Urana girls Kate Anderson, Katrina Knight, Elise Dore, Chloe Knight, Sarah Anderson, Jacqui Anderson and Abbey Anderson, are well organised for the town’s Little Day Out. Picture: JOHN RUSSELL
URANA locals say the town is not lazy, it’s just relaxed.
They are shocked and disappointed that Bowel Cancer Australia last month ranked the area the laziest in Australia and they are determined to prove that view well wide of the mark.
And they are out to do something about its finding that almost half the population hadn’t exercised through sport or recreation in the two weeks before they took part in a health survey.
They will kickstart their comeback campaign on Australia Day with activities from Zumba to fly fishing and water skiing to golf.
The town’s healthy lifestyle committee will host its Australia Day “Little Day Out”, in part to show off the town’s new outdoor gym with all the machines needed for a full-body workout.
Committee secretary Katrina Knight said the drive was all about proving the town wasn’t lazy at all.
“This town has always been quite active, and this is simply a challenge to prove it,” Mrs Knight said.”
The town received funding for the gym, as well as a Zumba and tai chi instructor, and a personal trainer to run boot camps.
There will be Zumba and tai chi demonstrations at the Little Day Out, market stalls, a barbecue lunch and a fireworks display.
“We’re really hoping to attract a good crowd to the event,” Mrs Knight said yesterday.
“We’d love to make this a regular sort of thing, but being such a small township makes it difficult to run an event like this any more often than once a year.”
The Bowel Cancer Australia survey singled out Urana as one of a small pocket of government areas in the Riverina and southern NSW that has a high level of inactivity.
Urana’s deputy mayor Pat Bourke said Australia Day would turn that theory on its head.
“Residents were shocked and disappointed the town they are so proud of was ranked as the laziest local government area in the country,” he said.
“This Australia Day the residents are out to show what our lifestyle is really like — not lazy — but a relaxed, active outdoor community.
“They have great amenities and a passion for camping, water skiing, fishing and bushwalking.
The Little Day Out will start at 11am on the Urana Aquatic Centre Foreshore.