serious answer wrote:
Roller Derby.
nope traditional Roller Derby has flat uncontoured banks.
The buildings I mentioned were all built around 1900-1915
so I suspect that style was state of the art then.
serious answer wrote:
Roller Derby.
nope traditional Roller Derby has flat uncontoured banks.
The buildings I mentioned were all built around 1900-1915
so I suspect that style was state of the art then.
There is one identical to this in "The Old Gym" at Marquette University. This is where we did our speedwork in the winter. I think it was somewhere around 11 laps to the mile. In a pinch, I also did some training runs in there. Maybe 8 miles at the most. As others have said, it was overlooking the basketball court where the teams practiced back in those days (the '90s). Once in a while, there would be days when the mens and womens teams were on it at the same time. That took some coordination, and it was still pretty crazy. It was actually kind of fun to do fast reapeats up there. One of the biggest detriments though was the surface - so old it was very smooth and slippery. Good stroll down memory lane.
Anyone know what the Hamilton Indoor Games track is made of? I raced on that one about 6 years ago, twas a unique experience.
wineturtle wrote:
Brooklyn Tech HS NYC
HS of Commerce HS gym
East 54th Street NYC Parks and Recreation gym.
Brooklyn Tech:
http://tinyurl.com/oa7ru2uHS of Commerce (no pic):
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00F13FB3C5F12738DDDAC0994DA415B818CF1D3Rec 54:
http://tinyurl.com/qj9tzjaor
http://coolspotters.com/health-clubs/east-54th-street-recreation-centerWoops: first link to Rec 54 was actually Marquette
and also
http://wiki.muscoop.com/doku.php/facilities/the_old_gym
and Carleton:
https://apps.carleton.edu/news/features/flooding_20101005/?image_id=673442
York HS in Elmhurst used to have a 133-yard, two lane, non-banked, asphalt indoor track in the basement of its main gym. Newton made us run normal intervals on it in Jan-Mar while the entire 200 person team trained on it along with the girls team. Controlled chaos to run 5xmile or 10x800 on that track. Worse was running any event under 1600 on the track as the turns were tight as heck. That said, Jim White supposedly ran a sub 4:10 1600 on the track.
runnerdan wrote:
Anyone know what the Hamilton Indoor Games track is made of? I raced on that one about 6 years ago, twas a unique experience.
I have memories of that Hamilton Ontario track. I remember a small rickety board track with a few rows of seats around it, very very close to it and a low ceiling. I remember being a spectator there in 1962 and Ron Wallingford interviewing me on the radio about training and racing marathons. Two years later Ron was third in Boston in a Canadian record 2:20:51. I wonder how many of these "memories" are accurate.
ye olde college guy wrote:
Reminds me of the old "dungeon" track underneath Laird Stadium at Carleton College. 220yd track with straightaways that must have been at least 80 yards long! Some people used to call it the "paperclip." Very steep banked turns.
I once did a long run on it during a blizzard. It was strangely pleasant to just keep whipping around and around in the cool air with nobody bothering you.
No way it was 220 yards though. Significantly shorter.
There is a similar track, the cage, at Phillips Academy in Andover MA. I ran HS races there in the early 1970s. The wood track, like the one pictured, was an upstairs balcony. There was a dirt track below, with tight corners, and a separate sprint straightaway through the middle downstairs. Listed as 150 yards by the website, it was actually 153 so no race had the same start and stop lines.
It still is in use. Originally built in 1923, it has been renovated several times.
Haverford (DIII school in PA) has one in their old gym.
Wow.....St. Peter Claver in Bedstuy had the same track....I loved it. The one in Fortgreene Brooklyn Tech was so useful to them.
Why would you run a 1600 on a 133-yard track?
Seen some like it wrote:
York HS in Elmhurst used to have a 133-yard, two lane, non-banked, asphalt indoor track in the basement of its main gym. Newton made us run normal intervals on it in Jan-Mar while the entire 200 person team trained on it along with the girls team. Controlled chaos to run 5xmile or 10x800 on that track. Worse was running any event under 1600 on the track as the turns were tight as heck. That said, Jim White supposedly ran a sub 4:10 1600 on the track.
I feel like i'm carrying on a tradition, I train at Hart house track 3 times a week during the winter months. It's an awesome track.
Is there still a large grass field just outside Hart House? If so, with Varsity Stadium in the next block you you have your choice at the spur of the moment. We used all three venues for a while in the fall. It took a while each fall to get our feet, Achilles tendons and ankles used to those tight turns so we did part of our workouts outside and then a lighter workout inside for the first few weeks. I also soaked my feet in brine each fall night for a while to avoid tearing the bottoms off. In 1961, we used that sometimes dark grass field to help ready ourselves for the USA AAU Cross Country Race. Jim Platt, the runner next to Bruce in that picture, also ran in that cross country race.
Hart House track wrote:
I feel like i'm carrying on a tradition, I train at Hart house track 3 times a week during the winter months. It's an awesome track.
Have you ever come across Bruce Kidd. What clubs train there?
That's got to be the Hart House track in Toronto. I ran a few races there in the '70's. It was actually not a bad track. Do any other folks here remember the CNE Pig Palace 200 metre indoor track? That one was lightning fast.
I always think of indoor tracks like this when I think of Indoor. It's just not indoor track to me if its not up on boards with steep banks.
Orville, I walked through King's College Circle this morning, the field is still there. Varsity stadium though has been redone in the last 3 or 4 years with a state of the art all weather blue track and unfortunately it's closed to the general public now. I saw Usain Bolt race there the year it opened (I think it was 2009).
Erhghavp wrote:
Orville, I walked through King's College Circle this morning, the field is still there. Varsity stadium though has been redone in the last 3 or 4 years with a state of the art all weather blue track and unfortunately it's closed to the general public now. I saw Usain Bolt race there the year it opened (I think it was 2009).
Thank You for the info.
I was there for the opening of the new track which was built by Director Bruce Kidd.
The University of Toronto Athletes had a reunion the night before that opening. I was told that Bill Crothers was tapped on the shoulder while standing talking to someone when he felt a tap on the shoulder. When he turned around he was looking right into the face of Peter Snell.
All of the PC cowards will tell you that those fantastic shoes and incredible training conditions were likely better than what athletes have to put up with today.