The centres were two of 158 clubs across Australia to share in more than $500,000 from the Coles Little Athletics Community Fund.

Wodonga Little Athletics secretary Anthea Mulholland said the club has aims to grow its membership.

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"We'll be able to purchase new laptops to enable us to run events smoothly and provide athletes with real time results," she said.

Lavington-Jindera president Ryan McCullough said the grant will allow their athletes to start the season with new discuses, shot puts, javelins and measuring tapes.

"Our athletes are using borrowed equipment which is old and outdated. Having new equipment our athletes can be proud of will hopefully bring out more personal bests this season," he said.

The grant comes amid research from the Australian Sports Foundation in July which estimated that over 16,000 local sports clubs were at risk of closing due to reduced revenues and increased costs arising from COVID-19.