What is the strangest track that you have run on?

VMI's INDOOR TRACK

or

UNC-ASHEVILLE'S INDOOR TRACK

The old track at my high school was some odd ball distance-not 400m and not 440 yd. I think it was about 15 or 20 meters longer than a standard track , but I remember it as being the most confusing thing to run on because of all of the different multi-colored lines for the starts, finsishes and different relay transfer zones. Just one big mess - I'm glad they finally tore that thing up.

I have to agree that UNC A and VMI with their tunnel. I've way too many runners go into that tunnel at VMI and come out in a totally different order. Some never came out. At appalachian back in the 70's and early eighties we ran meets on the Varsity gym floor (10 laps to the mile under a balcony) Long jumped into a gymnatics mat. Many a knee was sacrificed working out in there. On long island out in riverhead they used to run meets on a quarterhorse racetrack 1/2 mile length . So the mile was 2 laps and the 1/4 was half a lap. They pounded the hurdles into the ground. And of course the old armory up in the bronx. On weekends they moved all the jeeps out to the street. You ran on the splintered floor oil and gas stains everywhere.

Randolph high school just south of boston is 320 meters around. 5 laps for a mile outdoors felt weird.

The old Illinois Wesleyan University track. Apparently they have a new facility now, but there old track was ridiculous. Instead of being around a football field, it surrounded....a baseball field! I ran there a few times, including my senior year of track when we had conference there. It was a long time ago (1991), but I seem to remember there were more than your typical 4 straightaways (and extra turns of course). I always thought it was funny that the infield was actually both and infield and an outfield. Somebody must have thought it was a good idea to put the track around the baseball field way back when, and I hope that person isn't making important decisions anywhere.

The old CMU indoor track. It was like racing around a square w/rounded corners. Had to plot strategy on a track like that.

I started teaching in the tiny town of Rib Lake, Wisconsin, and started the school's first XC and track teams. It just so happened that there was a paved driveway that went around the school that was just short of 440 yards (that's how long ago it was). In addition to using this "track" for intervals, we actually ran two dual meets on it in that first year of the program with two schools similar to ours that didn't have track facilities. Four square corners, we started at the end of a long straight, and had a different finish line for each race on the street in front of the school.

We didn't run hurdles (we only had 3 practice hurdles), there was a depression i the ground where an old shed which had been torn down that we filled with sand and used for a long jump pit, and painted a couple of throwning circles on the edge of the back parking lot. We borrowed a bunch of inner tubes from a church camp, threw some mats over them and used that as a high jump pit (I obvously didn't know much about liability in those days).

We had a lot of fun and got a program off the ground which has turned into the most successful sport at the school. We even have a "track record" of 9:56 in the 2-mile (not 3200!).

I grew up in the LA area and for a couple of years Beverly Hills High (90210) was in our league. They had a dirt track (almost every high school still did back then) squeezed into a tight rectangular open. I guess the only way to squeeze 440 into that space was to take it right along the edges of the rectangle so that you had four tight corners and mini-straightaways between turns 1 and 2 and turns 3 and 4. We raced against rich suburban schools and crappy inner-city schools and somehow Beverly Hills had the goofiest track of them all.

This strange track in Reno, Nevada. The curves were underneath the bleachers. The stands were built over each curve and up to the outside of the endzone for the football field. There were pillars in the middle of the freaking track. Strange...but true.

mingus mountain high in cottonwood arizona. sprints are run backwards because of prevailing winds and a cliff at the end of the straightaway. looks really weird, especially the backwards 200.

Outdoors: Late 60?s, rural New England. Windsor, Vermont striped out 440 yards around its practice fields. Grass track, uneven surface, square corners. Laconia, NH held the biggest invitational of the year on their ½ mile dirt former horse track. Great times, though, since 100 year old Kiwanis club guys timed. Best 100 times of the season for all sprinters. The best was Pinkerton, NH, who had a 1/6 mile dirt track set into the trees. Besides the trees, there was a huge hill in the middle, so you couldn?t see around the track from any vantage point. Splits on each lap were meaningless to visiting teams.

Indoor tracks: don?t even ask. Too many examples of near-squares and tunnels, even at the college level.

MN, I've seen a dirt track a block west of Mann's Chinese Theater in LA. What high school would that be?

mtn man wrote:

Indoor tracks: don?t even ask. Too many examples of near-squares and tunnels, even at the college level.

One of those examples -- the old Tufts University indoor track. Half in a tunnel, half not. Basically a square with rounded off corners. Half the lanes would usually be blocked by the big curtains that they'd have hanging around. Worst of all, there could be up to a 15° temperature difference between the tunnel and the open area.

Fortunately they have retired that track permanent and have a nice new, normal 200 meter one.

Also ND's oversized 5-laps-to-a-mile Meyo track was a bit weird, but in a nice way. It's odd trying to hit your quarter splits by advancing 1/4 of the track on every split.

How about a slight twist to the subject...what are the coolest tracks you've seen or run on?

University of Oregon's Hayward Field would have to be up there...Track only facility with big stands on one side and the original wood stands on the other. Wood stands go right up to waist height on the edge of lane 8...can't imagine you could get any closer to the action from the stands anywhere else. Plus the history!

San Diego State University. We showed up for a meet there and couldn't find the track. Asked a security guard, told us to park in the Parking Garage and take the elevator to the third floor. We parked, wondering why we needed to go to the third floor. Took the elevator up, doors open, and there it is, a complete track facility on the top of the parking garage.

Point Loma Nazarene is pretty cool too. The track is mediocre, but the view of the Pacific Ocean from the far corner is terrific.

I agree about CMU. I ran a two mile there in high school, which basically amounted to running around in a circle until they rang the bell, then sprinting like mad at the end. Nobody knew what lap we were on, including the officials.

Yeah, Hayward.

I also like UTEP.

Scott - Sorry about the delay, but I had some actual work to take care of. It's been a long, long time since I moved from LA, so I don't know what school that might be. Beverly Hills High is more over towards UCLA, south and west of Hollywood. Your question had me do a little research and I'll be damned if they don't still have that track. Looks like it's still dirt, too. Of course in my aging memory it was worse than it looks in the picture, but take a look.

Very cool MN. Lucky are those that can claim a race on that track!

Another slight twist: in high school there were a couple of tracks in our area that were set up to run the 220 yd dash on a really long straightaway. Man, from the finish line those guys at the start seemed like little ants who just started flailing away when this silent puff of smoke appeared.