Was asked to leave my university's track this morning

Well, figure out how much it will cost to redo the whole track and make sure the daily usage equals that. My guess is it would be more in the range of 40-50 dollars and nobody wants to pay that. The reality is that everyone wants stuff for free.

missilesilo wrote:

No one should be allowed to just show up on school property. Student safety is more important than your workout.

You know, when you put it like that, it's a wonder I ever thought there might be more than one reasonable viewpoint on this question.

TrackFan19 wrote:

stay away wrote:

If it is a real D1 university, you shouldn't be on the track. If the door happens to be open to the basketball arena, you probably wouldn't walk in and start shooting baskets or a security guard would be called. If it is a D3 school, nobody should care.

I agree.

If I wanted to practice field goal kicking I couldn't just show up unannounced at a major university's football stadium or practice facility and start working out.

Unless a stadium or practice facility has specific hours for public use....it isn't public and don't expect to workout in that stadium.

Not true. I’ve been on big time D1 football fields many times playing pickup football. That was back in the day of the old school AstroTurf.

Public facilities are supposed to be made available to the public as long as public use doesn't interfere with student use or incur additional maintenance/security uses. Public facilities are generally not supposed to be used by for profit entities without compensation.

An all weather track is extremely durable and does not generally require supervision or maintenance due to regular use. (Unlike Basketball courts, tennis courts, pools,ice rinks etc) Many high schools and junior highs allow public use of tracks outside of school/practice hours. I ran on one today. Some colleges do, some don't. (Harvard's track, of all places, is open to the public, or at least was 10 years ago. ) College tracks that also contain soccer/football fields are generally closed.

In 25 years of running, I've never seen any evidence of damage, vandalism, or loitering at a public track. The best way to preserve an area is to make sure it gets used.

wejo wrote:

How much wear and tear do you think a person running lane 1 does on a track?

Public tracks should develop a way to let people pay a very nominal fee to use it. What do you all think is fair like $2?

Don't they often or at least use too, just chalk out a oval in New Zealand for track? Why don't people just do that, if they can't use a track? Just chalk out a 200-400 meter oval in a grassy field that is relatively flat, and do your workout.

dsgda wrote:

Well, figure out how much it will cost to redo the whole track and make sure the daily usage equals that. My guess is it would be more in the range of 40-50 dollars and nobody wants to pay that. The reality is that everyone wants stuff for free.

Are you factoring in the usage by the track team?

Or just wanting to divide the cost of the track by all the non-track people who use it?

dsgda wrote:

Well, figure out how much it will cost to redo the whole track and make sure the daily usage equals that. My guess is it would be more in the range of 40-50 dollars and nobody wants to pay that. The reality is that everyone wants stuff for free.

So the less a track is used, the more each user will be charged. And if a track is very popular and heavily used, then each additional user will be charged very little. That, at least, has the advantage of not requiring anyone to understand concepts like sunk and marginal costs or supply and demand curves.

Oceanmaster wrote:

This morning I was doing a workout on the track before I went to work and a football coach and athletic trainer asked me to leave.

I told them that I was on the schools track team a few years ago (which is true) and that I've always been able to run on the track when nobody's using it.

They told me that they're cracking down on usage this year and if I really want to use the track I can get in touch with facilities management and try to reserve a time.

This seems pretty sh-tty to me.

Is this normal behavior among colleges to treat their alumni this way?

These people are only doing their job. If two came out, it's because some administrator informed them that someone is using the track and the school bard, and (it's lawyers) said we are open to a lawsuit..etc. This is happening everywhere. Do not blame them. They are only doing what they are instructed to do. Go and ask for permission, and I'm sure that you will be allowed. You might have to sign a waiver.

stay away wrote:

If it is a real D1 university, you shouldn't be on the track. If the door happens to be open to the basketball arena, you probably wouldn't walk in and start shooting baskets or a security guard would be called. If it is a D3 school, nobody should care.

We used to do this all the time. If it wasn't scheduled usage they'd have open gym games at times.

in between some sonnets and a new translation of Beowulf the school Bard summons two thugs to remove the intruders from the university oval

TrackFan19 wrote:

stay away wrote:

If it is a real D1 university, you shouldn't be on the track. If the door happens to be open to the basketball arena, you probably wouldn't walk in and start shooting baskets or a security guard would be called. If it is a D3 school, nobody should care.

I agree.

If I wanted to practice field goal kicking I couldn't just show up unannounced at a major university's football stadium or practice facility and start working out.

Unless a stadium or practice facility has specific hours for public use....it isn't public and don't expect to workout in that stadium.

Go suck a big one Dixon. You were a loser as a coach and now you’re reduced to replying to your own posts on LRC.

You're not a paying member anymore. Imagine wanting access to a gym you left 4 years ago.

Cool story Quenton Cassidy.

Next time you write a big donation check to the athletic department, ask them if they'll make an exception for you to use the facilities.

D1 4 LIFE wrote:

stay away wrote:

If it is a real D1 university, you shouldn't be on the track. If the door happens to be open to the basketball arena, you probably wouldn't walk in and start shooting baskets or a security guard would be called. If it is a D3 school, nobody should care.

Bull-oney. At our school the track was purposely open to the entire community (at certain times of day). The facility is for everyone to use.

Of course that didn't stop the football coach trying to kick everybody off the track including the track team. He eventually succeeded and we had to build a whole separate track elsewhere. welcome to D1.

Sounds like you got your own track out of the deal--sounds like a win.

Angry Willy wrote:

Unless it is "Oceanmaster Memorial Track and Stadium" they have every right to tell you to get off of the fvcking track. You dont see ex-basketball players randomly showing up at the uni's basketball arena to shoot hoops.

Get over it.

I hear stories of former players coming back to play in and workout in the basketball facility. My guess is the policy varies from school to school.

zxcvzxcv wrote:

The tracks are publicly funded

Quite often they actually are not.

I'll never understand the hobbyjogger obsession with running their workouts on the track when they are never going to be racing on the track.

Alass wrote:

We couldn’t even use ours after college. We’ve lived all over and I’ve been told to leave tracks left and right. Even ones that I had permission to use and were practice tracks (meaning their was another right next to it). Nobody on them either. I think it’s strange. So many tracks not in used. I will tell you though I hate high school tracks during the school year. Doesn’t matter what time my workout is always interrupted by the gym classes. Even when I’m in the last reps at 7:15am here they come! Best time is during the middle of the day in the summer when it’s 100 degrees

Part of me thinks this is satire, but then again it is letsrun.

How many colleges have practice tracks with a "real" track right next to it?

Yeah, how dare those kids who are attending that school get to use it for PE.

I have people state on letsrun that their tax dollars pay for the HS track so they should be open to the public. Should the chemistry lab be open to the public as well?

A track is built assuming a certain amount of use and when it is used by the public that decreases the life of the track through additional wear and tear not to mention people vandalizing the track or jump pits (have seen poop in long jump pits).