JULIAN HEAD, of Audley Rise, Newton Abbot, writes:

May I congratulate my old team mates at Newton Abbot AC on another exceptional season where they have gained promotion to the highest tier of the South West Athletics League and will once again face up to opposition with far better facilities and support.

I must say that it always strikes me that they achieve what they do despite the district council and not because of it.

How their coaches turn up year in year out, struggling with grass tracks pock-marked with rabbit holes, long jump pits with weeds in the run-ups, and no discernible discus and hammer facilities is beyond me.

The result this year is a credit to the athletes and their coaches, who seem to be promised better facilities every couple of years only for all of the brou ha-ha to turn into a damp squib.

The answer from councillors whom I question on this issue is 'there is a track in Exeter', which isn't a very good response if you cannot afford the petrol costs to get your young protégé up and back, and what do the parents do while the kids are training?

It was only a few years ago that plans for a track, sports pitches and a velodrome at Kingsteignton were plastered all over the front pages of the local papers. What happened to that, and the money which was allegedly earmarked for it?

It was always a hope of mine, when Newton Abbot AC was climbing the Southern men's tables with a highly talented bunch of lads, and some old timers helping out with the distance races, that one day the athletics community of south Devon (Newton, south Devon, Torbay and Dartmouth) would form a coalition similar to the Armada system in west Devon and east Cornwall and work from a proper track somewhere (anywhere) in south Devon to really put the local area on the athletics map.

We have heard a lot about the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games, and it is rather sad that the news focuses on the London Transport system, the London cycle ride from the Olympic Park, London schools and events at, and the future of, the Olympic Stadium.

I would like to drive around our area with a couple of local politicians and get them to point out to me where our Olympic legacy is?

If the local public really care about the health and social fabric of the locality (not just Newton Abbot but the whole of south Devon). they should sign Newton Abbot AC's chief coach Mike Swift's petition for an all weather track – http://www.ipetitions.com/">www.ipetitions.com/ petition/run.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION