial and national competitions, including throwing events, to be held in one city. Since the lapsing of its accreditation, the Oudtshoorn Athletics Track (OAT) has lost the ability to host throwing events such as javelin and hammer throw. As a consequence, such events have had to be split between the OAT and Hoërskool Outeniqua (an hour's drive apart) to accommodate the full range of track and field events.