Who has the worst indoor track?

Hands down the worst D1 track is the old one at Auburn. Was a 146.67 yard (133.33 meter) soft rubber (70's basketball surface) in which you couldn't wear spikes. It went under the basketball stands which were pushed back for track meets. Collegiate meets were still held on the facility up until 1985.

Some amazing performances in it but hands down the best has to be Olympic Gold Medalist Willie Smith's 50.1 for the 440 yard dash! What I always thought was the most insane of all was the fact they ran a 6 mile indoor race on the track - thats 72 laps!

The track was finally taken out a few years ago I believe but the arena is still in use for a couple more years

Detroit Mercy..Slippery as hell. Poor lighting.

Lebanon Valley licks balls, but albright is worse...I ran a 1500 there in 2000. Starting line denoted with a marker.

I second the vote for VMI

A tie for the worst indoor track facility goes to any school that does not have one. If in a state where it snow's, it shows the school does not care about track and field.

I ran at VMI in the late 90's and I have to say it sucked. I have heard that they re-did it, though.

Ohio State is actually quite nice. Anyone who would complain about racing there has obviously never run on a crappy track. They have a huge warm up area and the surface is (or was) very good. Every track needs a resurface from time to time, but that is not the only factor when evaluating a facility.

Anyone ever run at Fork Union Military Academy? Yeah, the place famous for it's Kenyan connection. The track is a rubber basketball surface and is like 173 meters, or something like that. There are lines everywhere and it is impossible to get splits or figure out where to start or where an exchange zone is. Ironically, I ran my 1km pr there. I think not worrying about splits (because I couldn't figure out where they were) helped me. I just ran. On the other hand, my pr could have been because I only ran 1000 yards instead of meters...who knows in that place.

76thjde wrote:

coma stamina wrote:

Lebanon Valley College in PA

r u kidding? how can you go wrong with mondo and 4 straightaways?

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I went to LVC from 1991-1995. No Mondo at that time. The track was concrete then. Those turns were ridiculously tight and beat the hell out of your legs. Don't forget that the track was 196 meters then, so to get meaningful splits, you'd have to go four meters in the direction of the finish line from your previous split.

That place sucked. Possibly the worst thing I did for my running career was going there.

force recon wrote:

drake university has a pretty shitty indoor track. 160 meters i think and it hasn't been resurfaced since the 80's. the building smells like shit too

haha. they dont use it for anything other than warming up or HJ/PV if its raining. their other track isnt much better: 220m square. I don't recall the smell.

Billary wrote:

Anyone ever run at Fork Union Military Academy?

Yea, I ran there this year. It's a brand new track dickwad. They completely renovated the entire facility. It's 10 laps to the mile but one of the best indoor tracks in Virginia.

I have this recollection of running a meet at (I'm almost sure) White Plains high school in the mid '70's that was held in a gym on some upstairs floor. Recall that the sprint distance was shortened to 40y (from the standard 60y) because the straights were so short. Recall warming up in the hallways as races were taking place on the "track" and running 600y in some ridiculous time. Art Monk was on that WP team.

yeah, LVC's track is certainly a bad one indeed. I would know as a recent graduate. I absolutely hated how it straightened out on the curves, it was a rhythm killer! However, the worst part about it is that the dividers that hang around the basketball courts actually take up part of the already horrible curves. So the few times we would do speed in there during the winter we'd have to make the most awkward turns and it would really do a number to your hips.

I went to LVC from 1991-1995. No Mondo at that time. The track was concrete then. Those turns were ridiculously tight and beat the hell out of your legs. Don't forget that the track was 196 meters then, so to get meaningful splits, you'd have to go four meters in the direction of the finish line from your previous split.

That place sucked. Possibly the worst thing I did for my running career was going there.[/quote]

you mean Reedy didn't drastically alter your life for the better? haha. To be frank though, I thought the surrounding areas was nice enough for running and you can't beat Mt. Gretna for those sunday long runs.

This was in HS. We had two tracks, both at other schools. So our "home" meet were at another school.

The first track was a rubber indoor floor unbanked about 160m per lap.

The second was a banked wooden track 13 laps to the mile. The trick with this one was that it was setup outdoors. Made for some very chilly winter track meets.

Baltimore Armory. It's literally a basketball court with lines. No air conditioning or indoor lighting. +5 to 10 seconds on every race. 4 kids got really badly hurt.

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https://lhslance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5818-900x675.jpg

Reno, NV use to have an indoor track that was terrible. I think I ran there in 2000

in 2008 I was in high school running on the CCRI indoor track in Lincoln, RI. Basically lines painted on a basketball court surface. I think the track was 150m so 4 laps for a 600m. Slipperiest surface I've ever been on, and that includes other crappy surfaces I was playing soccer on at the time. I distinctly remember watching a 4x150 race where this kid was preparing to make the turn, and he lost his footing and quite literally slid all the way out the building. If you've seen the never ending slide tackle by Sol Campbell that's exactly what happened here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7Rnt5C2qaQ

love how nobody noticed yet that this thread is 12 years old

What make you think no one noticed it was 12 years old?

coma stamina wrote:

Lebanon Valley College in PA

No freaking way, this is the first school that came to my mind and it was the first post hahaha.

While I'm here, I think Kutztown University (also in PA) takes a close second.