Central Park: 20+ softball fields, 0 running tracks. Why?

geoff spelled with a g wrote:

Fill in that lake thing in the middle cause it is a stupid waste of space. On top of the filled in lake, put some softball fields. Then, bulldoze a few of the existing softball fields to make way for a 400 meter track.

That way, anyone who cries about how this missing looking at the stupid lake will blame softball players and not runners.

That's how you do a win-win.

Central Park already has a track, which fortunately not many people know about.

There are 2 perfectly good tracks in Manhattan and 2 close by in The Bronx and Brooklyn. They all seem to be underused.

I think that any track they put in Central Park will be destroyed from overuse too quickly to make it worthwhile. They'd probably have to redo the surface every couple years, maintenance would have to be in the summer, so you'd have a lot of downtime. There's a reason they make it so hard to get into the Armory, and that's basically in the middle of the ghetto (at least it used to be).

The two outdoor tracks in Manhattan are not centrally located and they do fall into disrepair.

In high school (Manhattan public school) we did intervals on the reservoir and at the oddly-shaped loop at the top of the great hill. Our coach measured out the distances and made markings, which have probably faded by this point. The problem was that the coach had to find a way to get up there. We also did track workouts at the armory and had outdoor meets in the Bronx.

R2D3 wrote:

Central Park already has a track, which fortunately not many people know about. {

There are 2 perfectly good tracks in Manhattan, Icahn Stadium is politically Manhattan, and 2 close by in The Bronx and Brooklyn. They all seem to be underused.

Where is this track? I know most of the names of the entrance gates so it's not like a total dummy about the park.

A dirt track that's always empty. It's less than 400m, but you can get in quality work up there.

http://bit.ly/1tlW24r

Plus, the rez is measured and marked (though they've faded). If you run in the evening, it's empty and you can do plenty of tempo/speedwork.

One 400m all weather track would probably be more expensive than all 20 softball fields. Plus, it would just get filled up with walkers.

wineturtle wrote:

Join here and work from with-in. Roll your sleeves up and get to work making it happen. Someone has to take the first step-- it might as well be you.

Unless you can write a six/seven figure check, the Central Park Conservancy is not interested in listening to your ideas.

And they aren't looking for volunteers to help them run the place. They've got a full time staff of paid workers (whose primary task is apparently to just drive around all day on the sidewalks, the reservoir path, the bridle path, etc.)

Which is why NYRR is the perfect candidate to make the pitch. They pay CPC a lot of money each year for permits to host races and have some ability to lobby CPC to make improvements on runners' behalf. Mary Wittenberg should put the insanely high entry fees to work in a manner that will actually help its members rather than just helping her and her staff line their pockets.

CPRunner wrote:

A dirt track that's always empty. It's less than 400m, but you can get in quality work up there.

http://bit.ly/1tlW24r

Plus, the rez is measured and marked (though they've faded). If you run in the evening, it's empty and you can do plenty of tempo/speedwork.

Shhhh!

Loops

- Basketball courts - 240m-ish

- GH Track - 338m (CPTC have measured 200m and 400m)

- 102 St Transverse - 400m

- Lower ballfields - Approx 600m

- Great Lawn - 800m

- Northern Ballfields - 1K plus 90-120s recovery jog

- Great/Harlem Hill - 1.4M

- Reservoir (after the tourists leave) - 1.54M marked off every 100 yards from Eng Gate for 1 mile

- Bridle path Reservoir loop - 1.66M

- Lower loop - 1.7M

(Most of the above are detailed on the CPTC site)

Hill workouts

- Great Hill

- Harlem Hill

- Cat Hill

- Bridle Path @ W84th under the West Drive

- Tavern on the Green

- South end of the Bridle Path

- West Side Hills

CPRunner wrote:

A dirt track that's always empty. It's less than 400m, but you can get in quality work up there.

http://bit.ly/1tlW24r

Plus, the rez is measured and marked (though they've faded). If you run in the evening, it's empty and you can do plenty of tempo/speedwork.

OP was clear he was talking about a allweather laned 400m running track. Inferring competition grade is not a leap.

He also specifically mentioned your cited area pointing out it was not the type of "track" he was talking about.

West 106 St is Strangers Gate.

You are right on that point, if there was a track there, it would be useless for anyone trying to run intervals as it would be clogged with walkers, waddlers, and joggers who believe they have the inordaned right to use lane 1 and make all the faster folks run around them.

no need to infer should have reread the OP

Where are you going to put a big piece of blue plastic, The Great Lawn?

How would you accommodate a club like Team in Training or Team for Kids, who have over 200 runners at their workouts, or more serious large clubs, like The Flyers?

Because central park has enough sex starved, lecherous creeps without a track.

Now a Coach wrote:

Where are you going to put a big piece of blue plastic, The Great Lawn?

It would be nice to have some trees in the middle like the one at Nike headquarters (there's one in Oregon, it may be a University).