Length of U Wash's Indoor Track 300m or 307m?

yes, the dempsey is really 307m long. and yes, the start lines are all in weird places as a result.

It could have been worse--the track wouldn't exist if Neal Dempsey hadn't stepped in after making the donation to the UW and asked former athletic director Barbara Hedges where the track was when the architect's drawings were presented to him.

I love the 307 length. every lap you get a little farther than you think. So fast in there.

Can a school make an indoor track any length they want? Never heard of a 307 meter track. And what is the length of the Texas A&M Gillam Indoort where Nationals will be held?

307m is the shortest track you can put around the 100 yards of a football field. The tracks turns touch the corners of the playing field and cut into the endzone.

That's why its 307.

And, if i remember correctly, there is now a rule that says no more new over-sized tracks will be certified by the NCAA to compete on. Could be wrong, thats just what I recall.

They should've tried to squeeze an extra 93m out of it.

That's correct. New tracks will not be certified by the NCAA if they are longer than 200m/220y. Existing tracks, however, are grandfathered in; thus, no matter what other schools build indoor tracks over the next several years, the Dempsey will always have an advantage of being able to provide the largest (and thus, for distance events, given the long straightaways and wider curves, the fastest) competitive indoor track in the U.S.

Credit should also be given to UW Associate Athletic Director Chip Lydum, and former UW coach Orin Richburg. When the Dempsey was built, Hedges envisioned it as a football-only facility. Richburg, of course, wanted a track (since the previous indoor track had been removed in the renovation of UW's basketball arena, leaving the school without an indoor training facility), and found support in Lydum, who was able to prove to Hedges and the key project decision-makers that a track COULD be fit around the field, without adding significantly to the cost of the project or limiting the ability of other teams to practice/train in the Dempsey. Without Lydum's leadership in the administration, as well as Richburg's trademark "bulldog" determination, the Dempsey would not exist as a world-class track facility.

You should check out the Univ of Rochester (Roch NY) indoor track. 207meters with half of it in a tunnel. You go into the tunnel in one order and can come out in a completely different order. Plus lane 1 disappears into the inside wall in the tunnel.

307 what? wrote:

Can a school make an indoor track any length they want? Never heard of a 307 meter track. And what is the length of the Texas A&M Gillam Indoort where Nationals will be held?

Since it's Nationals, they'd probably be having it on a standard 200m banked track.

I recall watching a video about this new Texas A&M facility were someone stated it was a standard 200m banked track. But someone else please confirm this.

Yo, there is no need to confirm it. A major meet like nationals would not be held on anything but a 200m banked track.

Grandfather wrote:

That's correct. New tracks will not be certified by the NCAA if they are longer than 200m/220y. Existing tracks, however, are grandfathered in; thus, no matter what other schools build indoor tracks over the next several years, the Dempsey will always have an advantage of being able to provide the largest (and thus, for distance events, given the long straightaways and wider curves, the fastest) competitive indoor track in the U.S.

According to the 2009/2010 NCAA rule book, tracks built after 2004 are not to exceed 300m.

Also, Washington is a shorter track than at least Notre Dame's 5-lap/mile facility, and is barely longer than some others, most notably Iowa State.

Does anyone know the length of the straightaway for the Univ. of Washington 307m track, or conversely the length the turns? Thanks.

The actual precise measure line of one lap of the Dempsey Indoor track is 307.408m. It was originally intended to be 300m, but then the football program objected to that much rounding off of the corners of their field, so plans to have Lane 1 go all the way around the oval were scrapped. If you haven't noticed, it's Lane 2 that is the inside lane on the turns; Lane 1 on the home straight is used only for the 60m sprint. That's why the measurement ended up being weird--because it's measured for Lane 2. The track design and construction was definitely secondary to the needs of football.

I do not know the precise length of the straights, but they are less than 72.3m, since the one mile start is a little into the curve. My best guess, knowing this, and seeing the break line from in-person observation and from diagrams, is that the straights are each about 68m.

http://www.pntf.org/officials/DEMPSEY_TRACK_DIAGRAM.pdf

http://www.pntf.org/officials/DEMPSEY_OFFICIALS_HANDBOOK.pdf

My previous post stated the approximate length of the Dempsey Indoor (Univ. of Wash.) straights as 68m. That was for each straight portion of a lap around the oval.

If you were asking about the maximum available straightaway length on which to hold a race, that would be exactly 88.11m. You're welcome.

Netherworld wrote:

My previous post stated the approximate length of the Dempsey Indoor (Univ. of Wash.) straights as 68m. That was for each straight portion of a lap around the oval.

If you were asking about the maximum available straightaway length on which to hold a race, that would be exactly 88.11m. You're welcome.

I'm sure very few folks, if any, from 12 years ago are around to thank you.