KLAC started in 1979 at Blackmans Bay Primary School oval, events were offered for athletes aged from U7 to U12.
The club was founded by Ken Worsnop and Bill Essex. Bill had contacted Chris Wilson at Athletics Tasmania who suggested forming a Little Athletic Centre in the area.
At the time, Kingborough was an area with many young families. As a result, Little Athletics was actively embraced by both children and their parents.
Three clubs were formed; Blackmans Bay (red t-shirts), Kingston (yellow t-shirts) and St. Aloysius (blue t-shirts). The coloured t-shirts were seen as the easiest way to identify athletes. The State body designated green and white tops for our athletes to wear at State meets.
The track was marked out each week by committee members using a machine constructed by one of the local parents. Lime was used to mark the track, this was mixed by members.
The club relocated after 2 years, where it moved to Kingston Primary School oval. This was to enable the construction of a shed for equipment. Before this, most gear was stored in a committee members garage and transported in Ken’s car each week. The Centre has certainly come a long way, as the below video from 8th December 1984 shows! (Video credit: Terry Pearce).
The first President of KLAC was Colin Williams.
Athletes traditionally ran in bare feet until, Neil Sargison from Talays (the local sports shop), attended a meet. Neil set up a stall selling shoes suitable for running. This soon caught on and eventually it became compulsory for shoes to be worn at State meets.
The first State representative from the Centre was Rachael Mason from the Blackmans Bay club, this representation was well celebrated.
The annual fund-raising event was a Steak Out. This proved to be a great success, an efficient way of raising funds while getting to know everyone.
State titles were limited to the first place holders of each event at Centre Championships. This meant that someone who had been the best all year may be unable to compete if they didn’t win the event at Centre champs.
We finished at the Centre in 1984 when our son finished in U12. Doug Williams continued on for many years as he had younger children.
Author Unknown.