Titilua Ikenasio, Narrandera Argus

Active Farmers in Coleambally held their second ‘Active Games’ event over the weekend.

The event garnered 180 participants from Coleambally and other areas where Active Farmers’ regular classes run including Wagga, Griffith, Sydney and Bridgewater (Vic).

The event consisted of 18 obstacles over three kilometres which mimic activities carried out on the farm.

Although a lot of the obstacles could be completed individually, group work is an important aspect of Active Farmers events and so the course was carried out by teams of three to ease the load.

Coleambally local and Active Farmers organiser Joe Briggs believes that initiatives like this are important for small communities.

“Coleambally is such a great little town and so are many of our other communities that Active Farmers operates in,” Briggs said.

“We bring all those little communities together and bring some really special people together. By doing this it also boosts Coleambally’s tourism and local economy.

“All our prizes were donated by the local Apex and Lions clubs or from local businesses and a lot of them were gifts to give to local businesses so that the money stays local.”

There were also family activities, a barbecue and music on the day.

Active Farmers is a charity with more than 50 locations across Australia who aim to help small communities with their mental health and wellbeing through group fitness classes.

The Not for Profit Organisation is made up of 33 qualified personal trainers who are out in communities every week to run classes in 45 small farming communities. Collectively they take on 200 classes a month with over 1500 participants.

Alongside their classes, they also run various events including a fun run called ‘Run for resilience’ and a fundraising bike ride called ‘Cherry Ride for Resilience’.

See all the photos in the issue.

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 16 March 2023.