Is there any wooden 11-laps to a mile track left in the USA?

Definitely can get a slingshot effect.

If I could pick one track to run a race on just once, it would be the Millrose wooden track. I don't care if it's a piece of crap to run on. The novelty and history of the track would be great to think about in retrospect.

I ran on the Reggie Lewis track three times in the early 2000s. Very fast, cool venue, with seating right on the home straight.

Alternate Reality wrote:

wheatshuk wrote:

I don't know but I've heard those tracks were decently fast. They were banked and had springs under the boards that were the inspiration for Nike's efforts at studying shoes.

I used to run on these tracks.

There were no "springs".

The tracks were made up from sections that were pieced together for the meet.

Some were softer, some harder.

Some sections on the same track were harder, some springier.

Different tracks at different venues could be massively different.

Different geometry on all the corners.

agree-brings back memories-we had a wooden 15! laps to the mile track in Ottawa back in the 80's--some soft sections definitely-tight corners making it harder if you are 6'2"; but it was what it was! it made me appreciate synthetic 400m tracks come outdoors!

Even with the banking, the corners were very tight and you could not hug the inside.

Used to be one in Reno, but it was 200m. It was fast as hell.

The Harvard track is still 220y wooden banked, and yes when it was originally designed in the late 1970s it was tuned by having runners run on a proto-force plate. You can run a very interesting Imperial DMR where someone gets to run 1,320 yards. Lost in the shuffle of Reggie and BU, Harvard's track is still quite fast. Greg Meyer ran a 5000m AR in there in 1981.

https://youtu.be/Acrq_gDh7x8

Coghlan’s 3:49 record was on a 10 lap track I believe.

This gives you the feel and sounds of a board track. Add the smell of cigars then you know what it was like to run in Madison Square Garden.

https://reuters.screenocean.com/record/1060524

Yeah, I guess I was running a couple concepts together off topic and started thinking about the athlete that became an indoor icon for me.

For the longest time, I couldn't wait for Jan 2nd to come around because I knew the indoor season was upon us. An escape from winter for a few hours.

Here's 1976 AAU Nationals in the Garden. I was 4th (3rd US) in the mile that year, but had to do it by winning section 2 with ease.

https://reuters.screenocean.com/record/1061257

That's a fact. 33 years coaching probably coming to an end soon. Been to a lot of meets for others to have their experience. Wouldn't change a thing. I would even take kids to meets out of season to see what the college scene looked like and to wonder what was possible for them.

I loved the fact that when our athletes arrived, they conducted themselves the way athletes should and it was great being available to listen, provide feedback and constructive criticism when needed that hopefully helped.

I think I'm most proud of those that went on to teach and coach at all levels because they had a great experience and wanted to help others have the same. Paying it forward.

We had a wooden track one year, set up on the football field in the nice (30-40 F) ambient air. But we thought it was pretty fast as we ran our dual meets that year in a flat gym, 15 laps to the mile.

Harvard used to have the upstairs 160 yard (I think) 4 cornered track where I once did a workout or 2. Again we thought that was "fast".

Didn't they have the NCAA indoor track meet on a 11 lap wooden track in Detroit

yestheydo wrote:

I know of one wooden track, I believe it’s in Chatham NY, above a gym in a church. I forget the name of the church but I’ll look into it. I live close by so I can probably go check to see if it’s still

There

I think you’re talking about the Morris Memorial Rec center in Chatham, NY. I can’t figure out how to link On my phone but if you go to their Facebook page you can see pictures of the basketball court and the elevated “track” above it. It can’t be more than maybe 100m given that it just loops around a single basketball court. Not sure if there’s a bank on it or not (don’t think there is).

The Sunkist track got moved to Fresno State for the first few editions of the California Run For The Dream Invitational. It was later replaced by a rubber track. That track would have to be the same size, like 11-laps to the mile. The rubber track was brought to Portland as the warmup track for world indoors in 2016 and rumor has it, it was never brought back.

I dig hearing stories of these old tracks. It's no surprise that Ghost of Igloi is a font of knowledge in the subject. I used to race on them in high school and college in New England.

The board track at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston RI was bouncy and fast, it was fun to run there. I wonder if they still use it?

The exciting atmosphere of a packed meet on an 11-lap board track was a real treat, truly electric and a heck of a lot of fun.

My old college SUNY Plattsburgh, a medium sized state school in northern NY, has a track that is 11 laps to the mile. It's not banked though so it's a bit tight to run fast on.

Nevermind. I'm dumb. I failed to see the part where you were looking for wooden tracks. Plattsburgh's is flat and rubber.

Thanks for the shoutout Big Red. The first date with my now wife was the Sunkist Indoor in Los Angeles in 1974. In the blood you know.