Cowles Stadium heat fears

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33411, 18 December 1973, Page 1

Cowles Stadium heat fears

If the weather was hot during next month’s Commonwealth Games, spectators at the afternoon sessions of the badminton events at Cowles Stadium might suffer from heat exhaustion, said the doctor who will be the medical adviser during the tournament.

“The heat problem really worries me,” he said.

No air will be circulating in the hall because of the fear of movement to shuttlecocks. The doctor would like consideration to be given to staging the badminton sessions in the morning and evening. He said that since the marathon and road walk times had been changed no precedent would be set. The doctor was also critical about the seating. He said that the plastic seats would soon get hot and sticky. The doctor was in attendance at the pre-Games

tournament in the stadium last Saturday, when there was an attendance of 2500. It would be much harder on the spectators than the players; the competitors would be able to have cold showers and keep themselves cool, but the spectators would have to sit still for more than two hours at a time.

Tile temperature at the stadium on Saturday was measured at 95deg on the court. It is known that temperatures have reached 108 deg in Cowles Stadium. To provide the best condi-

tions for the players all the windows in the stadium have been blacked out. The lighting system comprises 60 1250-kilowatt bulbs and 14 two-kilowatt bulbs, which are equivalent to about 62 bar heaters. One Games member said on Saturday that it was the hottest conditions he had played under since he competed in Malaysia in 1966.

The chairman of the Games Badminton Control (Mr J. R. Thome) said that he was not prepared to comment,