As part of the plans to manage traffic flow during Rescue 2006, the World Life Saving Championships, the organisers and Surf Coast Tourism have joined forces to run a free shuttle bus service within Lorne.

“We are delighted to welcome Surf Coast Tourism as a sponsor of Rescue 2006 and appreciate their offer of a shuttle bus in Lorne,” Rescue 06 event manager, Nick Jordan, said. “The bus will run in a continuous loop from Lorne Pier to Stony Creek, and back again, from 7.30am to 6pm from the 15th to the 26th of February next year.

As part of the plans to manage traffic flow during Rescue 2006, the World Life Saving Championships, the organisers and Surf Coast Tourism have joined forces to run a free shuttle bus service within Lorne.

“We are delighted to welcome Surf Coast Tourism as a sponsor of Rescue 2006 and appreciate their offer of a shuttle bus in Lorne,” Rescue 06 event manager, Nick Jordan, said. “The bus will run in a continuous loop from Lorne Pier to Stony Creek, and back again, from 7.30am to 6pm from the 15th to the 26th of February next year.

“Significantly, there will be no charge to visitors and we thank Surf Coast Tourism for making this service available to help us implement our traffic management plan. While we want as many competitors, friends and spectators as possible to come to what will be a fantastic world-class event, we also want to minimise traffic congestion wherever we can.”

In addition to providing the shuttle bus, Surf Coast Tourism will make available activity sheets, restaurant guides, maps and other information to visitors.

“Surf Coast Tourism is proud to support Rescue 2006 next February,” said Tourism Coordinator Simon Loone, “and we are looking forward to showcasing the new Lorne Visitor Information Centre as the ‘official Rescue 2006 hub’ in Lorne”.

The websites www.rescue2006.com and www.visitsurfcoast.com will also be linked.

As well as bringing top class international sport to the Surf Coast, Rescue 06 will inject considerable revenue into the local economies.

“We have independent advice that the Championships are worth approximately $30 million to Geelong and Surf Coast, that being split evenly between the two,” said Mr Jordan. “We would like to see the local businesses really get behind Rescue 06 and make the lifesavers from around 30 nations welcome when they call in for a coffee, dinner or a place to stay for a few nights.

“The other positive to come out of the event is that we expect to improve the standard of lifesaving in the area, something that will make the beaches much safer in years to come. We see this as a genuine partnership between the sport of lifesaving and the people of the Surf Coast for the benefit of everyone involved – we get a fantastic venue for our events and the town benefits in both the immediate financial sense and the longer term aspect of patrolling our
beaches.”