What is the strangest track that you have run on?

I have a nomination for both the coolest and strangest tracks...Franklin Field, where they run Penn Relays. I always thought that the 400m lane being lane 5 was one of the strangest makeups for a "modern" facility. However, one can get really close to the action, since the seats are only 6 lanes from the inside. I also think that the water barrier for the steeple being on the outside and in the corner is pretty cool. I just wish they would get rid of the turf on the infield.

The University of Kansas' indoor track is pretty nasty. It's 232 meters and beige. What the f***?

Boston University for the temperature change and the dead boards.

On the turn near the starting line you run under a huge heating vent that blasts you with 80 to 90 degree air. On the opposite turn you run past the door that is always being held open by some high school kid to let in the 15 degree arctic blast, along with the sickening stench of Big Mac's and McNuggets from the MickeyD's across the street.

Also the last board before each turn in lane one was dead enough that if you hit it just right your leg buckled enough to bring a man to his knees.

Oh, and the enormous rats lurking in the shadows were always a nice surprise to the guy trying to get in a last second whizz on his way to the line.

Track may have been short too.

God, how I loved that place.

Coolest track I ever ran on was in Silverton, CO. Nothing special about the track except that it was at 11,000+ feet. First quarter and I was already sucking wind (from FL.)

Manistique, Michigan had a banked outdoor track.

A HS track (Quincy, Mass) I ranon several times was 1/5 mile. Pretend you're en route to a WR even though you're running 4:40 pace.

Echo Summit, jogged there once.

In response to a few queries:

The BU old track was, to put it mildly, quite the place. However, as they tore the Armory down, my friend and I wondered -- just how many rats were getting displaced, where were they all going, and were more being kicked out than when they tore down the Boston Garden ? I believe the old track was purchased by Global Athletics and is somewhere near Washington ready to thumpa-thumpa again. It most likely was not short, because since the team had to put it up and take it down every year, the local USATF had to come and measure it every year.

Franklin Field, unfortunately, has that bizarre Lane 5 is Lane 1 issue. The track used to be a four-lane cinder thing -- and by the time they decided to fit six (let alone 9 or 10) the permanent stadium was in the way. It did have a 220 yard straightaway that started on 33rd st -- the 400 hurdles used to be one turn. The turf is not going anywhere either, the use is too great for grass -- it would be a dirt hole almost all year. They are putting in the fancy fake grass thing though which will improve things.

The strangest track I've run on is in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, at the Saima Park Finnish Center. Evidently, this area of Mass was primarily Finnish back in the day, and as they saw Hannes Kohlemainen kicking but they decided to put on their own track meet too. There are still a ton of Finns in Fitchburg, and this year will be the 88th anniversary of the meet -- track was so intense in Finland the meet is part of the annual Finnish Summer Outing. Its run on a 352 meter cinder track with no lanes which sits adjacent to the local Finnish Club's outdoor function hall. So all of those old folks are in this hall eating Finnish bbq cuisine, speaking a language that sounds like I have no idea (Finnish is not Romance, I guess), listening to cultural presentations, and buying each others arts & crafts. In other news, there is a track meet going on outside, and after they are done with lunch no less than 100 elderly Finns come out to watch the last few events. Its pretty surreal. All athletes get complementary all you drink Powerade (a Finn still owns the local Coca-Cola distributor I guess), and they have lovely medals too. The last event is a metric sprint medley of 350-175-175-700. And the meet is a sanctioned USATF meet; go figure.

http://www.saima-park.org/activities/cultural/2002/summer_festival_2002.htm

islander wrote:

Coolest track I ever ran on was in Silverton, CO. Nothing special about the track except that it was at 11,000+ feet. First quarter and I was already sucking wind (from FL.)

Definitely cool, but actually only about 9300 feet. Higher still are South Park HS in Fairplay at about 9900, and Leadville HS at about 10,400.

Oxygen is overrated.

My conference has a lot of bad indoor tracks. I am sure this is typical of a lot of small college indoor tracks, but I'll add this to the list. Lebanon Valley College had an indoor track with small straightaways on each turn, the rounded off square kinda deal. That was bad enough, especially with a non-spike friendly surface. It was also short, stupid thing was like 197 meters. I have been told that to make it 200 they would have had to add another whole section of roofing and beams and all and that would have been an extra $50k. Although they had different starting lines fortunately they just had the first person in each relay run long. And this place host the conference meet for 5-6 straight years. Also Albright's 176 yd barn has sand pit was only like 2/3s full and the start of the 1500 is draw in with a marker on the floor.

When I was in high school, one of our rival schools had a track that was some bizarre distance like 351 yards. Another school's track was indeed 400 meters, but it was not an oval. One side was almost like the hypotenuse of a triangle, and a couple of the "turns" were nearly square.

Seattle Pacific University, home of Doris Heritage Brown, has a track of high quality materials but crazy configuration. Right angles, looping around a softball back stop, going from 4 lanes to 2 and back, actually turning outward at one point. They obviously had a limited plot of land to fit into, and just stretched a track around it. I do believe it is accurate 400 meters (in lane 3, er . . . lane 1).

Indoor 200m in Calgary Canada.

This track is strange for a number of reasons:

-It is only 4 lanes

-It is in the same building as a swimming pool, and really it is just a small grandstand which separates the two. Because there are no walls, it is very humid when running on this track. You won't set any distance PR's here.

-It is on the second floor of the complex, directly above a gym/basketball courts/weight facility. A metal railing, about 3 feet high, is on the inside lane

It is funny because during a meet a basketball game can be going onm and you could just glance down to watch it during your race- that is if you can survive the hot and humid air

Having just completed a trip where I ran a track in every one of the lower 48 states, I feel that I have a little bit to add to this conversation.

First, weirdest track: For me, the vote definitely goes to Arkansas High School in Texarkana, AR. For starters, it was something like 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning when we started warming up for our timed mile, and we'd been without sleep for about 50 hours or so, so we were rather delerious to begin with. The track itself actually had no lane lines or markings of any sort, but it did have an intermittent concrete curb. It was composed of dirt, newly sprouted patches of grass, and completely random patches of rubber shavings...not exactly the best surface. The next thing to catch our attention were the ruts caused by rainwater. How could these have been formed? Well, you see, the track wasn't exactly level. There was a VERY discernible downhill on the first curve, and on the far curve...I'll get to that.

So we start jogging our warm-up mile when we get to the far curve and the track actually ceases to exist. It goes from a well-defined swath of dirt and gravel to...nothing. About 3/4 of the way through the curve, the track suddenly resumed and continued the rest of the way around the field. For some reason, this was insanely funny to us at the time (along with the fact that this completely grass stretch was uphill, to complement the opposite turn's decline!), but we still had a great time running in the early morning Arkansas humidity with the sun just beginning to rise as we finished.

BEST track definitely goes to Princeton University. The track is butted up against the open end of their massive football stadium, and there was an enormous grandstand with a very interesting wave-like architecture to it. Of course, the track itself was impeccable and there were hedges and an ivy-covered brick wall surrounding the facility as well. The main thing that was cool was how they integrated the track facility into their massive stadium. It was a nice compromise between giving the track its own facility, but still integrating the stadium into the mix. Other than the fact that we were running on it at 4:00 a.m. at the end of a very long stretch of running and driving, it was a great experience.

i didnt read all the posts and someone might of said it already but even though this track is pretty fast and the facility is nice i would have to say that KENT state's indoor track screws me up. its like 297m. so it has nothing to do with yards like notre dame's track.

traveling around the track 103m to get 400m splits is really fun too. except for the other strange thing...they give quarter mile splits not 400s.

That VMI tunnel is kinda scary, especially when you're in lane one and you think you might hit your head on the overhang if you lean in too much.

University of Hawaii! The new track is colored like a rainbow. Every two lanes are a different color (Blue, Green, Yellow, Red) They call it "running on a rainbow" and it is a nice track. Mondo and very fast! Given the backdrop on most nights it has to have some of the best sunsets of any track in the world.

i would have to agree with BillCarr with Fitchburg, MA having a wierd track, however the track i'm thinking of is different. They also have a Triangular 400m? track, its really odd. they did it so the could put the visiting bleachers inside the track

Included in the list of coolest tracks has to be the '68 US olympic training track at Lake Tahoe I believe. I never visited but have seen plenty of pictures. Large trees in the infield. It looked like running on a forest trail rather than on a track. Can anyone who has been there comment?

That track for the '68 trials was moved to South Lake Tahoe HS very soon after the trials.

I ran on a track in the early 80's at Summit County HS in Colorado which was similar; the infield had not been completely cleared of trees and natural vegetation and it was pretty cool. I was back in Summit County on a ski trip this holiday season and noticed that they've got a new HS in a different location and that the old track I ran on is now a middle school facility with a soccer field where the trees used to be. Bummmer!