A cash splash will help the CATS

The Cobar Athletics & Triathlon Squad (CATS) club has been awarded a $5,000 sporting grant for the purchase of an automatic timing system.

The club is one of 14 projects in the Barwon region and part of the 831 that have received funding as part of the NSW Government’s Local Sport Grant Program.

CATS’ club president Zoë Harland said they were excited to hear they were successful in their grant application.

“This is great news. Once it’s set up it will be easier for us to run our events and less work for volunteers,” Ms Harland said.

With the new timing system, which is hooked up to a computer, competitors will wear an electronic waterproof wrist tag and they will pass through an electronic gate at the end of each leg that records their time.

The timing system will record each competitor’s overall time and also be able to provide split times for each leg of a triathlon (ie the swim, ride and run legs).

Member for Barwon Kevin Humphries made the grant announcements last week with the CATS club and 13 other Barwon recipients to share in $50,000 worth of funding for local sports clubs and community initiatives.

Mr Humphries said sport was the lifeblood of rural communities and investment in local sport was an important focus for the community.

“The program provides grants of up to $20,000 towards projects to assist regions with rallying the community together and ensuring ongoing involvement in sport,” Mr Humphries said.

He said the NSW government is committed to supporting grassroots sport and improving participation rates across the state.

“We know that sport has many proven health, social and economic outcomes and I encourage eligible clubs to apply for the next round of funding.

“Projects that are eligible include upgrades to local amenities or improving access to facilities, training programs and community events,” concluded Mr Humphries.

He urges other local sporting groups to apply for the 2018 program applications which open later this year.

For more information about the grants program visit, https://sport.nsw.gov.au/clubs/grants/localsport