Club back in the race

Mick Pearce with Lucky Girl Lee and Mick Dunner with Harbour Power at the One Mile greyhound training track.

Sarah Harvey

CHRISTINE Bourke would not have believed it if you’d told her.

When the floods hit the West Moreton Greyhound Owners and Trainers Association training tracks at Chubb Street, One Mile, in January, it looked like the end for the volunteer-based club.

The damage bill was looking at being something in the range of $100,000 and no-one could have envisaged raising that sort of money.

Not in six months anyway.

“We lost everything,” WMOTA secretary Bourke said.

That included $60,000 worth of fencing and $5000 worth of sand.

“There were great big ruts in the track,” Bourke said.

“It just made you cry when you think of all the work that went into the place and it’s gone.

“But we were lucky; we had a lot of help.”

The Ipswich City Council provided a lot of the new fencing while volunteer Peter Dunn was responsible for replacing much of it, working himself in his own time after his regular work with his own equipment.

An army of volunteers rebuilt the track.

“There were about 20 of our volunteers,” Bourke said.

“We also had help from Engineering Australia.

“They donated a day, about 25 of them.

“Atkinson’s Dam donated the turf.

“Some ladies came down and cooked barbecue lunch and provided drinks for the volunteers.

“Ipswich Greyhounds donated money for a new sprinkler system.”

There was also cash donations, one of $1000 and another of $1000 worth of sand. Now trainers are using the track again and Bourke still finds it amazing.

“Never in a million years did we think it would be up and running so soon,” she said.

“It’s hard to believe when you see it that it was like it was.

“We’re on the home straight now.

“There’s still a little bit of fencing to do.

“It’s quite unbelievable.

“You could have put a body into the holes in the track, they were that deep.”

Bourke was inspired by the immediate response of the volunteers and the extent of their commitment to getting the track functional again.

“It’s a lot of people’s livelihoods,” she said.

“We’ve been very lucky.

“We’ve had a lot of help.”