KEY POINTS:
The next-generation Valerie Vili could get her start in Manukau City with the building of a new athletics track and training facility there.
The $1.2 million all-weather track - funded by the city council - will soon be in place at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga, where more than 500 children train throughout the week.
A sod-turning ceremony was held yesterday and Vili - the reigning Olympic shot-put champion and a member of the Pakuranga Athletic Club for about five years - was there to start the digging.
"It's going to be great," she said. "Once this is in, we'll have a better place for kids to train and, who knows, more success - we'll have to wait and see."
New facilities including clubrooms and a grandstand are also planned.
These will cost up to a further $1.2 million and will be funded by the Pakuranga Athletic Charitable Trust, which has already raised $500,000.
It is appealing to the community for help completing the project.
Chairman Don Hitchings said the new track and facilities would no doubt help to develop new Olympians.
He said the new facilities would help the club retain athletes.
"We have kids coming up through the juniors and intermediate level but we sort of lose them after that - because of the lack of facilities.
"With the new track and facilities, we can keep them and hopefully turn them into Valerie Vilis."
It will be the first all-weather track to be built in Manukau City.
Mr Hitchings said the new facilities - which will be free to the public - were an investment in the Manukau region. "We've been trying for 20 years to get this and finally it's here.
"It's absolutely brilliant and it's benefiting the community. We're definitely going to be putting it into good use."
