How to turn dirt track into a softer more enjoyable surface that isn't synthetic

Training Advice/Discussion General

8 years ago 11/22/2015 11:28pm EST

We have a dirt track at our school. No desire to make it a synthetic track. Or at least not enough funding to seriously consider it.

Is there a way to turn at least a few lanes of it into a nicer surface to run on? I don't think bark would work because it would probably get soggy when it rains, right? The current track is hard as a rock and forms puddles on about 5-10% of the overall surface when it rains hard.

Or maybe there is a protocol to taking care of a dirt track I simply don't know about so that it isn't so hard and doesn't have ripples or whoopdeedoos. I'm open to hearing about that as well.

8 years ago 11/23/2015 12:48am EST

re: Dirty Harry's Oval

Add cinders or similar aggregate.

8 years ago 11/23/2015 7:30am EST

re: Plowed

Till the inner lane then steamroll it with not too much weight

8 years ago 11/23/2015 8:22am EST

re: Dirty Harry's Oval

Is it really a track or is it an oval laid out on a field that has deteriorated to dirt?

In HS 35 years ago, we had a true track that happened to be surfaced with a mixture of stone dust and sand. During a rainstorm, puddles would form but they dried quickly. The trick to keeping a good surface was to scratch up the surface and then roll it every year or two. If you didn't do this weedy grass would grow. The track had a 220 yard straight and both ends that weren't maintained had grass growing on them even though there really was no soil.

We ran races on both cinder and grass/field tracks. Ours was better smoother and flatter, respectively. Of course, it wasn't as fast as early mondo or even plain asphalt that a few schools had.

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How to turn dirt track into a softer more enjoyable surface that isn't synthetic

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