I just found out the local high school outdoor track is 378 meters...WTF?

There's a 280 meter outdoor track just down the road from my apartment. They had enough space to put in a 280 meter track (6 lanes homestretch, 2 lanes back stretch/curves), and I'm glad they did... but it looks screwy.

There is no need to sweat it, this is right in line with the Stanford track.

I just measured my local track with google maps: 400.4 meters

The track you posted: 376.2 meters

Definitely something strange about that track

Go to Bing maps and look at the Ariel view and zoom all the way in. Used to be a four lane gray track with the same weird south end

I had a similar experience a few years ago. After a standard easy morning run I went to a high school track to get in some race pace effort. I though I was blasting low 50s for 400m and well on my way to the 800m world record books. Turns out the track was short and my dreams did not become reality.

illinoiphotographer wrote:

Go to Bing maps and look at the Ariel view and zoom all the way in. Used to be a four lane gray track with the same weird south end

In google earth, you can go through about 13 years worth of satellite images of the track. Going backward, it appears to be paved with that odd end like you said as far back as 2000. But, going back to 1999 or 1998 it was a dirt track (1 or 2 lanes, maybe?) and was actually almost exactly 400m. Someone screwed up the paving of the track(unless there's a valid reason for its odd shape). Sadly, they then didn't correct it when making it all-weather.

looking at that track via aerial shot and comparing it with some others, i think they didn't have enough room to make the curves properly... it's compressed into that lot

i'd say that it looks disproportionately long in the straights and not wide enough across the infield

one of the HS tracks i competed on was egg-shaped. one wide curve and one very short sharp curve.... and it was 360 yards. they had shaped the track to fit into the contours of the school building and the lot. it had the most confusing system of start and finish lines i've ever seen

trixytrackster wrote:

one of the HS tracks i competed on was egg-shaped. one wide curve and one very short sharp curve.... and it was 360 yards. they had shaped the track to fit into the contours of the school building and the lot. it had the most confusing system of start and finish lines i've ever seen

At least they didn't just try to ignore it like OP's high school apparently does

trixytrackster wrote:

looking at that track via aerial shot and comparing it with some others, i think they didn't have enough room to make the curves properly... it's compressed into that lot

i'd say that it looks disproportionately long in the straights and not wide enough across the infield

It is approximately 6 yards narrower across the infield than that of most high schools. Still, I'd prefer long straights over a short track.

Moreover, if that was really the issue, why not move the long jump pit and make the track wider? They could move the LJ to inside the northern curve of the track.

Even if space was the issue, why not at least make it symmetrical? This is totally a botched track job.

Get a measuring wheel, they are cheap at homedepot, and go measure it to be sure. Satellite imagery will not be accurate enough for that small a distance. Also if you have a GPS every track I have ever run on that was a true 400m track came out with 0.26 miles in lane 1. If its significantly off from that then yes its messed up.

I will take a wild guess that the school was unable to extend the track south due to some underground pipes or conduits which wasn't a problem when it was only a simple dirt track with few lanes.

This was actually the problem when Icahn Stadium was built. They couldn't extend the facility further west to accomodate outside horizontal jump runways becomes of undeground cable creating a small berm.

Using Google Earth, the 4 x 1 relay legs seem to be accurate except for the first legs.

In addtion, there are many odd size tracks in NYC that are built within the available space. Better having an odd size track then no track at all.

I will take a wild guess that the school was unable to extend the track south due to some underground pipes or conduits which wasn't a problem when it was only a simple dirt track with few lanes.

This was actually the problem when Icahn Stadium was built. They couldn't extend the facility further west to accomodate outside horizontal jump runways becomes of undeground cable creating a small berm.

Using Google Earth, the 4 x 1 relay legs seem to be accurate except for the first legs.

In addtion, there are many odd size tracks in NYC that are built within the available space. Better having an odd size track then no track at all.

oops, sorry for the double click.

David Katz wrote:

Better having an odd size track then no track at all.

Yep. Mark off 200 and 400m and you'll get unorthodox but still quality workouts.

The track in question. Whenever I measure a known 400m track in a similar fashion, I get 400m +/- 1m. Whack.

Do you all realize that they have also said this same thing about the Arcadia track. Where many high school runners run these ungodly times only to never come close to these times the rest of the season.

Whole foods wrote:

This is how Chinese world records happen.

/thread

you made me LoL!!!!!

might be wejo wrote:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5815454

The track in question. Whenever I measure a known 400m track in a similar fashion, I get 400m +/- 1m. Whack.

Ritzy neighborhood a very high percentage of the houses have in-ground pools.

The track looks cutoff on the south end. Many high tracks have been there for a very long time and still measured in yards not meters. Looks like this one was cut short because that is what they had room for. But, most tracks that are short have start lines for each distance somewhere on the track, if you can find those markings you can probably be ok. If not, make your own. Public schools deal with the money they are given, and most schools don't have track as a priority.