With less than a 1000 days to go until the 2026 Commonwealth Games, City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali is calling for greater support to ensure the event leaves a lasting legacy for all of regional Victoria.
As deputy chair of Regional Cities Victoria (RCV), Sali unveiled ‘‘The Winning Formula for Regional Victoria’’ document on Wednesday which outlines the priorities ahead of the major international tournament.
Shepparton is locked in to host cycling events, including the Road Time Trial, and the BMX Racing competition at the next Commonwealth Games.
“Shepparton launched an ambitious regional Victoria Commonwealth Games concept nearly six years ago with the idea being to showcase each of the regions which make Victoria such a bold and dynamic state. It is fantastic to see this idea now come to life as we quickly approach the 1000 day mark until the Games are here,” Sali said.
The document, highlighted by six key components — Pre-Games hosting, Infrastructure, Cultural experiences, Tourism, Business opportunities, skilled workers and volunteers — provides recommendations on how best to provide a lasting impact on not just the five hosting cities, but the entire state.
At Wednesday’s launch, Sali called for $2 million of infrastructure funding to be handed to each of the 10 cities that make up RCV to help conduct repairs and upgrades for facilities and a further $30 million of the ‘’Regional Parks and Civic Space Program’’ to create new parkland and upgrade existing open spaces.
Sali highlighted the infrastructure, tourism and visitor economy recommendations as some of the most important for not only Shepparton, but for regional Victoria.
“We have already got an international-standard BMX facility which is a fortunate thing for us, clearly around it some cosmetic upgrades are required,” he said.
“The funding we are looking for, the $2 million, if successful will go into the existing sports precinct ... I think as you can appreciate a significant amount of money is going to go into delivering these Games, 2.6 billion investment in total ... the $2 million is a reasonable ask for us to achieve some minor upgrades along the journey to 2026.
“The discussions I’ve been having with people now regarding the Commonwealth Games is effectively exposing our region to a global audience.
“We are going to have regional and local businesses become global businesses just because of that exposure ... the tourism and visitor economy is vitally important.”
World champion BMX rider Leigh Egan and Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Brett Lancaster were in attendance on Wednesday.
The Shepparton natives expressed their excitement at witnessing the Goulburn Valley become a host region come 2026.
“It’s a different concept compared to previous Games, with events all over the state, and it’s a new thing for athletes,” Lancaster said.
“When I first competed I was only 18 years old and straight out of high school and the memories have stayed forever. Just the international side of things and meeting people around the world who I’m still friends with today, you can’t get that anywhere else.”
Lancaster hoped to see funding put into upgrading the roads and infrastructure across the region.
“In Shepparton we do need upgrades,” he said.
“Road safety will be a big thing for the time trial ... we need more funding into our roads. Also we need to keep in mind, these athletes will be turning up to Shepparton a week, maybe 10 days before from all around the world. They will be out on the roads training, so we need to look at education for drivers and ensure their safety.”
For Egan, the current site of the world-class BMX course is where he cut his teeth in his teenage years before he scaled the international heights of BMX racing.
“It’s a special place for me,” he said.
“To have so many people be there, somewhere I spent a lot of time by myself, it will bring back a lot of memories. My dad had a big part in the early days there and he’s passed now, so it will be exciting and sad as well, but I’m looking forward to it and I’ll sit back and I’ll take it all in.”