This a first for the sport in regional Victoria.

Athletics Victoria is forming a partnership with Ballarat Regional Athletic Centre to employ a full-time hub manager with the role of enhancing the growth of athletics in the greater Ballarat region.

AV executiive officer Glenn Turnor said the plan was to fine tune the model in Ballarat ahead of setting up other hubs around the state.

Turner said the hub concept had evolved out of long-term discussions with metropolitan and regional municipal councils with regard to facility management - particularly the ongoing financing of resurfacing all-purpose tracks.

He said as a not-for-profit organisation AV did not have the financial resources to major significant contributions to such projects.

"We said while we don't have the cash, we do potentially have the resources to provide support to the management bodies of the 36 all-weather tracks in Victoria.

"We also wanted to work out how to support our clubs from a community perspective, getting more people down to the venue considering the large investment. So we came up with the hub model."

Turner said while it sounded straightforward, each hub would differ depending what management structure was in place.

This will be first time AV has become involved with government - state through Sport and Recreation Victoria, and local - in long-term strategic planning and venue operational management.

Llanberris is a City of Ballarat facility managed by Ballarat Regional Athletics Centre, which comprises Wendouree, YCW, Ballarat Harriers and Eureka clubs.

Turner said one of the primary objectives was to get more people using Llanberris and attracting more events to the venue - making it the place to be for serious and recreational athletes.

He said the Ballarat role would be tailored specially for the region to maximise community engagement.

Turner said this would be aided the fact that for the first time the region, through the manager, would have direct contact with AV.

"We're providing access to knowledge and resources about the likes of governance, strategy, operations, sports delivery and coaching, management and club engagement, and ultimately a link with Athletics Australia," he said.

Turnor said having an AV representative on the ground full-time in Ballarat would improve community engagement at all levels - from providing advice to newcomers to the sport to interacting with the business community in a marketing role and attracting major events such as national meets to Llanberris.

He said it all fitted in with BRAC's long-term strategic plan. That's our role, to support the region.

"Ballarat hosts the country championships every three years and it's one of the biggest regionals events and it can only get bigger.

"There is no reason why Ballarat couldn't in the long-term look at getting national schools championships. It'd be perfect. Great for the region," Turnor said.

"One of the reasons we selected Ballarat is that it has a strong presence and really good governance structure with the BRAC board, which has worked really hard over the years.

"It'll be great to give that additional support to take BRAC to the next level and get more people involved."

Turnor said the sport's long-term strategy right now was fragmented because there were so many tracks and running groups.

He said the Ballarat hub would demonstrate howthe long-term financial sustainability for the sport and each facility coud be strengthened.

Turnor said the aim was to have new position filled in the first week of November, which would allow for a transition period while Victoria worked through the COVID-19 roadmap.