After years of rutted dirt and cancelled meets, Parksville runners finally have a safe, $1.6-million track to call their own.
For years, runners braved an old track behind Ballenas Secondary.
“The old just dirt and grass track, it was so hard to run. It was kind of slippery,” said eight-year-old Sione Ash.
“Elementary and secondary schools here, they’ve had to cancel their sports day for the last three years running because the last track was actually too dangerous to use,” said Mark Desvaux, and organizer with the Oceanside Community Track Association.
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Hundreds came together from Parksville-Qualicum with a dream of a community track with cushioning and accessibility ramps, so that Special Olympics athletes could train.
Community members came together and they hosted bottle drives and unique fundraisers to build the track, which is located behind Ballenas Secondary on Parksville’s Pym Street.
“Isn’t this wonderful? It makes me so happy,” said Jane Waite, a coach with Oceanside Track & Field.
“It’s one of the most amazing things that we can have now for the whole community,” said Desvaux.
“Twenty-seven years of work to get this track built. And it happened because the community came together, it happened because people believed in the dream.”
The first runners to try it out couldn’t wait for Saturday’s official opening.
“This is really nice. It’s just nice to get out in the fresh air, and you know the companionship of all my friends. Some of us went to high school together. That was a long time ago,” said Oceanside senior Wayne Deal.
“I’ve seen people with injuries that are coming and using the track now, and I heard a man yesterday say ‘Wow, that’s the first 800 metres I’ve walked in the last 20 years,’ said Karl Binder, a coach with Ballenas Secondary.