Dr Hames said the Perth Track Classic, part of the revamped Australian Athletics Tour, could attract up to 20 invited international athletes.
“Western Australian audiences will see home-grown heroes like reigning world, Olympic, and Commonwealth pole vault champion, Steve Hooker, and Commonwealth gold medallist, Alana Boyd, go head-to-head with their overseas rivals,” he said.“The one-day event promises to be the best international athletics competition on WA soil since 1996 when British Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie competed in Perth.”
The Minister said the State Government, through Eventscorp, was proud to support the Perth Track Classic for three years starting from February 2012. He also announced that Perth would play host to Australia’s future track and field stars at the Australian Junior Athletic Championships in 2013 and 2016.
“The junior championships attract the best athletes from the under 14, 16, 18 and 20 age groups and has become a must for any junior athlete who wants to go on to represent Australia,” he said.
As well as being a major boost to WA’s athletics community, Dr Hames said the competitions would benefit the economy.
“The Perth Track Classic and the Junior Championships will see thousands of athletes and spectators visit WA, potentially injecting $10million into the State’s economy.
“This follows last month’s announcement that Perth will host the 2016 World Masters Athletics Championships which could attract 8,000 visitors and deliver up to $31million.”All three events will be held at the WA Athletics Stadium, which was designed to international standards to cater for elite competition.

City.Mobi

Also in Australia today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Perth.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Perth.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.