Gold Coast Little Athletics kids left devastated after hoons destroy Miami oval
Junior members of Gold Coast Little Athletics have been left heartbroken after hoons destroyed their club grounds over the weekend.
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
PRIMARY school aged budding Gold Coast athletes have had their training disrupted after hoons ripped up their club grounds by doing burnouts.
Juniors aged five to 12 from Gold Coast Little Athletics turned up to training on Saturday to find their oval destroyed.
The facility at Pizzey Drive, Miami was covered in tyre marks and completely unusable.
It is believed it will cost thousands of dollars to repair the damage done by the hoons, who took down a fence to do burnouts on the grass.
Steve Langley, who coaches some of the kids at Gold Coast Little Athletics, said the club had been targeted by hoons in the past but never this bad.
“It’s the worst damage I’ve ever seen done to the field,” Mr Langley said.
“The marks were quite deep. We will have to get a truck and excavator in, and returf it, but turf isn’t going to grow at this time of year.”
SUBSCRIBE TO THE BULLETIN: JUST $1 A WEEK FOR FIRST 12 WEEKS
The club’s main track was already closed for annual maintenance and won’t open for another month.
The athletes had been training in the middle of the field in the meantime, which was the area targeted for burnouts.
“The training must go on,” Mr Langley said.
OTHER NEWS
Former MAFS celebrant says he would ‘never’ do it again
Man arrested after Surfers Paradise death
Seagulls youth shines on national stage
“It’s a detrimental delay to primary school athletes in the middle of track season for school.”
A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said possible charges the perpetrator could face included wilful destruction or a traffic related offence.
Footage captured from recently installed CCTV cameras was given to police to assist their investigations.
Gold Coast Little Athletics is lobbying for a synthetic track which Mr Langley said would be the solution to their woes.
A synthetic track would not have to close annually and it would come with increased security to keep uninvited visitors away, he said.
Authorities quizzed on stiff penalties for crude vandals
Authorities have been pressed on what consequences await the vandals behind the shocking defacement of trees along Burleigh’s Oceanview track, which drew a larger-than-usual crowd on Sunday morning.
‘The last of the method artists’: Tributes to renowned Coast painter
Tributes are being paid after the death of a Gold Coast artist whose works were collected by the likes of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and former PM Sir Robert Menzies.