It was with great pleasure that we welcomed our Mayor, Cr Andrea Metcalfe as our guest speaker to a recent Rotary meeting.
Andrea spoke enthusiastically about Bendigo holding many of the events associated with the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
She spoke about most countries having at least 8 years to prepared for the Games, but Victoria has only four years! At this point the events being held in the Bendigo region will be – Cricket T20, Lawn Bowls and Para Lawn Bowls, Netball, Squash, Weightlifting & Para Powerlifting. There might even be a chance that Mountain Biking could be held at the Harcourt facility.
There appear to be many opportunities our region can benefit from the games including the chance of La Trobe health students being able to work alongside the Games medical staff, and athlete’s village will be built – site yet to be decided. Accommodation for visitors and Games staff will be a major challenge with approximately 1500 beds required for the Athlete’s Village and 600 for Games support staff - not to mention the visitors/spectators! It is expected that approximately 1.4 million tickets will be sold to events within the State. Other planning that will need to be addressed will be transport, WIFI accessibility and the goal of the Games being carbon neutral.
Comments