General News
20 November, 2023
Energy Breakthrough to get underway tomorrow, local roads closed
It’s that time of year again where schools from across the state descend on Maryborough, transforming the town into a hive of activity and innovation as part of Energy Breakthrough (EB). The town and broader community is already buzzing with...
It’s that time of year again where schools from across the state descend on Maryborough, transforming the town into a hive of activity and innovation as part of Energy Breakthrough (EB).
The town and broader community is already buzzing with anticipation ahead of the event, which officially starts on Wednesday, November 22 and runs until Sunday, November 26.
There are 4600 participants from 110 different schools and their families expected to arrive in town over the coming days, with some 20,000 visitors also anticipated throughout the event.
Now in its 31st year, EB governance group member and councillor Liesbeth Long said the event continues to reinvent itself.
“There’s a feeling of total excitement in the community,” she said.
“The management committee is super excited — I know for me personally, EB is like Christmas and I probably enjoy it more than Christmas.
“I’m particularly looking forward to the robotics this year, it was fantastic last year and I’m sure I’ll be watching it with my eyes hanging out of the sockets.
“You can’t help but be swept up in the energy of EB and I really urge everyone to come down and see what it’s all about.”
This year’s event will feature a wide range of activities running alongside the main event, with interactive, educational and active displays including robotics, a smoothie bike, a new Toyota Hydrogen car on display, community group displays and much more.
Throughout the event there will also be an outdoor cinema on Thursday, November 23, a chill out zone organised by FReeZA with outdoor games, including disc golf hosted by Sports Focus and live music on Saturday, November 25 from 11 am right through to 8 pm.
One of the biggest changes to how this year’s event will look is that both the primary and secondary school races will take place on the same track — with both taking to the main, 24-hour track for the first time.
The change came as a result of slightly lower enrolment numbers from schools since the COVID-19 pandemic and as a way to mitigate the costs associated with running the event.
“We’ve saved an enormous amount of money by just using the one track and that’s the reason we’ve done that,” Cr Long said.
“In a few years time when the event has fully picked up again after COVID-19, I’m sure we’ll be back to having both tracks fully utilised.
“That second track is not going anywhere, it’s still there and we can use it any time.”
To enable the event to take place a number of roads around Lake Victoria in Maryborough will be temporarily closed until Sunday, with the exception of Napier Street and Lake Road from Christian Street which reopens on December 1.
Other road closures include:
• Park Road (between Holyrood Street and Gladstone Street)
• Park Road (between Holyrood Street and Nightingale Street)
• Holyrood Street (between Park Road and Burns Street)
• Burns Street (between Christian Street and Lake Road)
• Burns St (between Lake Road and Holyrood Street)
• Christian Street (between Burns and Napier Street)
For more information visit www.eb.org.au or follow @ebmaryborough on Facebook