State-of-the-art athletics stadium ushers in new era of sporting excellence

Elite and junior athletes, local sporting groups, schools and spectators will benefit from the new state-of-the-art athletics stadium officially opened today by Premier Colin Barnett and Sport and Recreation Minister Terry Waldron.

"The WA Athletics Stadium will provide our sportsmen and women with world-class conditions. It also pays tribute to Western Australia's past sporting greats with the naming of the Shirley Strickland Grandstand and the Herb Elliott Drive," Mr Barnett said.

"Wally Foreman's contribution to sports media and dedication to the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) has been acknowledged with the naming of the Wally Foreman Walk."

The Premier said the WA Athletics Stadium had already been recognised as a high performance venue by Athletics Australia and would host the Commonwealth team selections and National Athletics championships in April 2010.

In opening the facility today, the Premier acknowledged the previous government's role in the project.

Mr Waldron said the new stadium would be WA's competition venue for elite athletes at major meets and home to the wider athletics community in the State.

"It will also be a great venue for State championships, club competition, inter-school meets as well as for Little Athletics," he said.

"The athletics stadium is just one of a suite of new facilities being built by the State Government, including basketball, rugby and gymnastics facilities, along with those recently completed such as the world-class rowing facility at Champion Lakes."

The stadium features:

• a 2,000 seat grandstand with capacity for a further 8,000 on grass banking

• duplicated event sites on the front and back straights (pole vault, long jump, triple jump, javelin, discus, shot put).

• stadium and grandstand orientation to take advantage of the prevailing wind conditions

• the Mondo track surface used at the Beijing Olympics and twelve-lane front and back straights with nine lanes on the bends

• the incorporation of energy-efficient stadium lighting to allow twilight and evening training and events.

• a grassed internal arena that has been designed to accommodate soccer (i.e. stadium is multi-purpose).

• a suite of energy and water saving devices and equipment such as waterless urinals, solar panels on the roof, flow controllers and timers on all taps.

• recycled water from the Subiaco Waste Water Treatment Plant will be used for irrigation purposes with bore water used for flushing and back-up purposes as well as a huge supply of rainwater, harvested from the roof of the grandstand.

"This is a great example of a facility that has been designed in close consultation with the target users," the Minister said.

"Both the WAIS and Athletics WA have been close collaborators with the team from the Department of Sport and Recreation."

The WA Athletics Stadium will be managed by Venues West (formerly the Western Australian Sports Centre Trust).

Premier's office - 9222 9475

Sport and Recreation Minister's office - 9213 7200