Billie 'speed demon' Boele trains with the best but just wants chance to be with other kids

JUNIOR wheelchair racer Billie Boele has nowhere to train and compete in the Ku-ring-gai area.

JUNIOR wheelchair racer Billie Boele is known as a 'speed demon' but she has nowhere to train and compete in the Ku-ring-gai area.

Billie, 6, of Gordon, who has cerebral palsy, requires a tartan track to race on and, without any ovals with tartan tracks in Ku-ring-gai, she is forced to travel to Homebush.

The youngster trains under the guidance of Australian Paralympians Rosemary Little and Louise Sauvage.

The Year 1 John Colet School student said it was "very weird" to race on grass as it hurt her hands when she pushed harder.

Nicknamed the "speed demon" by her mother, Billie said it was a thrill to race on a tartan track.

"I go fast," she said.

Billie raced in her first 50m race on Australia Day in the Wheelchair Sports NSW Oz Day 10k race in The Rocks.

Her mother Heike Fabig said it was disappointing there was no suitable track in Ku-ring-gai.

"It's a crying shame not just for disabled athletes but for able-bodied athletes as well," she said.

Heike said it was inspiring for her daughter to train with Paralympic champions but she was missing out on training with her friends.

"That sort of interaction is just as important as the athletics part of it," she said.

"For children who are disabled, it's not easy to socialise."

In August, Billie will join Manly-Warringah Little Athletics where she will train on a tartan track at Narrabeen.

A Ku-ring-gai Council spokeswoman said tartan athletics tracks were used for regional events and were not common.

"They're very expensive to put in, that's why you only find them in a few places," she said.

"Currently Council does not have plans to install a tartan track and we don't have a lot of demand from the community for this type of track."

Last August, Knox and Abbotsleigh announced that they would not be lodging a development application for a synthetic athletics track at the Glade Reserve in Wahroonga.