BEST IN WORLD—AND MOST EXPENSIVE Council May Be Asked To Lay Games ‘Tartan91 Track

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31831, 8 November 1968, Page 13

BEST IN WORLD—AND MOST EXPENSIVE Council May Be Asked To Lay Games ‘Tartan 91 Track

Christchurch would have the finest permanent all-weather athletics track surface available—the same as that used for the recent Olympic Games —if a proposal brought back from Mexico City by the vice-president of the Commonwealth Games Promotion (Canterbury) is accepted by the Christchurch City Council.

The synthetic rubber “Tartan” track used at Mexico City is the best obtainable in the world—but at a cost of between $120,000 and $150,000 it is also the most expensive.

However, Mr Scott feels that if Christchurch’s application for the 1974 Commonwealth Games is to succeed the construction of such a surface at Lancaster Park must b 4 carefully considered.

Mr Scott will shortly be making a report to hi* assoelation on his recent world

trip and he will recommend that a “tartan” track be used. “I know it will cost more than any other surface but its great advantage is that it can be taken up after it has been used and relaid somewhere else,” Mr Scott said yesterday.

He will suggest that a “tartan” track be laid at Lancaster Park for the 1974 games and then relaid at the proposed all-weather track at Kerr’s Reach. Any other surface used at Lancaster Park would have to be destroyed after the games had ended. NOW OR NEVER? The champion Canterbury sprinter, D. W. Mackenzie, who is also an executive member of the Canterbury Athletic Centre, believes the idea has a lot of merit. By 1974 the track at Kerr’s Reach would probably be in need of repair if local materials were used but it would probably make an ideal base for the “tartan” track. Such a track could be made in any colour and it might even be possible to have lanes permanently marked with a different colour, Mackenzie said. “If we do not get a ‘tartan’ track for the Commonwealth Games, it might mean that New Zealand would never have one,” Mr Scott said. CANADA’S ADVANTAGE “It is my strong persona! opinion that we should at least satisfy ourselves that a •tartan’ truck is, or is not, a practicable proposition,” Mr Scott said. Winnipeg had a “tartan” track already—it had been used for the Pan-Ameri-can Games in 1967—and would be a point in favour of Canada’s application for the games. If certain procedures were followed, and care was taken to ensure that the track at Lancaster Park and the one at Kerr’s Reach were drawn to the same dimensions, it would be possible to move the track

from one site to the other. This had already been done with one “tartan” track in America, Mr Scott; said. Another important feature of the track was that it could be used for competition as soon as it was laid. Unlike many other all-weather surfaces, it did not require time to consolidate. Special drainage was built into the tracks and there was never any chance of water being a problem. ATHLETICS CENTRE

Any city with a track of this nature would tend to become the most important centre for athletics, the same way as the Mpana Pool in Dunedin had turned that city into an important centre for swimmers, said Mr Scott. It

would be of larting benefit to the community. “I think the idea is worth thorough investigation. If it is realised that it is not an economic or practicable proposition, then at least we will have satisfied ourselves that we eould not have the best," Mr Scott said. “A ‘tartan’ track was being used for the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh and if Christchurch was to have one for the 1974 games it would be another thing in Its favour. “We are more interested in spectator accommodation but the games federation will be more interested in the sporting facilities offered when it considers Christchurch’s application.”